In this episode, Dr. Tess Opie from inyourskin interviews Dr Jacqui Hendriks PhD from Curtin University about what the research is telling us regarding the perception of parents in Relationships and Sexuality education at schools, and what their main concerns are.

This is episode 3 of a 4-part series dedicated to sexual health for tweens and teens. This series is for all the parents, carers and important people in young people’s lives that want to get some answers to all of those tricky questions we have around:

• What’s happening in their world?
• Top tips on what to watch out for.
• What the research is telling us is actually going on.

For Shownotes and More information, visit: https://lifeed.org.au/resources/parents/life-ed-conversations-ep-3/
For more information about Life Ed, visit: http://www.lifeed.org.au
For more resources for this and our following episodes on Sexual Health, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/LifeEdPodcastSexEdResources

Main topics of this episode:

• Dr Jacqui Hendriks conducted a national online survey asking parents with children in primary or secondary school about their support for relationship and sexuality education (RSE) in schools.
• Overwhelmingly, 90% of parents were supportive of RSE being taught in schools and the level of support for 40 specific RSE topics exceeded 95%.
• Some parents had reservations about certain RSE topics, such as gender diversity, sexual orientation, sexual pleasure, and masturbation, but even for these issues, the majority of parents were supportive.
• To address concerns of reluctant parents and caregivers, schools can show them the RSE curriculum materials and have a frank conversation about what topics will be covered, which can alleviate anxiety and equip parents to continue the conversation at home.