The department provides comprehensive resources on mandatory reporting requirements for teaching staff, Ms King said. But the recent flood of stories on sexual consent indicated students were beginning to find their voice about abuse where previously they might have remained silent.

“There are real proactive measures in schools to develop understanding but also instil confidence in students to be able to speak up, because at the end of the day if leaders don’t know about it they can’t act on it,” Ms King said.

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“Sometimes for whatever reason, young adolescents may not understand that they may have been sexually assaulted, because they don’t necessarily understand what that constitutes.”

Joanna Barbousas, Dean of La Trobe University’s School of Education, said pre-service teachers receive rigorous training about their obligations to report abuse, via a combination of coursework and case-study scenarios.

“It is very much part of teacher education,” Professor Barbousas said. “It’s pretty much embedded across years one to four if you’re doing a four-year degree.”

A growing number of girls from Melbourne’s Wesley College and other independent schools, and also parents, have disclosed disturbing incidents to The Age of sexual harassment and abuse in their school communities.

One current Wesley student claimed she had “been groped multiple times on school grounds, one of which was witnessed by a teacher who empathised with me but didn’t do anything about it”.

Several other Wesley girls said they had raised allegations of harassment or assault on campus but the issues had not been dealt with.

Wesley’s principal, Nick Evans, apologised to students and families last week and said the flood of complaints were “a call to action” for the school.

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In Victoria, all registered teachers and principals are “mandatory reporters” by law.

Under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005, mandatory reporters are advised that they must make a report to child protection, if they “form a belief on reasonable grounds that a child is in need of protection from physical injury or sexual abuse”.

The Department of Education notes that child protection services should be contacted by teachers in certain cases of student on student sexual offending.

This includes if the victim’s parents are unable or unwilling to protect the child, or if the student who perpetrated the assault is between 10 and 15 and may need treatment to address their behaviour, or could be showing behaviour which indicates they are the victim of child abuse.

“As a school staff member, you must act as soon there is an incident or allegation or you form a suspicion that a student is victim to student sexual offending and/or a student has committed student sexual offending,” the department guidelines state.

Teaching staff at government and non-government schools are given online training on their mandatory reporting obligations.

With Wendy Tuohy and Zach Hope

If you or anyone you know needs support call the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence hotline on 1800 737 732