Teachers’ comfort levels, personal knowledge and positive attitudes toward their own and others’ sexuality are vital if they are to be effective sexuality educators. Teachers who do not feel comfortable are likely to disregard essential parts of the curriculum because of their own feelings of inadequacy. More than 500 school based personnel (teachers/school nurses/Aboriginal Education Officers/parents) attended two or three day train-the-trainer workshops either in the metropolitan Perth area or selected country regions over a 4 year period and all completed pre and post evaluations. After the training, 99% of teachers felt motivated to make use of the GDHR materials with their primary or secondary school students. There were also significant increases in skill levels regarding the use of the GDHR materials (pre 3.5/5 and post 4.6/5) and, most importantly, 76% of the teachers/school nurses went on to deliver training to their peers back in their own schools and/or districts. Delivering workshops to remote communities (Kimberley, Goldfields, Ngaanyatjarra Lands) is challenging due to many factors including size of the State, costs associated with delivering training to remote areas, and lack of relief staff. Despite the many challenges, WA Department of Health has prioritised training in these regions and the outcomes and learnings from these workshops will also be discussed.
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