A new teaching kit for Victorian schools hopes to breathe new life into awkward sex education classes by including advice on how to use condoms from well-known Australian actors.
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A light-hearted DVD will be released to Australian schools this week in response to La Trobe University research that revealed more than 40 per cent of teenagers did not use condoms when they last had sex.
It stars Ian Smith, well-known for his role as Harold Bishop on Neighbours, who plays the grandfather of a teenage girl who is about to go on her first date. He dishes out advice to students on how to use and dispose of a condom, and is filmed tying a knot in a condom and with a pink rubber "demonstrator".
"Unlike me, condoms don't age so well," the well-known television personality says.
"Damaged condoms are about as useful as hand cream to a crab."
Kevin Harrington, who is known from The Dish, Red Hill and SeaChange, plays a father who is worried about his daughter going on a date.
La Trobe Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society researcher Pam Blackman said she hoped the short film removed the embarrassment that often plagued sex education classes.
"It's about kids talking about sex together, being able to laugh together. It wasn't full of guilt, which was one of the things I went through."
Ms Blackman, who is a former secondary school teacher, said the quality of sex education in Victoria was "mixed".
"Some teachers are doing a great job but we know in some schools you don't always get that and it becomes very biological ... Young people were very clear in our research; they wanted to talk about relationships rather than biological."
She said schools played a vital role in the delivery of sex education, because students often felt embarrassed about talking about sex with their parents.
A major study by La Trobe University, the fifth National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health, unveiled that 23 per cent of year 10 students and 50 per cent of year 12s have had sex. It also found that 86 per cent of sexually active students used condoms if they were available.
The Ask Grandad DVD and teaching kit is a collaboration between La Trobe University, EntertainThinkInspire and condom maker Ansell.
Ansell have funded the free kits, which contain condoms and will be delivered to schools who register.
Melbourne Girls' College in Richmond was one of three Australian schools that trialled the resource last year. The school's head of physical education and health Katherine Chan said year 9 students laughed and engaged with the short film.
"It's important that you have a resource where students can learn about making informed decisions. It's not just about putting condoms on, it's about relationships and also addressing misconceptions from students who come from an array of backgrounds. They all come in with different expectations and experiences."
