Year 9
Lesson
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65 minutes

GDHR Topics

Learning objective

Students analyse sexual consent and the law through real life scenarios.

Take home messages

  • Consent is the free agreement to do something.
  • Sexual consent must be mutual, freely given, informed, certain, coherent, clear and ongoing.
  • Sexual consent can be withdrawn at any time.
  • Sexual activity without consent is against the law (sexual assault).
  • The laws around sex and consent are there to help protect people from harm and abuse.  
  • Understanding what consent is and the laws around consent is a foundation for respectful relationships and contributes to the prevention of sexual assault.

Materials

Before you get started

  • Consider the timing of this lesson given the possible triggering content. It may be best delivered before a lunch break or at the end of the day so that students have time to process information before another lesson and have time to seek help if required. Be aware that discussing topics such as sexual consent and sexual assault can be upsetting for people as they reflect on their own experiences or that of people close to them.
  • Liaise with the school health team (e.g. Community health nurse, school psychologist) to inform them of the content you will be covering in class. It may be helpful to have these additional adults in these lessons or on standby for any individual or small group work that may need to take place.
  • Protective interrupting - Teachers need to know and understand how to use this technique to prevent students form potentially disclosing sensitive information or abuse in front of other students.
  • Dealing with disclosures - Teachers must be aware of the school and legal procedures if a student discloses personal issues, particularly disclosures of sexual abuse.
  • Exploring my own values - Consider your own thoughts, feelings, attitudes and values on this topic and be aware of how they may influence the way you present this activity. Be aware of your own self-care and support networks.
  • Preview Tea and consent (2min 50sec video) to determine suitability for your students. NB: There are a number of versions of this video online. Some contain expletives and some are spoofs of the video - please check that you have the correct video before use.

Learning activities

Group agreement and where to go for support

10 min

Teaching tip: A group agreement must be established before any Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) program begins to ensure a safe learning environment. Read Essential Tool: Establishing a group agreement for tips on how to create one and what to include.

  1. Revise or create the class group agreement.
  2. Remind students that throughout the lesson they can write any questions down and add them to the question box at the end of the lesson (if they do not wish to ask them during the lesson). See Essential information - Setting up a question box.

Trigger warning: Let students know you will be talking about sexual consent. Some suggested wording on this: "Today we are talking about sexual consent sexual assault. Please let me know if you need to take a break as these topics can sometimes be difficult for people." 

  1. Before we start, let's check that everyone knows where to go for help if you want to check anything that this lesson raises for you. 

Who are some trusted adults you can talk to?

(Possible answers: parents, grandparents, teacher, older siblings, doctor, other family members)

Teaching tip: It is important not to tell students who their trusted adults are or should be. You can offer a list of suggestions of who they might be. For some students, some of the people you suggest, may not be people that are safe for them to talk to. Students should not be made to share their list of trusted adults publicly unless they wish to do so.

Who are some people at this school that you can talk to?

(Possible answers: class teacher, other teachers, school psychologist, community health nurse, youth workers)

What services and online support is available?

(Possible answers: Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC), Kidshelpline, Headspace, Sexual Health Quarters, Beyond Blue, 1800 Respect)

What is consent?

15 minutes

  1. Ask for a volunteer to bring an item belonging to them (e.g. a pencil) to the front of the class to model the following examples of consent/not consent and you would like the class to respond whether consent was asked appropriately and given appropriately.

Teaching tip: You may want to consider printing off this script so it is clear for the volunteer which examples you are demonstrating. 

Person 1: "May I borrow your pencil please?" Person 2: "Yes" (hands pencil) Person 1: (takes pencil)

Say:  "This is clear, affirmative consent."

Person 1: "May I borrow your pencil please?" Person 2: (no answer) Person 1: (takes pencil)

Say:  "Even though, I asked politely, I did not get consent. The absence of a 'no' is not a 'yes'."

Person 1: "May I borrow your pencil please?" Person 2: "No, sorry." Person 1: "Awww, come on. I let you use my pen last week". Person 2: "Errr, hmmm, OK I guess."

