Teaching About Consent: Reflections from an Undergraduate Law Unit

Since the beginning of 2024, it has been a mandatory for schools across Australia to teach consent from pre-primary to Year 10. This is largely in response to research showing that consent is not taught consistently or effectively within schools, as well as activism calling for sexual consent education (including from Australian student Chanel Contos, who runs ‘Teach Us Consent’). So what happens to the students who did not have the benefit of the change in curriculum, some of whom are now tertiary students? In this article, I reflect on my own experiences and perceptions of teaching undergraduate students about consent to sexual activity in the context of a level-one law unit.