Beyond ‘the talk’: How television can play a role in school-based relationships and sexuality education

This academic study, published in March 2023, found that 89.9% of surveyed parents strongly agreed or agreed that relationships and sexuality education (RSE) should be provided in Australian schools. Going beyond the personal development topics of puberty and reproduction that parents may remember from their own schooling, researchers gauged parents’ beliefs about 40 different RSE topics. This broad range of topics included peer pressure, bodily autonomy and personal boundaries, gender-based violence, media literacy skills related to sexual content and gender identity. Parents were overwhelmingly supportive of schools addressing all listed topics, with the teaching of topics such as gender identity receiving more than 80% approval from respondents. 

As an industry of storytellers crafting content specifically for young people, children’s television can contribute to these classroom conversations by providing age-appropriate information and representations for teachers and students.  

In the short film Summer’s Day, 11-year-old Summer gets her period for the first time. Without her mother around to guide her, she navigates the emotions and practicalities of menarche – and her body image troubles – with the help of her best friend Mackenzie.

Discussing her motivation for this coming-of-age story, writer/director Hattie Dalton explains: “I feel strongly that there is a need to demystify the unavoidable natural process of menstruation, in a way that young girls can easily relate to, cringe over, laugh at, and then feel at ease about. The plan is to do that, while addressing other irrefutable issues such as poor body image and gender bias with the same lightness of touch so that the themes resonate with the young audience.”

The ACTF further supports Year 5-8 teachers exploring this topic with the free Summer’s Day Teaching Toolkit. The discussion starters and learning tasks in this resource extend on themes in the film, including menstruation, puberty and body image.

Gender identity and expression are explored in the award-winning series First Day, which follows main character Hannah as she begins her secondary schooling. Hannah experiences all the excitement and fear associated with this universal transition, but her first day of high school is even more significant as she is a transgender girl.

For many young people, Hannah is the first transgender character they have seen on screen. The film’s empathetic portrayal of her school experience leaves the audience more knowledgeable and understanding of gender-diverse people in their own communities. The series and our teaching toolkit can be real assets in contemporary RSE lessons, sensitively addressing the content which students and parents are seeking.

For older adolescents who are aging out of children’s television, co-watching suitable programs can continue to foster conversations about complex topics. For example, the recent M-rated teen series More Than This depicts characters exploring identity and belonging, gender identity and sexuality, relationships, family and academic pressures, and taking risks. To contextualise these topics for the classroom, the ACTF and Queer Town developed an online resource which highlights key clips from the series. Advice from Kids Helpline is embedded throughout the resource to further support teachers and students. Through carefully addressing topics such as consent and image-based abuse, this resource can build important understandings among secondary students.

While the media cannot, and should not, take the place of comprehensive sex education programs, it continues to play an important supporting role in starting conversations between children, families, and educators. Children’s television is uniquely equipped to recognise the behaviours of young people and reflect these back to them.