Source: Vic. Edu. Dept.
By SAT political reporter
Melbourne, 26 October: The Daniel Andrews led Labor government in Victoria and the Liberal opposition are locked in a bitter spat over the proposed ‘Respectful Relationships’ program, which Education Minister James Merlino says, “… is about teaching our kids to treat everyone with respect and dignity so we can start the cultural change we need in our society to end the scourge of family violence.”
But Nick Wakeling MP, Shadow Minister for Education addressing the Indian media today said family violence is a complex issue. The program “is not a true reflection of males in Victoria’, he said replying to a pointed question by SAT, if the program was anti-male.
In a media release dated 20 October and distributed today, Nick says, “Schools should never be used to brainwash our children with propaganda about white male privilege, how “masculinity” encourages “control and dominance” over women, or how men are “socially engineered” to express their pain and stress in anger and violence”.
The Shadow Minister says, “the program goes too far and the coalition will scrap it if returned to power in 2018.”
The Andrews Labor Government has invested $21.8 million to roll out this important initiative, delivering on a recommendation from the Royal Commission on Family Violence.
Age-appropriate resources for the curriculum include lesson plans and activities that help students learn and practice social skills and apply them in a positive way to learning, life, and relationships.
“The focus of the subject in primary years is on treating everyone with respect and dignity, with the secondary years subject building on this by teaching students about the relationship between gender and power, “says a media release by Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, The Hon. James Merlino MP.
The resources have been developed by world-leading experts from Deakin University and the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, led by Associate Professor Helen Cahill who worked with UNESCO on similar resources used in the Asia-Pacific.
“The curriculum has been developed following a trial of a whole-of-school approach that was run in 19 Victorian schools by the Department of Education and Training and the anti-family violence organization Our Watch,” the media release says.
Mary Barry, CEO of Our Watch told 3AW the program works and is not discriminatory and it is about respect. It gives young people, boys and girls, the skills to reject on unhealthy aggressive behaviour and discrimination.
“It is definitely not saying that all men are perpetrators and all women are victims.” – Mary said on 3AW.
She told 3AW survey’s conducted by Our Watch say men are perceived as better politicians than women and have access to better professions than women. – “We’re trying to break down that stereotype and breakdown that power.”
But Nick Wakeling feels it’s an ideological program without community/parents consultations and the Premier should stop implementing the program of “forcing his values on other people’s children, and start focusing on the basics such as teaching our kids to read, write and count.”
Hon. James Merlino defending the program says, All the evidence shows that the education is the key to ending the vicious cycle of family violence, which is why teaching Respectful Relationships as schools are important.”
