What are Respectful Relationships?
Respectful Relationships is about tackling family violence through education.
“The school community is an essential part of social reform by modelling a culture of respect through the whole school, not just by teaching respect in the classroom”. – Rosie Batty, CEO of the Luke Batty Foundation
Just like other major social and health issues such as smoking and road toll, evidence shows that family violence can be prevented by working across the whole population (in this case, schools) to address the attitudes, beliefs and knowledge that support violence.
The Victorian Government is investing $21.8 million to deliver Respectful Relationships and as part of this initiative Victorian schools will be supported to review their practices and policies, and model respectful relationships and gender equality across the whole school community.
A good education is about more than simply getting good marks. It is about becoming a member of society and succeeding in life – knowing how to build respectful relationships
is key to achieving this. When young people build positive relationships with their teachers and peers, they feel safer and happier at school, are more resilience and have positive social attitudes. Positive relationships increase a young person’s sense of social connectedness and belonging to school and family, and result in better health and academic outcomes.
Further information about Respectful Relationships is available on the Department of Education and Training website: www.education.vic.gov.au/respectfulrelationships
Teachers will also be supported to deliver the initiative with age-appropriate teaching and learning materials. These evidence-based materials are designed to enable teachers to develop student’s social and emotional capabilities, build positive, healthy and respectful relationships, make responsible decisions and create positive gender relations. The initiative will also provide resources to best support young people who are affected by family violence.
Respectful Relationships at Heathmont College
In 2022, Heathmont College rolled out and continued several programs to support Respectful Relationships including Elephant Education, The Man Cave, Flourish Girl, eSafety, as well as content delivered by our own Wellbeing Team and College teachers. In 2023, we will continue to build on the progress we have achieved to support our community. We are continuing to review our curriculum; physical spaces and the way we interact with each other and the broader community to ensure a balanced and inclusive College. We will continue to review our policies, including a “belonging” policy, and endeavour to model “Respectful Relationships” in everything we do. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.
