Some of the feedback on the Ministry of Education’s draft framework for how relationships and sexuality should be taught in schools includes that it’s “dangerous”.
The ministry released the draft relationships and sexuality framework for consultation last week, outlining the proposed teaching to be covered in relationships and sexuality education each year, from Years 0 to 13.
InsideOUT managing director Tabby Besley told 1News the LGBTQIA+ education and support organisation is “incredibly disappointed” there was no mention of gender diversity in the draft.
“We think that’s incredibly harmful for trans young people who deserve to see themselves reflected in the curriculum.”
“It’s dangerous.”
The content in the draft was categorised in the areas of Relationships, Safety and Consent and Pubertal Change and Sexual Health.
The framework contained information on different sexual orientations, and the term “intersex”.’
“Transgender” and cultural terms from the 2020 RSE guidelines such as the Māori word “takatāpui” were not included in the new draft.
The 2020 guidelines were removed in March by the Ministry of Education to fulfil a New Zealand First policy in the coalition Government’s agreement.
InsideOUT: ‘Yyou can’t erase trans people from public life’
The previous guidelines included the categories of Ko Au – All about me, Ko Aku Hoa – Friendships and relationships with others and Te Ao – The world.
“It’s incredibly frustrating to see a vulnerable group of young people’s lives being politicised in this way just based on the coalition agreement and a small party who wanted this erasure, but you can’t erase trans people from public life, from schools and we have to do better,” Besley said.
The teaching of different family structures to students aged 9-10 included cultural and religious variations as examples, but not same-sex parents.
The teaching that “gender stereotypes can exist in society” to students aged 13-14 referred to the traditional genders.
“For example, males may be expected to dress in a masculine way, or females may be expected to look after children at home. Culture, religion, and family values can often influence these,” the new document stated.
Besley said schools looked to the Ministry of Education to provide leadership and some were fearful of doing the “wrong thing” by teaching inclusion of all genders.
“Our message to schools is actually these were guidelines… you get to choose what you teach in line with the curriculum and that consultation with your school community and, absolutely, that should still be teaching about the diversity of our trans, intersex, queer, rainbow whānau.”
Minister: ‘It builds to talking about consent’
Education Minister Erica Stanford said Ministry staff have done a good job and she’s particularly proud of the consent education included at all age levels, with different content covered.
“Is it OK if someone wants to share my bike… should they have to ask, how should I respond. It builds it all the way through to talking about consent in a sexual term,” she said.
When asked why cultural and diverse gender terms were not included, Stanford said that was what consultation was for.
“If there are some things that we’ve missed or put in too late, we need to hear from the sector.”
The Ministry of Education stated the aim of the draft document was ensuring the content was age-appropriate, informed by evidence, comparable to other countries’ education and clear on what was taught to students and at what age.
In a statement, the Ministry said staff “drew on key content” from the 2020 RSE guidelines, Education Review Office 2024 RSE review, UNESCO international technical guidance, Singapore education content, England education content, Victoria, Australia education content and Ontario, Canada education content.
Let Kids Be Kids: A step in the right direction
Let Kids Be Kids founder Penny Marie said the framework was a step in the right direction from the 2020 guidelines because of the reduced emphasis on gender diversity.
“Our interest is more into what does the learning material in class end up looking like?”
However, she had one concern with the draft framework of teaching 12-13 years olds about sexual attraction and orientation, healthy sexual activity and the legal age of consent.
“Now, how can a 12-year-old have a healthy sexual activity?
“Because the age of consent is 16 and what the concern is, is that in the current curriculum, the way they’re teaching about consent is potentially opening the door for children to be burdened with the decision of consent at an age before it’s even legally consent,” she said.
Marie said parents should have full transparency on how consent was being taught.
The let Kids Be Kids founder said her message to the Education Minister was “listen to the parents”.
“Most parents want the best for their children and most parents are having these conversations outside of the classroom,” she said. “There’s a real concern that there is a push to not have parents being fully involved in this.”
After a review process, the new RSE content would be included in the latest health and physical education part of the curriculum, which was due to be released for feedback in term four.
After that, the health and physical education content would be available for use next year and required to be used in schools from 2027.
Marie was also concerned about the content being implemented by schools before the 2027 requirement.
“I would wonder whether it’s no-man’s-land or whether the status quo is going on and we’re still using the current content, which is the concerning content.”
Academic: Selected aspects have been ‘cherry-picked’
University of Canterbury adjunct professor Dr Tracy Clelland said the scope of the framework was too narrow for helping students navigate relationships.
“They’ve looked at some of the key material from around the world, but they’ve really just sort of cherry-picked some aspects of that and missed out some key fundamental components,” she said.
Ministry of Education Curriculum acting deputy secretary Pauline Cleaver said in a statement: “The draft RSE framework has been developed by Ministry curriculum subject matter experts and quality assured by both internal and external experts in health education, including sector representatives with extensive experience in designing and teaching health curricula.”
However, Clelland’ said the message was clear from experience teaching school students and research that included surveying students on what that want to learn about.
She said students were saying: We’re not actually learning anything about how to have positive sexual relationships, so how are we supposed to know that?
“The only way we can find out actually what to do involves going to look at pornography online.”
Clelland said academic evidence matched with what many parents wanted for this children — both the dangers inherent in some sexual behaviours and the potential positives.
“We need to talk about risk and that’s crucial, but we also need to talk about the joy of sexuality so that in the future, young people have a positive sense of themselves, their bodies and that power to say this relationship is healthy or not healthy.”
She also questioned whether students were interviewed as part of the Ministry’s process. If not, she said they should be.
Consultation would continue until May 9. For more information, go here.