Ask:  "Is this consent?" 

(no, it has been coerced or pressured).

Person 1: "May I borrow your pencil please?" Person 2: (nods head, smiles and hands pencil)

Ask:  "Is this consent?" 

(yes, non-verbal consent)

Ask:  "What if they weren't smiling and nodding?" 

(unclear if consent has been given). 

Ask:  "How could we check to make sure we have consent?" 

(ask the person again, ask for clarification, not take the pencil until we are sure).

Ask:  "What if they let me borrow their pencil yesterday?" 

(Not consent - consent has to be given on each occasion).

Ask:  "What if I took the pencil and used it to scratch under my armpit?" 

(Not consent. It is unlikely the person understood what they were agreeing to). 

Ask:  "What if I borrow the pencil and then they change their mind and want the pencil back?" 

(consent has been removed and the pencil should be returned).

  1. Say:

"The same principles apply to consent in sexual situations. Consent must be certain, clear, informed, freely given, and it can be removed at any time. Consent is important for all people, of all sexualities and in all kinds of relationships. Consent is a fundamental part of respectful relationships. Now we are going to look at consent in more detail"

Optional activity: Video - Tea and consent

  1. Say:

"We are going to watch a 3 minute video that uses drinking tea as an analogy for sexual consent"

  1. Watch: Tea and consent (2min 50sec video)
  2. Ask:

What did you think about the video? 

What were the key messages of the video?

(Possible answers: consent can be removed, you can't make someone consent, you can change your mind, it's ok to change your mind, unconscious people can't consent, consenting last week does not mean consenting this week)

What does consent look like, feel like, sound like? 

10 minutes

  1. Divide class into groups of 4-6 using Grouping strategy: Birthday line up
  2. Ask:

How did you communicate your birthday to others?

(Using my fingers, wrote it down, pointed to a calendar /display in the room)

How difficult was it to line up without talking?

Were there any miscommunications?

What would make it easier to check the non-verbal communication?

(Ask them, verbal communication)

  1. Say:

"Communication is vital for sexual consent. Consent and communication between sexual partners is the foundation for respectful, safe, mutual sexual experiences. It is everyone’s responsibility to check that their sexual partners are enthusiastically consenting to any sexual activities. Let's explore some different ways that consent may be communicated."

  1. Use Teaching Strategy: Y chart to explore what consent looks like, feels like, sounds like.

Teaching tip: Depending on your classroom demographics, you can do this activity as a whole class or separate them into groups. You can use the birthday line-up to help with creating groups if you want to split students up from people they sit with. You may wish to have additional adults assisting with this activity or to do the activity as a whole class if you feel the class require closer guidance.

Possible answers:

Looks likeFeels likeSounds like

Kissing you back

Touching you back

16 years and older

Someone voluntarily taking their clothes off

Smiling 

Looking at you 

Everyone involved wants to be there

Pleasurable

Not drunk or drugged

Freely given (not pressured or coerced)

Safe

Them pulling you closer

Happy 

Enthusiastic 'Yes!'

"That feels good"

"Keep going"

"Sure"

"Do it again"

 

Clear! 

Continually checking in by asking:

Asking 'Is this OK?',

'Does this feel good?'

'Would you like to try?'

  1. Say: 

"It is important to remember that consent is an ongoing conversation. Each of these answers are just examples of things that might help to determine if someone is consenting. It is important to keep checking in with a partner.

When it comes to consent, the absence of no does not mean a 'yes'. Uncertainty, hesitation, umming and ahhing are NOT signs of enthusiastic consent. It’s important to be aware of verbal or non-verbal signs from sexual partners. 

Saying ‘Stop’, I’m not sure’, ‘Can we slow down?’ or changing the subject are all examples of how people might indicate they are not consenting. A person who is not consenting might give non-verbal signs instead of saying ‘no’, like not responding to touch, silence, turning away, pushing a partner away, crying or freezing.

Although we can communicate and consent non-verbally, the only way to be sure a partner consenting is to ask. And the best, most clear way to give enthusiastic consent is to say it - 'Yes!'

