Youth Made Consent Education

Consent education is in the Australian curriculum from 2023, aiming to inform children of an appropriate age about consent and respectful relationships, and providing education on gender stereotypes, coercion and power imbalances.

Involving students in the conversation and how the curriculum is delivered is a no brainer and family services provider Kids First Australia has co-designed an online platform with young people - ‘To Future Me’ which facilitates a conversation around consent in a way that kids will relate to.

The site draws upon the organisation’s decades of sexual abuse prevention work and is designed to guide educators through four e-learning modules, which feature a range of downloadable resources.

The To Future Me program is aligned to the Respective Relationships National Curriculum. The Kids First team have worked with over one hundred young people to co-design an informed and relevant digital program, which uses relatable, diverse, and teen driven content.

To Future Me features accessible and inclusive content delivered through purpose designed videos and quizzes across four self-guided modules. Modules covered provide students with help-seeking skills and framework for consent assessment. The platform covers the topic of grooming and what it may look like, as well as exploring gender and sexual identities.

A teacher from Greensborough College in Melbourne which trialled the platform said, “The content was age appropriate and the students enjoyed doing the course. There was opportunity for students to sit together and collaborate, working on and talking through topics. Some of the videos created a lot of debate and discussion, particularly ‘What is grooming’.

“Students were interested in learning in a tech-based way. They liked the gamification of the content. They could grab some headphones and just get on with it, and work in groups in other sections. It is presented in a way that continued to keep students engaged."

Kids First CEO Aileen Ashford said To Future Me is about what safe and healthy relationships look like, and what they don’t.

“We were relieved to hear that consent education had become mandatory, and wanted to apply our expertise to resources which support the cause, transforming our previous face-to-face prevention program to an online version, - To Future Me.  It is evidence-based and ready for roll out,” Ms Ashford said.

Click here to see an example video from the To Future Me Platform.