Society needed to lose its fear about teenage sexuality if progress was to be made toward good sexual decision-making, she said.
Adolescent sex was not a new problem, but many parents were still in denial about teenagers as sexual beings.
Persuading parents that sexuality education for children was not the same as promoting adolescent sex was probably the most difficult part of her job, Ms Halkett said.
Parents could often be really scared that any mention of sex would lead to early sex by their teenagers. Research showed, however, that sex education did not promote early sexual initiation.
In her education programmes, she emphasised assertiveness, communication and negotiation. She used the image of a sexual road, which had a variety of stages.
Young people would be at different parts of their sexual journey and the way young people travelled down that road belonged to them.
Both sexes could feel peer pressure to be sexually active earlier than they might want to be and the education could give them confidence not to do that.
Some might still choose to be sexually active at an early age and it was important that they knew how to protect their bodies from " bugs and babies".
Pupils were encouraged to discuss situations relevant to them looking at what would be positive and negative experiences and deciding which ones they preferred.
This would include scenarios such as parties and the part alcohol might play in decision-making.
It was unrealistic to say "don't go to parties and don't drink"; rather, it was a matter of encouraging young people to find ways of going to parties and keeping themselves safe.
Ms Halkett (31), who is from Dunedin originally but has been working in a similar role in Christchurch for several years, uses information from the Netherlands in her sessions with parents and teachers.
In the Netherlands, the teen birth rate was much lower than in similar countries, she said.
Since the 1960s, the Netherlands had promoted a community approach to sexuality education with emphasis on openness and acceptance of adolescent sexuality, respecting young people's rights and responsibilities as they sexually matured, rather than following the model of trying to stop young people having sex.
They took a pragmatic rather than a moralistic approach.
The community approach is supported by Ms Halkett, who would like to see age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education implemented well throughout the education system, starting at preschool level with children being taught to use the correct anatomical names for body parts.
The need for awareness of issues surrounding sexuality did not end with schools. Ms Halkett also works in other areas of the community including rest-homes.
