FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7 July 2026
Pronatalism Australia is calling on state and federal education authorities to introduce Family Formation Literacy into Australian secondary schools, giving young people structured preparation for parenthood and family life alongside the prevention-focused sexual health education they already receive. In a new discussion paper released today, the organisation argues that schools prepare students for almost every domain of adult life except one of the most consequential: becoming a parent.
The paper describes a longstanding asymmetry in the curriculum. Where reproduction is taught, it is framed overwhelmingly through prevention, covering contraception, sexually transmitted infections and consent. What students rarely encounter is any structured account of what family life involves, why it matters, or how to prepare for it. Founder Andrew Glover said the imbalance was difficult to defend at a time of falling birth rates.
“As our birth rate falls, we increasingly hope that young people will go on to start families of their own. Yet we spend far more effort teaching them how to avoid becoming parents than preparing them for how to become one,” Mr Glover said. “We seem to expect young people to simply absorb the reasons for having a family, without ever equipping them for it.”
The discussion paper proposes embedding family formation content into existing subjects rather than creating a new one. It recommends teaching the realities and rewards of raising children within health education, evidence-based fertility literacy covering age-related decline and the limits of assisted reproduction, and life-course planning within careers education that considers children and caregiving alongside study, work and housing. The paper notes that Singapore, Japan and Finland already teach elements of family and caregiving competence in their schools.
“Many Australians underestimate how early fertility begins to decline, and by the time they find out their options have often narrowed,” Mr Glover said. “Students deserve an accurate picture of their own biology, and an honest sense of the deep and lasting rewards of family life, which for most parents far outweigh its demands.”
Pronatalism Australia stresses that the proposal is non-coercive, politically neutral and respectful of those who choose not to have children. The organisation has released the paper for public consultation and is inviting responses from educators, parents and policymakers on how schools might better prepare young people for caregiving and family life.
“A society should not be surprised when family formation weakens if it prepares young people for almost everything except that,” Mr Glover said.
Pronatalism Australia’s full discussion paper, Family Formation Literacy, is available at pronatalismaustralia.org/policy-papers/family-formation-literacy.
Media Contact
Andrew Glover, Founder, Pronatalism Australia
Email: info@pronatalismaustralia.org
Web: www.pronatalismaustralia.org