UniMelb guide to help teachers prevent gender-based violence

A new curriculum resource has been released to help high school teachers learn how to prevent gender-based violence. Connect with Respect: Preventing gender-based violence in schools, authored by University of Melbourne education experts – and supported by various United Nations agencies – aims to help teachers with students aged 11 to 14 who want help break the cycle of violence. Associate professor Helen Cahill, the project’s lead academic and deputy director of Melbourne Graduate School of Education’s Youth Research Centre, said the information would help teachers show students that violence is not acceptable. It also focuses on raising awareness. “There's a program [in the curriculum] that sets up some concepts and language for children,” Cahill explained. “This approach to addressing gender-based violence is not only focused on reducing violence against girls and women, it's also raising awareness of the vulnerability of the young people who are not in the mainstream. They are either same-sex attracted or gender-diverse or they are perceived to be by their peers. These groups of people are very vulnerable to gender-based violence.” Justine Sass, head of UNESCO Bangkok’s HIV Prevention and Health Promotion Unit, said initiatives like this are critical to ending the cycle of gender inequality and gender-based violence. Connect with Respect is available in several languages – including Mandarin and Khmer.