Consent Education Amid a Social Media Ban

While there are a range of pros and cons to the social media ban, one of the biggest gaps in young people’s education that is likely to widen following the ban is media literacy. As their access to social media is delayed, their exposure to online content and experience with navigating it will also be limited. Without thorough and regularly updated digital literacy education, young people’s ability to access harmful content via social media and the internet more broadly will not be avoided, it will simply be postponed.

At a time when young people will have less opportunities to practice digital literacy skills, educators need to recognise that sustaining conversations about consent and sexual violence is important 365 days a year. To keep these conversations going, they need to be creating safe, non-judgmental spaces for students to ask questions, be curious, and reach out for support where needed.

These spaces and conversations double as an opportunity to introduce basic critical thinking and digital literacy skills. An easy place to start is by using everyday materials as an entry point for conversations. This could involve popular music, celebrity news, TV or streaming shows, or poster advertising at the bus stop. By inviting open discussions about whether these images, story arcs or personalities are showing ‘healthy’ behaviours, educators can also start conversations about the nature of media, online platforms, social media algorithms, and other mechanisms that are used to garner young people’s attention.

With 2026 as the first year to see the social media ban in effect, schools should also be looking to educators and external specialised experts for feedback, ideas, and recommendations on how to equip young people with sufficient digital literacy and media literacy skills that could simultaneously contribute to a whole-of-society approach to preventing sexual violence across our communities.

Community, Collaboration, and a Consistent Evidence-Based Approach
Many teachers are facing the difficult reality of potential ongoing or increased violence in their school, with some already experiencing a 195% increase in the last two years. A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report found 840 million women have experienced partner or sexual violence.

Digital violence against all women and girls is too common, one in three are affected by violence globally.

Consent and respectful relationships education (CRRE) is a proven preventative measure against sexual violence, leading to it being mandated in the national school curriculum. However, a new sector-first Social Return of Investment (SROI) report we conducted in collaboration with Mandala Partners, Consent Counts, uncovered that not all CRRE is having an equal and constructive impact.

Educators and students are continuing to demand effective consent education. Students are searching for tangible, reliable answers to questions as they explore their first relationships and often conflicting online messages, and educators are looking for comprehensive resources to help them navigate these conversations in the classroom while also addressing rising rates of violence and sexual harassment in schools.

However, significant challenges in delivering effective CRRE, including concerns around capacity, attitude, and comfort levels among teachers, are holding schools back from meeting demand. These barriers to effective CRRE delivery sit on top of broader stress and pressure to deliver high-quality lessons, which 92% of educators cite as impacting their ability to prepare for effective teaching.

There is a potential $3.48 in social returns to be delivered for every dollar invested in effective CRRE, and this could lead to a total social impact of $13.7 million in FY28 with the right support. To get there, educators need:
• Community: CRRE is not the silver bullet to ending sexual violence, but it is a critical part of the solution. Educators need to be supported with training, resources, and a whole-of-community approach to implementing best-practice consent education.
• Collaboration: Every community, school, and student is different. Consequently, delivering CRRE needs to be addressed with a nuanced and tailored approach for every classroom to ensure it is truly effective. Leaving teachers to navigate this new territory on their own is unfair and unrealistic. Particularly for schools in rural and remote locations, accessing updated resources is challenging and sometimes completely out of reach. There needs to be ongoing and proactive collaboration among schools, government, and CRRE experts to ensure educators and students are getting the quality of information they deserve.
• Consistency: An emerging trend since CRRE was mandated in school curriculums is many educators and community leaders have started to take it upon themselves to deliver CRRE without adequate training or experience. While this is admirable, research shows this could have adverse effects on young people’s understanding of consent and respectful relationships. This is largely because the information they are receiving is inconsistent and at times disengaging. Effective CRRE must have a consistent, evidence-based approach at its core, supported with a structure of sequential, consistent delivery throughout students’ school years.