In response to evolving social challenges, Canberra’s Radford College is incorporating a new suite of resources to equip students with essential skills in consent, healthy relationships, and personal development.
When Netflix’s explosive drama series Adolescence ripped back the curtain on teenage relationships, it sparked a national conversation that schools could not ignore.
One school in Canberra is tackling that conversation head-on, implementing Respect Collective’s comprehensive relationship education program for students the same age as the main character in the series.
Co-founded by Dr Tessa Opie and Ms Kerrin Bradfield, the organisation has developed an innovative, ready-to-use comprehensive relationships and sexuality education (RSE) platform. It’s designed to support teachers with structured lessons, professional development, and a trusted program mapped to the Australian Health & Physical Education Curriculum (v9).
With more than 70 interactive lessons spanning Years 7 to 12, Respect Collective covers topics such as consent, healthy relationships, sexuality, bystander intervention, and digital safety.
The platform’s interactive elements – including quizzes, games, and multimedia resources – have transformed traditionally challenging subject matter into engaging learning experiences.
Radford College, a Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12 independent Anglican school in Canberra, is one of 18 members of the Association of Independent Schools of the ACT (AISACT) partnering with Respect Collective.
With 2,172 students across its junior and senior campuses, Radford’s leadership recognises the critical importance of healthy relationships as part of holistic character development.
Ms Alison Steven, Acting Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning, explains the school’s strategic approach. She says the school’s engagement with Respect Collective is part of a deliberate strategy to address contemporary social challenges.
“At Radford we are committed to educating the whole person, with a focus on character building and personal growth,” she says.
“The Respect Collective resources are being thoughtfully integrated to complement our existing work on consent and respectful relationships, which are core pillars of our pastoral care program. We would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of our teachers, particularly under the leadership of our Heads of Year, in this space.”
Radford’s implementation strategy is methodical and multi-layered. Currently, the Respect Collective program has been integrated into Year 7 and 8 pastoral programs, with plans for broader rollout across secondary year levels.
The Health and Physical Education (HPE) department has already begun adapting Respect Collective’s resources to complement their existing curriculum.
One of the features that sets Respect Collective’s resources apart is its ‘plug and play’ design, Ms Steven says.
During recent interdisciplinary learning weeks, teachers across different disciplines could effectively deliver lessons without extensive preparation.
“The teachers review the resources beforehand, but they’re not expected to write the lesson plans,” Ms Steven says.
Professional development is another key component of Radford’s approach, with teachers expanding their professional knowledge through targeted webinars from Respect Collective, including advanced strategies to navigate and foster respectful relationships in the classroom.
“We’ve had eight to 10 teachers come in before school to participate in webinars about the manosphere, deep fakes, and protecting our students,” Ms Steven says.
Evening sessions are also provided for parents, reinforcing the school’s commitment to a holistic, community-wide approach to relationship education.
“It’s really important that we’re all working together,” Ms Steven says.
“Involving the entire community in conversations about challenges facing young people is crucial.”
The school’s multi-pronged strategy reflects broader educational trends. By integrating specialised resources and facilitating professional development, educators can equip students like those at Radford College with essential life skills.
Independent schools’ partnership
The Australian Government’s Consent and Respectful Relationships Education initiative (2024-2028) provides grants to the Independent sector through the Association of Independent Schools to support Consent and Respectful Relationships Education.
The funding is to support the delivery of expert developed, evidence-based, age-appropriate consent and respectful relationship education in the school year 2024-2028.
To that end, the Association of Independent Schools of the ACT (AISACT), with input from member schools, engaged Respect Collective to develop a tailored, plug and play digital curriculum for AISACT Secondary Schools (Year 7-12) which can be delivered to individual classes. Respect Collective’s content aligns with the Australian Health and Physical Education Curriculum (v 9.0) and addresses several key learning objectives across the International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education (UNESCO, 2022).
AISACT schools will have access to five lessons per year level in each of Years 7-12, with each lesson lasting between 45-90 minutes. The lessons are tailored to the developmental needs of each cohort, building on the skills and knowledge gained through exposure to the previous year’s program.
At their discretion, schools/teachers can determine the pace of the delivery of the program, for example: five lessons delivered over five consecutive weeks, or five lessons (plus extension activities) delivered over the course of the term/year, depending on school preference. This allows schools the flexibility to align other classes, seminars, guest speakers etc to Respect Collective’s program.
Respect Collective also provides AISACT schools with pre-recorded professional development webinars to upskill teachers to deliver the program to their students.
Respect Collective’s evidence-based curriculum and professional development resources offer a practical solution to addressing today’s complex social challenges without any prep work required by teachers. To register for your free trial, visit www.respectcollective.com.au.
