In a move that echoes recent attacks on the Safe Schools Coalition, shadow education spokesman Nick Wakeling accused the Andrews government of imposing a "social agenda" on children.

But Education Minister James Merlino hit back, saying it would be naive to think students weren't already exposed to sexualised content when they started high school.

The new program replaced special religious instruction in the curriculum at the start of the year and was developed in response to the Royal Commission into family violence.

One page of a 208-page teaching guide outlining the program invites Year 8 students to write a personal ad for their perfect partner. They are also asked to analyse personal ads including one that reads "lustful, sexually generous funny...seeking sexy freak out with similarly intentioned woman".

The Education Department's Respectful Relationships program. Photo: Department of Education and Training

Details of the program were publicly released in December without any controversy, but made their way to the front page of a News Limited publication on Thursday.

Mr Wakeling said parents had a right to be concerned.

"Daniel Andrews' values are completely warped if he thinks programs like this should be prioritised over English, mathematics and science."

He said he had not received any complaints from parents about the new program.

Education Minister James Merlino said he could understand why some parents might be concerned about exposing children to sexualised content. But he said discussing domestic violence with students was vital to stamping it out.

"We can't as a society stick our heads in the sand and think our kids aren't exposed to this," he told 3AW on Thursday morning.

"If we really want to tackle this scourge, and tackle it over a generation, then we need to engage with our kids at school."

Parents phoned the radio station to raise their concerns about the material.  "What's wrong with a bit of innocence for our kids," caller Brad said.

Domestic Violence spokeswoman Fiona McCormack said a school curriculum that combats domestic violence needed "bipartisan support" and should not be used for political point scoring.

Ms McCormack said she was regularly approached by parents who wanted advice on how to ensure their children did not become involved in gender-based violence.

"We need to get away from this antiquated notion that keeping information from young people will somehow keep them safe, when in fact the opposite is true."

Author of the program, Deakin University's senior lecturer in education Dr Debbie Ollis, hit out at suggestions that the curriculum was inappropriate for students in year 8.

"Kids as young as 11 are accessing pornography and there are kids younger than that who are exposed to sexualised images all the time … we want to give kids the skills to say that's not the reality."

Dr Ollis said the ads challenged gender stereotypes. One student studying the course recently walked out of class in tears after reading a case study involving a boy who had been disrespectful towards girls, she said.

"The teacher followed him out of the class, and the student told her that he didn't want to be that boy, but he realised it was him. It's very powerful. It helps people understand how gender and power operates in everyday relationships."

The Respectful Relationships program will be compulsory for kindergarten to year 12 students from 2017. The Education Department is yet to release the primary and senior secondary year respectful relationships curriculum.

The Andrews government announced on Monday that it would spend $21.8 million over the next two years to expand the program to kindergartens and primary schools.

It would also invest in establishing 120 "lighthouse schools" and training thousands of teachers and up to 4000 early learning professionals to teach the program.