The Victorian government will seek to counter the influence of “Andrew Tate-types” on children as it rolls out new respectful relationship strategies to schools.
The education minister, Ben Carroll, on Wednesday said the government’s respectful relationships teaching program would be updated, as part of a push to get it into more Catholic and independent schools.
Currently, about 2,000 government schools and 370 Catholic and independent schools teach the program, which was a key recommendation of the 2015 royal commission into family violence, and works to promote gender equity and tackle stereotypes.
But Carroll conceded the program did not take into account the huge growth in popularity of figures such as Tate, a former kickboxer and self-proclaimed misogynist, and other so-called “alpha male” influencers.
“More and more, we are seeing unhealthy masculinity on the internet and in our classrooms,” he told reporters outside parliament.
Carroll said the new content would focus on secondary school students, and would teach them how to recognise hate speech and coercive control online.
There would also be a focus on issues such as consent, sextortion, pornography and gender-based bullying, after several recent scandals at schools. They include the dissemination of fake, sexually explicit images of female students created with artificial intelligence, as well as the sharing of a spreadsheet that ranked the attractiveness of students.
Carroll said social media algorithms had introduced young men to Tate. He said they may be interested in videos on mindsets, wealth creation and fitness, but were then exposed to “toxic masculinity”.
It follows similar moves internationally. In England, teachers are being advised by the government to help develop positive male influencers amid concerns over a rise in sexism and misogyny linked to social media influencers.
Carroll said it was important boys and young men have the right role models to build positive behaviours.
“There’s no such thing as getting to the top easily. You’ve got to work hard, pay attention in school and work very diligently,” Carroll said.
“There are a lot of things we have to work out and continue to make sure that kids’ focus is on the classroom.”
He said the government would also consider more resources for older primary school students, after feedback from principals.
“Grade 5 and grade 6 are where we probably have to continue to look at. So we are certainly continuing to look at the program, what we can do to broaden it, to strengthen it,” he said.
The new resources were developed by education experts Prof Helen Cahill and Associate Prof Debbie Ollis in consultation with teachers, students and parents and after similar moves internationally.
Additional reporting by Caitlin Cassidy
