A Victorian school which asked all male students to stand up in an assembly and apologise for their gender has acknowledged the move was “inappropriate”.

In a whole school assembly discussing respect for women, the school asked all male students to stand.

Danielle Shepherd says her son, who is in year seven at the school, was “confused and upset” after the incident.

“They were all asked to stand in solidarity to apologies to the female gender on behalf of their gender,” she told 2GB Radio.

“He now has this miss conception that all boys are now looked at as predators.”

The school later apologised and admitted it was “inappropriate”.

President of the State School Teachers Union of WA, Pat Byrne, says teaching consent and gender equality in schools is important, but this method is not effective.

“There needs to be widespread cultural change … the question is how you go about doing it, and I would suggest that, that was probably not a good choice,” she told 6PR’s Liam Bartlett

“It actually requires significant curriculum change, it requires change of practice, there is a whole raft of things that need to happen.”

Independent parenting expert Clair Orange told Liam Bartlett it can have a “catastrophic” effect on a child’s mental health.

“It’s not just inappropriate, it’s down right damaging.”

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(Photo: iStock by Getty Images.)