Without consent, sexual activity is sexual assault. Experiencing sexual assault can have significant impacts on a person’s physical and mental health throughout their lifetime. The harm caused by sexual assault impacts individuals, families and communities. 

If you are not sure if your partner is consenting but you keep going anyway, it is not only not ok and harmful — it is against the law." 

Sex and the law

10 minutes

  1. You can look at the Youth Law Australia website and demonstrate how to navigate to the WA laws and the section on Sex and consent or discuss these questions as a whole class or ask them to remain in their groups to discuss.
  2. Ask:

What is legal age of consent in WA?

(In WA, the legal age of consent is 16. This means when you are 16 years or older, you can have sex with another person aged 16 or older as long as you are both freely consenting. However, it is a crime for a person who is caring for you, supervising you or has authority over you (like a teacher, coach, boss) to have sex with you while you are between the ages of 16-18.)

What do we mean by 'sex' when we are talking about the law?

(According to the law, sexual intercourse means when a penis, finger, object or any part of a person is fully or partially inside another person's vagina or anus. Sexual intercourse also includes any kind of oral sex. A sexual act can include a lot of different sexual activities, not only sexual intercourse e.g., kissing, touching, mutual masturbation, making another person watch pornography, sending and receiving sexual pictures. Consent is required for any sexual act. There are a few different laws about sex and consent and different sexual crimes e.g., sexual assault, indecent assault)

Why are there laws around the age of consent in WA?

(The laws around consent are there to protect people from harm and abuse.)

Discussion can be extended to explore cultural expectations and understandings about teenage sexual relationships: 

  • How do the laws about consensual sex differ from the unwritten rules or expectations?
  • Do the unwritten rules and expectations around teenage sexual relationships vary with age, e.g. would your parents have different ideas about these rules or expectations?
  • Do these unwritten rules and expectations vary depending on where you are, e.g. at school, at a school dance, at a friend’s place, at the park?
  • Do the laws about consensual sex vary with where you are?
  • Where do these unwritten rules and expectations around teenage sexual relationships come from?
  1. Stress that regardless of age, if someone has not given consent to sexual activity and it has taken place, it is a crime.

Consent scenarios

15 minutes

Students apply their knowledge of sexual consent to scenarios.

  1. Provide each small group with a copy of the Teaching Resource: Consent scenarios student activity sheet and allocate each group a different scenario to work through.
  2. Ask students to read the scenario and associated questions they have been given. Ask the students to identify the key points, discuss whether the situation is consensual or not and provide reasons for their answers.
  3. Have each group share their scenario and findings with the whole class.
  4. Discuss questions or concerns and clarify any inconsistencies as they arise supported by the Teaching Resource: Consent scenarios teacher answer sheet.

3-2-1 Reflection

5 minutes

  1. Students write on a prepared worksheet or in a journal:

    3 x Recalls: Write three facts the legal aspects of consent 

    (Possible answers: legal age of consent in WA is 16, must be willing and want to have sex, must be able to give consent (e.g. not drunk or high)) 

    2 x So what's: write two things about why consent information is relevant and important.

    (Possible answers: stops you from hurting someone, important for future relationships, teach other people) 

    1 x questions: write one question they have about consent. 

  2. Remind students that you are hurting someone when you sex without consent, and that is considered a crime.
  3. Remind students of the trusted adults exercise at the start of the lesson and recommend the following services for extra support: the school psychologist, school nurse, the Legal Aid WA InfoLine, Aboriginal Legal Service of WA, Sexual Assault Resource Centre or the police.

Health promoting schools

Background teacher note: health promoting schools framework. 

Partnerships 

Families

School staff

  • Have the school psychologist, youth worker or student support team provide information on what services are available to support students who may be struggling.

Education 

Professional development 

  • Organise Legal Aid WA to do a presentation around the WA laws for sexual consent prior to delivering this lesson. 

Environment 

Policy and procedure

  • Ensure staff are well-versed in the policies regarding responding to disclosures of abuse and assault. 

Have a question?

Email the GDHR Team at gdhr@health.wa.gov.au

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