If you’re considering booking a Be Wise presentation for your school, you may be wondering:
- How long does the presentation go for?
- How many students can we have in a presentation?
- Is the presentation a one-off or are there other resources we can use?
- What’s the cost?
- Are the presentations suitable for girls?
- What age range are they suitable for?
- How can teachers prepare the students for a presentation?
You may also wish to know:
- What impact on schoolyard behaviour will it have?
- What are some of the common questions students ask?
- What about when they ask if it’s ok to use violence in self-defence?
We’ve delivered presentations to more than 170,000 young people since inception in 2016 – with 2024 shaping up to be our busiest year yet.
Meet Aidan Phelan, part of an experienced team which delivered 398 presentations in 260 schools throughout Australia in 2022-2023, reaching 63,481 students.
In this series of videos, Aidan – who has a background in teaching – covers some of the questions we’re frequently asked.
A presentation that everyone needs to hear
Our Curriculum-aligned Be Wise presentations go for around 60 minutes, allowing time for questions from students.
We believe that the ability to manage anger is one of the most important life skills anyone can have, with the violence-prevention education we offer to students just as valuable beyond the school gates as it is on the playground.
Are the presentations suitable for girls?
The short answer is: Yes!
Although women and non-violent men are in no way responsible for ending male violence, everyone can still be part of a community-wide attitude change that helps prevent all manner of social violence.
Social violence is physical violence between strangers, acquaintances or friends that occurs in a social setting, such as parties, on public transport, at hotels, sports, or community clubs.
While it’s true young men are far more likely to be involved in physical assault, challenging outdated notions of masculinity is only part of what we cover in our presentations.
We also highlight the often devastating impacts of bullying and passive aggressive behaviour – issues not defined by gender. Click here for more on this topic.
But of course, we don’t just leave it there.
It’s crucial that everyone has at least knowledge of strategies to avoid violence in their kitbag of essential life skills.
We explore real-world techniques to assist everyone – and importantly those around them – stay safe in a range of social settings.
How much does a presentation cost, and how many students can sit in on a single session?
There is no maximum number of students per presentation. Although we have presented to audiences of up to 500 students, we generally present to groups of around 200.
The smaller the group, the more impact the presentation has – generally speaking. For larger groups we always recommend schools accommodate students in comfortable surrounds rather sitting on the floor.
Each presentation costs $850 plus GST. In our home base of Victoria however, we provide one fully-funded presentation per school per year.
Is it OK to use violence in self-defence?
The notion that the use of violence is justified in self-defence generates a lot of debate in the broader community.
Naturally, it’s also one of the most common questions from students, often paired with scenarios such as: “What if someone gives your family disrespect?” or “What about when walking away from a situation becomes very difficult?”
To make our position clear – we do not believe in the use of violence to settle an argument. Each year in Australia, thousands of serious injuries stemming from senseless social violence could easily be avoided.
Unfortunately, there are lots of scenarios in which young people have been conditioned to respond to with violence, without recourse to other alternatives. This is where we come in.
How can teachers prepare students for a presentation?
Teachers often ask whether they can speak to anyone from the Foundation prior to a presentation.
The answer is yes. When your school makes a booking, the Foundation will get in touch beforehand to run through any concerns, incidents or issues with the school cohort in order to deliver the best possible presentation.
The Foundation also provides teachers with pre and post-presentation resources to assist with discussing topics to the students and resources to send home to parents/guardians.
What results are the presentations having on schoolyard behaviour?
Tackling schoolyard violence is no easy task, but we’re notching up some significant wins – backed by one of the largest surveys of its kind in Australia.
A recently completed Foundation poll of 17,000 high school students across the country reveals that 33 per cent believe fighting can be a way to have fun.
Almost one-third like to watch fights at school, and 37.6 per cent think that some things need to be solved by force.
Those figures drop markedly immediately after delivery of the organisation’s “Violence is Never OK” and follow-on “Rethinking Anger” presentations in classrooms.
The percentage of students who think that fighting can be a way to have fun goes down from 33 per cent to 23 per cent, and similarly those who like to watch fights at school reduces from 33 per cent to 26.1 per cent.
We’ve also sampled male students only for a very specific question about why people might be motivated to engage in violence.
Before our presentations 44 per cent of males agree that most people respect those who use physical force. After the presentation, only 28.4 per cent hold that view, which is a fundamental shift in mindset.
Is the presentation a one-off or are there other resources we can use?
We offer two face-to-face presentations for high school students – “Violence is Never Ok” as well as a follow-on session called “Rethinking Anger” (diving deeper into specific strategies for defusing confrontation) as part of a comprehensive Prep-Year 12 Violence Prevention Education program.
The presentations are suitable for students aged 13 and above.
In addition to the presentations, we offer an engaging five-part eLearning package aligned to the Australian curriculum. The modules cover: the consequences of violence, actions to end the Coward Punch, managing anger, risk awareness and avoidance and contributing to change by responding to social violence.
We also offer an Act Kindly Activity Kit for primary schoolchildren, including an age-appropriate version of the Violence is Never OK presentation.
Book a presentation today
While based in Melbourne, we deliver presentations Australia-wide.
Outside Victoria, we’re currently taking bookings for schools in:
- Perth: Monday, March 11-Friday, March 15
- Canberra: Tuesday, March 26-Thursday, March 28
- Darwin: Monday, May 6 – Friday, May 10
- Sydney: Monday, May 27-Friday, May 31
- Tasmania: Monday, July 1 – Friday, July 5
- Sydney/Newcastle: Monday, September 2 – Friday, September 6
- Alice Springs: Monday, October 28-Wednesday, October 30
- Tasmania: Monday, September 23 – Friday, September 27
- Adelaide: Monday, November 11 – Thursday, November 14
- Sydney: Monday, November.25 – Friday, November 29
Find out more here.
