Respectful Relationships (RR) is a whole-school approach to the prevention of family and gender-based violence. It aims to create a culture of respect and equality now, and to change the story of family violence for future generations.

The ‘Critical Friend Network’ (CFN) is an innovative strategy which utilises local family violence prevention and Prevention of Violence Against Women (PVAW) practitioners to offer schools best-practice advice and guidance to improve their Respectful Relationships implementation.

This evaluation report reflects feedback received from Critical Friends during a consultation held in February 2024. We aimed to:

  • capture critical friends’ experience of participating in the network and the community of practice.
  • evaluate the ways in which the network has contributed to the Respectful Relationships whole of school approach.
  • understand what the future could look like for the Critical Friends Network.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • The Critical Friends felt well supported by WHISE and enjoyed coming together for the communities of practice where they learned from each other and left motivated and inspired to engage their partner schools,
  • The CF’s reported that participation had increased their confidence and capacity to support their schools with RR whole of school approach.
  • The partnership between WHISE and DET created opportunities for CF’s and Schools to connect and work together on shared goals.
  • Opportunities for future learning include aligning mental health and respectful relationships initiatives, reaching out to single sex schools and other specialist schools to build their capability in respectful relationships.

Resource Downloads

Focus Area(s): ,
All Resources