In 1985, the Protective Behaviours Program was officially endorsed and introduced in South Australian schools. Its introduction was seen as important in countering the commonly held notion at that time that strangers posed the greatest risk to children and young people and it recognised the traditional role that schools played in teaching children and young people to keep themselves safe. Although it was well supported in its early years, the program was never fully adopted (Johnson 1995).

In 1990, Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and, in 1993, South Australia passed the Children’s Protection Act 1993 (updated to the South Australia Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017).

In 1998, the Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS) Child Protection Policy was distributed to all school principals, preschool directors, institute directors and worksite managers. On the release of this policy, the Chief Executive stated: ‘I require all staff to make this policy the foundation for our work in child protection and abuse prevention’. The policy was revised in 2011 with the release of the Child protection in schools, early childhood education and care services policy (updated to the Safeguarding children and young people policy).

In April 2003, the Layton Child Protection Review, Our best investment: A state plan to protect and advance the interests of children, included recommendations about the teaching of child protection education across all school and preschool sites. The recommendations supported the findings of the 2002 Department of Education and Children’s Services (DECS) consultation that child protection education should be revitalised and redeveloped and aligned with the South Australian Curriculum, Standards and  accountability (SACSA) Framework.

The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum (KS:CPC) is a child safety and respectful relationships  curriculum for children and young people from birth to year 12 (age 17+). As an evidence-based curriculum, it is highly regarded in Australia and worldwide due to its depth of content, breadth of learning and contemporary nature.

An extensive state-wide professional learning program to support staff delivering the KS:CPC was conducted by DECS in 2006 and 2008. Approximately 18,000 staff were trained during this time. In 2024 more than 45,000 staff have received the full day KS:CPC Educator course.

The KS:CPC was identified as a leading practice program by the Australian Government which subsequently provided funding under the Respectful Relationships program for an independent evaluation to be conducted in 2010. The evaluation conducted by KPMG demonstrated that the KS:CPC is:

• well regarded and seen as best practice by educators
• having a positive impact
• flexible and capable of being used in a range of different contexts.

In March 2011, the Minister for Education commissioned Mr Bill Cossey to review aspects of the former Department’s processes and procedures in relation to bullying and violence in schools. Following this review, the Government recommended that the department would update the cyberbullying content of the KS:CPC.

In 2013 the curriculum was reviewed and updated to align with current curriculum, pedagogy and contemporary issues.

In 2017 the curriculum was updated in response to the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children 2010–2022 (now 2022-2023) and feedback from educators.

In 2021 online safety and consent concepts were updated to match contemporary language and information, and to strengthen concepts at an age and developmentally appropriate level.

In 2022-24, a major review of the KS:CPC was conducted through an extensive consultation process that included:

• expert advisory group – Associate Professor Elspeth McInnes (University of South Australia); Dr Brendan Bentley (University of Adelaide); Dr Deborah Green (University of South Australia); Dr Deborah Price (University of South Australia); Dr Lesley-Anne Ey (University of South Australia); Ms Jackie Thomson (Flinders University); Ms Rachael Hedger (Flinders University); Professor Kerryann Walsh (Queensland University of Technology).
• subject matter experts – Aboriginal education; Australian Curriculum; behaviour and bullying; child protection; disability and inclusive practices; diversity and inclusion; domestic and family violence; early years; English as an additional language or dialect; flexible learning options; harmful sexual behaviours; international education; online safety; primary years; relationships and sexual health; respectful relationships; secondary years; trauma-informed practice; wellbeing and mental health.
• Educators – leaders, teachers and educators from early to secondary years state-wide, nationally and internationally.
• Stakeholders – Catholic Education SA; Association of Independent Schools SA; Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation; The eSafety Commissioner; SHINE SA; Our Watch.

Key changes included but are not limited to:

• development of the KS:CPC framework
• documents increased from 5 to 7 – Birth to age 5, Foundation to Year 2, Years 3 to 4, Years 5 to 6, Years 7 to 8, Years 9 to 10, Years 11 to 12
• key information from the Aboriginal children and young people, children and young people with disability and additional needs, culturally and linguistically diverse children and young people support materials embedded
• alignment with contemporary evidence
• realignment of the sequence of topics for age and developmental appropriateness
• activities updated and aligned with the framework, aims and contemporary evidence
• audit and update of all topics, concepts and external resources.