1. Initial Project Aims To increase the capacity of primary schools in partnership with parents to implement a sustainable health and sexuality education program. To build collaborative partnerships between primary and secondary schools and their local community. To develop an integrated approach to health and sexuality education across schools with a focus on the transition years from primary to secondary school. To develop a model that can be used by schools in other districts to implement a sustainable, comprehensive and sequential health and sexuality program that meets these aims. Overview of the Model Initial consultation with stakeholders to form a consortium. Establishment of central community link to facilitate collaboration and to act as a resource and support point. Needs Analysis conducted with teachers, parents and principals of the schools. Tailored two day professional development program with evaluation. Impact evaluation. Follow-up professional development update one year on from initial PD. Initial Consultation with Stakeholders Meetings were held with all key stakeholders (the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Family Planning Victoria and Deakin University) to determine the terms of reference for the consortium. Clear aims and outcomes were identified by the consortium for the scope of the project. The partnership model was clearly documented with input and agreement from all stakeholders. Establishment of central community link and partnership Local community health service was identified to act as an ongoing central support and resource base. This community partnership model increased the capacity of the program to remain sustainable beyond the initial training period. The school and community partnership provided a supportive environment for schools to extend health promotion activities to include community links. Needs Analysis The needs analysis sought to identify both school and community needs and concerns in relation to establishing a program. A range of methods were utilized to collect data. Methods included: Teacher and parent surveys Individual interviews with school principals Focus groups with teachers, parents and principals Resource audit Findings from the needs analysis informed the subsequent development of the professional development program Professional Development Program with Evaluation Process Evaluation An evaluation was conducted at the end of the professional development program. The evaluation revealed that participants: enjoyed the workshops and responded very positively to having been involved in the workshop; reported feeling more confident and comfortable with the idea of teaching sexuality education; all reported that they were either likely or very likely to attempt to teach sexuality education; developed an understanding of the rationale behind delivering sexuality education; felt they could make appropriate curriculum links; developed an understanding of the importance of the role of the classroom teacher; felt they had developed skills and collected valuable resources to help them teach; developed an understanding of the idea of working with parents, though a third of teachers remained uncertain as to whether they would include parents; and overall found the workshop extremely valuable. Follow-up Professional Development update (one year on) One day PD update was run in 2005 with 9 participants from 6 of the original eight schools attending. New resources and updated activities were given out to teachers. All six schools were currently delivering teacher-led sexuality education programs in their primary schools The community partnership link was still operational and networking and support opportunities were utilised by schools Collaborative partnerships still existed between the local secondary school and the cluster of primary schools Key Factors Contributing to Success Intersectoral and collaborative practice Engagement of key stakeholders The presence of the peak funding and regulatory body (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development) Needs Analysis conducted with principals, parents and teachers of each school Professional development program being tailored to the outcomes identified in the Needs Analysis Funding for running the program, CRT release in schools and conduct of the Needs Analysis Central community link established with community worker to act as a resource and support point Opening dialogue and networking opportunities between schools and community health workers Provision of opportunities to increase collaborative partnerships between primary and secondary schools to facilitate an integrated approach across the transition years. Provision of sample program and resource kit for teachers to take away and use. Future Directions Developing a resource package to enable other schools and communities to replicate the model Documenting longitudinal impact evaluation data for all three regions To further develop & evaluate transitional aspects (ie primary to secondary) that relate to the model Recommendation to Department of Education and Early Childhood Development that the model is utilised across other regions in Victoria. Mandy Stevens A, Deana Leahy B A Family Planning Victoria B Deakin University A SUSTAINABLE HEALTH PROMOTION MODEL – Engaging Teachers & the Community Health Sector in Sexuality Education Interventions. “I can’t believe we came from where we did and we did it, we actually did it.” ( Teacher, written response) “I came here not even intending on ever teaching sexuality education. There was no way known. But I am going to go back and give it a go now” (Teacher, written response) ‘we shocked ourselves, and we were comfortable and confident. Not at first but when we ran the program it was fantastic and we surprised ourselves, we really did ’. (Teacher, written response) Source: DHS Victoria Background Primary schools have long been considered important sites for the delivery of sexuality education programs. The reasons behind this have altered over time, as research, theory and policy develop and interact to reshape what sexuality education is and what it is expected to do. Within current policy and curriculum discourse, primary school sexuality education is understood, amongst other things, as constituting a significant platform within “prevention” frameworks. Specifically programs are thought to contribute to easing transitions as well as helping prevent, or reduce, the likelihood of future sexual health ‘problems’. In working towards this, policy discourse advocates that ‘good practice’ is made up of a comprehensive curriculum and effective school and community partnerships. What is interesting however, is that there is very little research into efficacy of the partnership model as it impacts on primary school sexuality education programs. This project is an attempt to both apply and evaluate partnership practices as advocated in the literature. In 2003, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Family Planning Victoria and Deakin University formed a consortium to respond to a community expressed need to develop and implement a sexual health program within a cluster of primary schools in Victoria. From this, a comprehensive health intervention model was developed and evaluated. This model has been replicated across two other regions in Victoria and preliminary evaluations have shown the model to be effective in building capacity within the school community to deliver sustainable sexual health education. Specifically, evaluation has shown that across the three regions teachers had significantly increased in levels of confidence, comfort, knowledge and skill levels. These shifts are now having a sustainable impact on the practice of teachers in the classroom. The findings reported in this poster relate largely to our experiences in one region. Impact Evaluation We sought to determine whether the general improvement in levels of confidence, comfort, knowledge and skills that the teachers reported upon completing the professional development were translated into action in teachers’ respective schools. Data was collected from four schools. Phone interviews were conducted with teachers who had participated in the professional development program. Findings overwhelmingly suggested that the professional development program had a significant impact on teachers, and the programs that they are either planning to, or have already, run. It is clear that teachers’ levels of comfort and confidence have dramatically increased as a result of the professional development, and these shifts are now able to be traced, as they are translated into real changes at the program and classroom level.