For the first time in 20 years, New Zealand’s relationship and sexuality education (RSE) curriculum is set to be reviewed, announced Education Minister Erica Stanford this week. A report from the Education Review Office (ERO) has shown misinformation, bigotry, and threats of violence have undermined some schools’ attempts at RSE. Educators, teachers, and students have made calls for the curriculum to be standardised, but the politicised nature of gender and sexuality issues today has both sides of the story tense.
The ERO report which found that RSE is too inconsistent nationwide covers many issues, from consent, pornography, and misinformation online to bullying, personal safety, trans and rainbow education, and sexuality education. Head of ERO’s education evaluation centre Ruth Shinoda says that young people are increasingly exposed to risks, including harmful online content.
“For example, two-thirds of our country’s 14 – 17-year-olds have seen pornography. We know that this can impact on students’ perceptions of healthy sexual behaviours,” she says.
“Relationships and sexuality education plays an important role in teaching students to identify and reject misinformation and harmful attitudes. Nearly all parents and students want relationships and sexuality education taught in New Zealand’s schools.”
The matter is how. Parents and students don’t always agree on what should be taught and when. ERO found that one third of parents want relationships and sexuality education taught differently.
“Nearly a quarter of schools deliver relationships and sexuality education on an ad-hoc basis. In addition to this, too many of our young people are reporting that they didn’t learn enough at school. Over three-quarters of recent school leavers told us that they didn’t learn enough about consent, managing feelings and emotions, and personal safety, including online,” Ruth says.
ERO found that students and parents are most split on when and how much they should learn about gender and sexual identity. Many parents also want students to learn more about consent. Boys want to learn all topics later than girls, and fathers want less relationships and sexuality education taught than mothers.
“This makes it very challenging for schools who are caught in the middle and have to consult and decide what to teach. Schools find this difficult and teachers find it stressful – almost half of school leaders report consulting is challenging. This can lead schools to reduce or avoid teaching relationships and sexuality education, and students miss out on core knowledge.
“Relationships and sexuality education is too important to leave to chance and we need to make it easier for schools so they can focus on teaching. We also need to make sure parents can choose what their child learns.”
Forming a Clearer RSE Curriculum
ERO recommends clarifying the core knowledge and skills that all students need and increasingly RSE in senior secondary schools when students need it most. The Government welcomed the ERO report, which Education Minister Erica Stanford says confirms the way RSE is taught in schools isn’t fit for purpose.
“In a world that’s rapidly changing, young people deserve every opportunity to be equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive and interact positively and respectfully with others. RSE has an important role to play in that,” the Minister says.
“The RSE Curriculum will be refreshed for the first time in nearly 20 years, in that time society has shifted significantly. The Ministry of Education will convene a group of curriculum writers with expertise in RSE to develop a new curriculum which explicitly lays out what gets taught and when.
“A draft of the topic areas to be taught will be available from Term 1 with consultation open later in 2025. This will coincide with the current gender, sexuality and relationship-based education guidelines being removed by the end of the first term. This will meet a coalition commitment between National and New Zealand First.”
New Zealand Post Primary Teachers’ Association (NZPPTA) President Chris Abercrombie also welcomes the report. “In particular, the recommendation to move away from the current ad hoc practice towards a more prescriptive and structured approach is one we support in this case. RSE is too important to be left to chance, and often much of the material is outside of the lived experience of those delivering the curriculum. A structured approach ensures age-appropriate, identity-affirming information is delivered across the board,” he says.
Informing Parents, Rather than Consulting
The Education Review Office (ERO) also calls for schools to be required to inform and explain to parents what will be taught in RSE rather than consult with caregivers as the current process asks. The ERO wants schools to ensure parents know how they can withdraw their students from RSE classes if what is being taught isn’t what they want for their child.
NZPPTA President Chris Abercrombie says the association acknowledges the challenge that principals and schools face when consulting with their communities on the RSE guidelines.
“This process can be difficult and divisive. We support the recommendation to consider moving from a two-yearly consultation requirement to one that requires schools to inform parents and whānau about what they plan to teach, and how, before teaching it.
This knowledge will enable parents, whānau, and their young person to make decisions about what is right for them. For the minority that want less RSE, they would be better able to identity the lessons they wish to withdraw from, and the same would be true for those who wish to know more. With a clear understanding of what is not being taught, they can supplement the learning in their own homes”.
“We know that often there is a narrow view of what RSE is. In most cases it is about helping young people understand how to navigate friendships and thinking about others in an inclusive way. These are key skills for being an active member of your community and wider society.”
