Call for schools to teach consent

An outspoken east Auckland mother says parents and caregivers must be informed when it comes to what and how schools plan to teach subjects such as gender and consent.

Her comments follow Education Minister Erica Stanford recently saying she’s received a new report stating the way relationship and sexuality education (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, Stanford says.

“RSE has an important role to play in that. New research from the Education Review Office (ERO) has found there’s too much inconsistency in what’s being taught and when, and it often depends on where a child goes to school.”

The report states more than three-quarters of recent school leavers felt they didn’t learn enough about consent.

“It also found a third of parents want to change what or how RSE is taught, while nearly a quarter of schools deliver RSE on an ad-hoc basis,” Stanford says.

“The Ministry of Education (MoE) 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 one with consultation open later in 2025.”

RSE education is part of the New Zealand Curriculum. The MoE has provided a set of guidelines to schools to assist in the preparation and delivery of sex education to pupils.

In a 2020 MoE document, under the heading “the school culture”, it states schools are encouraged to question gender stereotypes and assumptions about sexuality, including around gender norms, gender binaries, gender stereotypes and sex norms.

“For example, the assumption sex characteristics at birth are always male or female.”

The guidelines also state schools should recognise and “actively support” the rights of those who identify as takatapui, which is te reo for an intimate companion of the same sex.

Other identities that should be recognised and supported, according to the guidelines for children in years 1-8, include lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex, and transgender people.

Local parent Katherine Chua says a poll conducted in New Zealand in May last year found just 18 per cent of respondents supported teaching primary school pupils they can choose and change their gender.

She says mothers want their children to learn about respecting boundaries and consent.

“This is crucial for boys especially, as 99 per cent of sexual offenders in New Zealand are male.

“Yet the provision of unisex multi-stall toilets robs our boys of their first opportunity to respect girls’ boundaries, by staying out of their bathrooms.”

Chua says public school and MoE staff are public servants and New Zealand’s education system must respect that parents are the primary guardians of their children.

“It is not for ministry [MoE] activists or ideologues to indoctrinate these children for social justice and political causes.

“Parents must be informed about what and how schools plan to teach.”