How GDHR links to the curriculum

 

Growing and Developing Healthy Relationships (GDHR) content, and, in particular, the Learning Activities, has been developed to align to the Western Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education.

The aim of the GDHR resource is to support Western Australian educators to provide comprehensive sexual health and relationships education (SRE). Students will develop the knowledge, understanding and skills as outlined in the P-10 Curriculum through GDHR activities focusing on safe practices (Staying Safe), personal development (Growing Bodies and Emotional Wellbeing), healthy relationships (Respectful Relationships), diversity (Diversity), healthy bodies (Growing Bodies and Staying Safe) and influences on health (Health Literacy).

The guiding principles for Western Australian schools

These guiding principles promote equity and excellence in Western Australian schools. They comprise of five areas of consideration for teachers, and GDHR relates to each of these as follows:

The Western Australian values of schooling

These values articulate what educators in Western Australia believe all students should value as a result of the programs they undertake. This is a fundamental aspect to teaching sexuality education and is outlined in the GDHR section: Exploring values. We invite teachers to undertake a seven step reflection on their own sense of self when engaging in the sexual health and relationships education (SRE) curriculum and ask them to examine the impact that would have on the students in their charge.

Principles of teaching, learning and assessment

GDHR has structural and practical aspects in its content that support the overarching Principles of Teaching, Learning and Assessment. Modelling healthy relationships is outlined in the What to teach section of the website, providing teachers with the essential background information needed to create a safe and supportive learning environment.

GDHR learning activities use contemporary examples from the students’ world thereby motivating their learning.  We encourage teachers to adapt these resources to fit the context and invite exploration of both the teacher and the students' ideas and beliefs that challenge their world view and then reflect on how that experience may have influenced a change in them.

The learning activities are structured to accommodate independent learning where students can share their ideas and their experiences from their communities, and learn from one another. There is also space in the learning activity for reflection on the students learning through guided tasks. The learning activities themselves provide teachers with the opportunity to design meaningful assessments based on the task, activities and work generated from them.

Phases of schooling

GDHR activities are organised by year level (K-10) and by topic, providing guidance to teachers through the priority differences across all phases of schooling as outlined below:

  • Early Childhood (Kindergarten-Year 2): foundations for healthy relationships
  • Middle Childhood (Years 3-6): enhancing healthy relationships
  • Early and Middle Adolescence (Years 7-10): healthy relationships and sexual health

Student diversity

GDHR has created a topic area devoted entirely to celebrating diversity in classrooms, in schools and in the community.  Learning activities in this area aim to develop an understanding of the diverse range of personal identities in our society, in particular, sexual and gender identity, and the impact of external factors on developing personal identities.

Kindergarten and pre-primary statement

K-P activities as presented on GDHR align with the Western Australian; School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) Kindergarten Curriculum Guidelines. These guidelines draw on the Australian Government's Early Years Learning Framework.

The Kindergarten focus on children being connected to family, community, culture and place is consistent with The Guiding Principles of GDHR. Children's learning in these early years provides a solid foundation for the social and emotional skills; knowledge and understandings needed to keep them safe, healthy and to establish and manage respectful relationships. This learning occurs when they participate in everyday life, develop interests and construct their own identities and understandings of the world.

GDHR links to the curriculum through the three interrelated sub-strands:

Being healthy, safe and active

Provides teachers with an explicit overarching framework for teaching SRE; ensuring that being healthy, safe and active in the context of relationships and sexuality is part of the students’ learning journey. GDHR’s Guiding Principles, resilience and life skills embody the theme of this strand.

Direct practical links to this sub-strand are demonstrated in the topic areas of staying safe, emotional wellbeing and health literacy. In addition, the growing bodies section provides an understanding of the ever-changing concept of 'self' and prepares students for the life challenges associated with each stage of development.

Communicating and interacting for health and wellbeing

This sub-strand is covered explicitly in the suite of health literacy learning activities; providing students with the skills to critically engage with health and wellbeing factors in relationships and sexuality.

How to communicate and interact is also embedded within the all other topic areas with attention given to the emotional wellbeing and respectful relationships suite of activities.

Contributing to healthy and active communities

GDHR provides curriculum support for teachers to develop meaningful and safe learning experiences that ask students to critically explore the world around them through the diversity learning activities and how influences of peers, family, community and media can impact on them in both positive and negative ways.

Skills to undertake this are embedded in the topic areas of diversity, respectful relationships and health literacy.

GDHR and the Western Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education

GDHR learning activities have been aligned with the Western Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education P-10 descriptors and closely the health and physical education scope and sequence set out by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority.  Each learning activity:

  • has been considered and developed to ensure they align with the Western Australian Curriculum where each descriptor informs the content and breadth of activities expressed within a relationship and sexuality education context.
  • accommodates the opportunity to explore the curriculum from whole-of-class activities, through small group and individual activities and finishing with the opportunity for each student to undertake individual reflection.

A comprehensive suite of teaching strategies is available to adjust and extend each of the learning activities and add to the learning journey of the student and to meet the requirements of the Western Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education.

Reference:

School Curriculum and Standards Authority. http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au Retrieved 18/10/2015