Fiona McNamara is the director of health promotion at Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa, New Zealand’s largest national provider of sexual and reproductive health services. She says that when done well, RSE provides students with the knowledge and skills they need to develop healthy relationships and make informed choices.
“Research shows that when young people have quality relationships and sexuality education, they are more likely to delay having sex, and use condoms and contraception when they choose to have sex. Relationships and sexuality education has been linked to a broader range of positive social and health outcomes, including promoting healthy relationships and preventing sexual and intimate partner violence,” she says.
Resist Gender Education Speaks Out
Resist Gender Education (RGE) says they are hopeful that unscientific gender identity beliefs will be removed. They hope the new curriculum and guidelines will focus instead on the content that we can all agree on – understanding concepts like consent, boundaries, and respectful interactions. They note how division comes over other topics such as gender identity, sexual identities, and gender stereotypes.
“We look forward to the development of a new curriculum that does not teach children that sexist stereotypes are what determine a person’s sex or that girls can have a penis”, says RGE’s spokesperson, Fern Hickson.
Fern says that sexual orientation is not an identity. “And gender identity is not a sexuality. It is a belief system that teaches young gay and lesbian people that if they don’t fit sexist stereotypes, they are really the opposite sex and ought to modify their bodies to match the stereotypes.”
RGE’s response includes one parent’s comment saying “Parents want to know why their daughters want to wear breast binders and escape puberty when just 10 years ago that was not a thing. Parents suspect that school lessons asking 7-year-old girls to contemplate if they could be in the wrong body if they enjoy climbing trees or doing maths, could, in some cases, have something to do with this. That’s why parents are worried.”
“Resist Gender Education, in accord with the majority of parents, wants RSE to continue in our schools. We simply want the curriculum and guidelines to be rewritten so that they are scientifically factual and age-appropriate,” Fern says.
Mental Health and Rainbow Organisations Pen Open Letter
In contrast to the anti-transgender RGE group, in May, 26 mental health and rainbow organisations wrote an open letter to the Government asking it to retain the current RSE guidelines. Over 4,400 people co-signed the letter, which says the guidelines are beneficial for schools and students, and that changing them “threatens to derail efforts to create safer and more inclusive school environments, especially for rainbow and takatāpui tauira (students)”.
“It’s important to remember the RSE guidelines were developed in response to calls to end bullying, violence and child abuse, and help tauira navigate an increasingly diverse, in and rapidly changing world,” the letter also reads.
“Our tamariki and rangatahi expressly want education programmes in schools to address sexuality and relationships, provided in ways that are relevant to their diverse experiences and identities. To not teach anything about these identities will only lead to discrimination and isolation.
“Our tamariki and rangatahi deserve safe school environments, free from bullying and discrimination – and our schools deserve effective, evidence-based tools to make these safe environments a reality.”
Debunking RGE’s Approach
RGE describes gender identity as an “unscientific belief system,” yet gender identity is recognised by the likes of the World Health Organisation as a core part of individual identity. The claim that RSE promotes stereotypes to determine sex is misleading, as RSE actually aims to distinguish between biological sex and gender as a social construct.
RGE argues that the curriculum needs to be scientifically factual, yet this comment craftily ignores neuroscience which suggests that hormonal influences and brain structures of transgender individuals may align more closely with their experienced gender than their assigned sex. Reducing gender dysphoria and improving the mental health of those after gender-affirming care with medical interventions is continually proven as safe and effective. Social support reduces minority stress and early awareness of gender identities supports youth and builds a more inclusive future society one generation at a time.
RGE’s concern that young children are taught to question their identities misrepresents the curriculum. Age-appropriate RSE focuses on key topics such as consent and self-awareness, not complex identity discussions for younger students. The use of breast binders or discussions about puberty for transgender youth is not about promotion but about providing accurate information for informed decision-making. RSE curricula are carefully designed to be appropriate for each developmental stage, which challenges RGE’s assertion that schools encourage children to question their gender.
RGE do raise some valid points. Their emphasis on teaching core concepts like consent, boundaries, and respectful interactions is widely supported and critical to equipping students with essential life skills. They also highlight the importance of scientific accuracy and developmental aptness. Also, transparency with parents can build trust and ensure parents feel included in their child’s education, particularly on sensitive topics.
RGE notes the challenges schools face in balancing diverse perspectives within communities, especially when it comes to polarising issues. Educators and school leaders often have to navigate these tensions carefully to deliver a curriculum that is inclusive but also respectful of community values. Creating a balanced curriculum that all educators are willing and able to teach is easier said than done. The science behind RSE is often debated, and this ERO report and RSE curriculum review opens up a wider conversation beyond education about the safety and wellbeing of members of our rainbow communities.
