Sector welcomes consent education review

10 March 2021

Statement from Dr Lee-Anne Perry, Executive Director, Queensland Catholic Education Commission

The Catholic education sector welcomes today’s announcement of a Queensland Government-led review of education addressing issues of sexual consent.

All Catholic schools aim to support students in ways that teach them to build and maintain respectful relations.

This important part of every child’s learning is the work of families, schools, and our entire community.

Recent information regarding sexual assaults published by a website and online petition and covered in the media is disturbing to all educators and school communities.

Our thoughts are with any young people who have suffered harm, whether in an educational setting or while interacting with others in the community and we urge any victim of sexual assault to report the matter to police.

Catholic schools have both legislative and ethical and moral obligations to meet in cases of reported harm or potential harm to students.

These include:

• The Education (General Provisions) Act 2006requires all school staff to report sexual abuse, reasonable suspicion of sexual abuse or likely sexual abuse of a student to the Queensland Police Service.
• The Child Protection Act 1999mandates that registered teachers report a reasonable suspicion that a child has suffered, is suffering, or is at unacceptable risk of suffering, significant harm caused by physical or sexual abuse where there may not be a parent able and willing to protect the child from the harm.
• TheEducation (Accreditation of Non-State Schools) Act 2017 and Regulation 2017 require non-State schools to have and to implement written processes about dealing with harm or allegations of harm to students. This is a condition of non-State schools’ accreditation.
• The Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000 andRegulation 2011 mandate that schools have in place a risk management strategy setting out, among other matters, the school’s policies and procedures for handling disclosures or suspicions of harm, including the reporting of harm.
• Following the recommendations of the Royal Commission, all catholic entities are required to adhere to the Catholic Church’s safeguarding standards.

Catholic schools also have in place a range of educational programs to support students to build and maintain respectful relationships with their peers.

Central to these programs is a culture in which women are respected and valued.

Our schools constantly strive to provide the best possible processes to deal with inappropriate student behaviours and continually review their processes and educational programs to ensure they continue to meet and support the needs of young people in the most effective ways.

They always have the wellbeing of young people at the centre of all that they do.