A female teacher taking a sexual health class at a western suburbs high school has been temporarily put “on leave” after allegedly making “sexual thrusting motions” behind a male student.
The Advertiser can reveal the Department for Education has launched an investigation into an incident at the school on Tuesday in which the teacher allegedly used a “role play” scenario to demonstrate sexual harassment.
The Advertiser is not naming the school.
According to a student’s parent, the teacher asked a group of boys to come to the front of the class before dropping a pen.
The teacher then asked one of the boys to pick the pen up, at which point she made “sexual thrusting motions” behind the teenager, the parent claimed.
A Department for Education spokeswoman said parents were informed prior to the lesson taking place about the relationships and sexual health education being provided – but that the “delivery of the lesson did not meet the standard expected”.
“The teacher is on leave while the department continues its investigation,” she said on Friday.
The parent called the description “concerning and uncomfortable”, given the students’ age, and said she had questioned the school if the demonstration was considered appropriate.
The parent said she wasn’t suggesting the teacher intended to make students uncomfortable – nor was she making allegations about the teacher – but was concerned about the teaching method, and was asking if there were more appropriate ways to teach sexual health education.
The parent said the school had told her the lesson was “intended to demonstrate and model the concept of sexual harassment through explicit teaching, role play and hypothetical scenarios”.
The teaching method, it said, was in line with both the Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum and Shine SA program.
On Thursday, a Department for Education spokeswoman said the alleged conduct was “unacceptable”.
“The Department has been made aware of the matter raised by a parent in relation to a lesson about respectful relationships and sexual harassment,” she said.
“This complaint is being taken seriously and investigated by the department.
“The conduct reported in the complaint is unacceptable. We are sorry for the distress this has caused the student and their family.”
It comes after Riverland students were exposed to the concept of bestiality and incest during a 2024 ‘Respectful Relationships’ class run by headspace Berri, a mental health organisation operated by non-profit FocusOne Health.
Some teen girls reportedly felt so uncomfortable they asked to go to the toilet and never returned to the classroom, and the school apologised and launched an investigation.
Riverland mother Nicki Gaylard withdrew her children from the school and in April launched a $250,000 lawsuit against the state government and Renmark High School principal Matthew Evans.
In its defence filed with the District Court, the state government admitted “that it owed a duty of care” to Courtney “and that this duty of care was breached”, but denied Courtney or her mother “suffered harm as a result of the admitted breach”.