by The eighth national study of 4,396 students aged 14 to 18 points to gaps in help-seeking, awareness of free services and safety within relationships
Every few years, researchers in Australia ask secondary students about their sexual health in an anonymous national survey. The eighth round, the Australian Survey of Secondary Students and Sexual Health, released on May 28, 2026 by the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University, drew on 4,396 young people aged 14 to 18. Reported by Education Matters, its findings are a useful check on how well school programmes work. This article reports the education and health-service findings and the relationship-safety data, and leaves out detail that is not needed for that purpose.
About the Study
The survey was funded by the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and led by Professor Jennifer Power. Data were collected through an anonymous online survey between October 2024 and April 2025. The anonymity matters: young people are more likely to answer honestly when they cannot be identified. As with any self-selected online survey, the participants may not perfectly represent all Australian teenagers, but the sample size and the long run of earlier rounds give the study weight.
Education: Delivered but Not Always Useful
Ninety-two percent of respondents had received relationships and sexuality education at school, but only 45 percent found it relevant. The topics most often covered were puberty and reproduction (92 percent), consent (82 percent) and respectful relationships (73 percent). Only 44 percent learned where to get help for sexual issues, and just 11 percent received lessons answering practical questions. The gap between coverage and usefulness suggests that content is being delivered in a way that does not connect with what young people need to know.
Help-Seeking and Services
Nineteen percent of respondents needed help for sexual issues but could not get it. Forty-one percent did not know that young people can access free sexual health services, 47 percent did not know where to find a doctor for testing for sexually transmitted infections, and 44 percent were unaware they could get their own Medicare card before the age of 18. Only 12 percent of young people had ever had a screening or checkup for infections. These are practical barriers, and they are fixable: information about where to go, what it costs and who will keep it confidential could be built into school programmes and promoted online.
Safety in Relationships
Among respondents who had been in a relationship lasting more than three months (61 percent of the sample), 37 percent had felt frightened of a partner, 44 percent had experienced verbal abuse, 31 percent had experienced technology-facilitated harassment or tracking, and 18 percent had experienced physical violence. Young women reported violence, harassment or fear within relationships more often than young men. The findings are difficult to read, and they show why education on respectful relationships, coercive control and digital harassment matters.
The survey also found that 21 percent of all respondents had experienced sex they did not want. Among them, a majority said they agreed to avoid upsetting a partner or after being pressured when they had said no, and some said they were too intoxicated to consent or had been physically forced or threatened. These data underline the importance of teaching that consent must be freely given, can be withdrawn and cannot be given under pressure or when someone is incapacitated.
What the Researchers Said
The article does not list formal recommendations. It highlights urgent gaps in consent education, support services and help-seeking pathways. Professor Power said the field needs to do more to engage with young people on these issues and called for finding ways to direct young people to quality safe online resources. That last point matters because many teenagers look for information online, where quality varies widely. A related report from Child Mags raised the same question of whether sex and consent education is really working.
What Parents and Teachers Can Do
Parents can start conversations early and keep them going, answering questions calmly and factually, and making clear that a young person can come to them without punishment. Teachers can use students’ own questions to shape lessons, include practical information on services and cover digital life, including pressure to share images and online harassment. Schools can invite health professionals to explain how services work and what privacy rules apply. Young people can seek reliable information from their doctor, school nurse or recognised health services.
Anyone, of any age, who is experiencing violence or pressure in a relationship should seek support from a trusted adult or a dedicated helpline in their country. Nobody has to cope alone.
Why It Matters Beyond Australia
Australia’s national series is one of the most thorough in the world, and its findings echo concerns in other countries: school programmes that cover biology but not practical skills, young people who do not know how to access services, and rates of relationship harm that are higher than adults assume. Policymakers elsewhere can learn from the pattern and from the survey’s method.
Our London pages have long observed British attitudes to relationships in a lighter vein, including how Valentine’s Day is not a big deal in Britain, the effect of the health service crisis on dating and a museum’s educational intervention. See also our guide to political humour, and for American coverage Bohiney Magazine.
For some lighter reading, the Daily Squib is open all hours.
SOURCE: bohiney.com
