Relationships and sexuality education is compulsory from years 1-10, but inconsistencies between schools had been created. File photo. Photo: UnSplash/ Taylor Flowe
Schools should not be required to consult parents about the content of relationships and sexuality lessons, the Education Review Office (ERO) says.
A report out on Tuesday shows misinformation, bigotry and threats of violence have derailed some schools' attempts at consultation and prompted some to reduce or avoid teaching the topic.
The office said relationships and sexuality education was compulsory from years 1-10, but schools figured out themselves what to teach and that had led to inconsistency.
"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," said ERO evaluation centre head Ruth Shinoda.
"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."
The report recommended reviewing the curriculum so it was clearer about the core knowledge and skills students should learn, and increasing relationships and sexuality education in the senior secondary school when many students needed it most.
It said schools should be required to explain to parents what would be taught, rather than consult, and parents should know they could withdraw their children from relationships and sexuality education classes.
"ERO has found that the requirement for school boards to consult at least once every two years on what they will teach in RSE is creating significant challenges for schools. Parents and whānau often have conflicting views on what should be taught, the extent of that teaching, and the appropriate timing - and school staff can be subject to abuse and intimidation."
The report said the main challenges were vocal groups that disrupted consultation.
"These groups have been most vocal about issues about genders and sexualities and are 'triggered by even the mention' of these terms. Their contributions can introduce misinformation into the consultation process. We heard from schools that these vocal parents and whānau are sometimes influenced, or led, by groups outside the school community, groups that are well-known for their views on genders and sexualities. We also heard that objections to RSE content is increasing, reflecting what is being seen globally," the report said.
A primary school principal said their school removed gender identity from its lessons "to appease, to calm, and to ensure that RSE continued in our school".
An intermediate school leader told the report that opposition to the content of relationships and sexuality lessons had increased.
"It's gotten worse. There has been much more pushback in the most recent consult than the time before. It's the same resource, but way more pushback," they said.
Another school leader said: "Why do we consult? We don't ask what we should teach in maths. It makes it too hard when we have a curriculum that we are expected to teach, but also the opportunity to withdraw students, and what are we supposed to do with those withdrawn students? It also makes for a really divisive time".
The report included case studies of schools where a vocal minority, including people with no relationship with the schools, opposed relationships and sexuality education plans.
"A lot of it was literally unsafe - having to shut down a board meeting and walk out of our own school to de-escalate a situation that was going to turn into fisticuffs," a school representative told the report.
The report said about a third of parents wanted relationships and sexuality education taught differently and one in 10 did not want it taught at all.
"Parents and students want to learn earlier about personal safety (including online), friendships, and bullying. 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. ERO found that students' and parents' views are most split on when and how much they should learn about gender and sexual identity."
The report said there was wide support for relationships and sexuality education, but Pacific parents, parents of primary school children and parents of faith were less supportive.
It also found that sensitive topics were taught later and different sexual identities, gender identity, and human reproduction were mostly taught in secondary school.
"Recent school leavers report that there were significant gaps in their RSE learning."
The report said the government should consider extending the topic to students in Y11-13 and whether it should be compulsory for that group.
It said nearly all senior secondary students agreed that relationships and sexuality education was important.
It also found that girls had strong views about what boys should be taught.
"Older girls think boys should learn more about intimate relationships and consent, so they have realistic and healthy expectations of relationships... Secondary school girls told us that boys often don't know that pornography isn't real, which is concerning - we know that pornography rarely depicts meaningful consent, and often includes coercion and/or violence, particularly towards girls and women, as a 'normal' part of sexual encounters," the report said.
The report said students from rainbow communities wanted more teaching on all topics, and earlier teaching.
"Students from rainbow communities face higher rates of isolation and bullying, and many want their non-rainbow peers to have greater understanding of gender identities and stereotypes to help with acceptance of difference," it said.
The report said relationships and sexuality was part of the Health and Physical Education learning area and focused on issues including including preventing bullying, promoting healthy relationships and sexual health, and promoting inclusion and reducing discrimination.
It said New Zealand had a less prescriptive relationships and sexuality curriculum and stronger requirements for consultation than other countries.
'We want to give teachers certainty'
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the report made it clear the status quo was not working, and made recommendations including the review of the relationships and sexuality education (RSE) curriculum.
"We want to give teachers certainty in what they're teaching in the classroom and parents clarity on what their child is learning so they can make informed decisions about their education," Stanford said in a statement.
The Ministry of Education is to convene a group to develop a new curriculum that explicitly lays out what got taught and when.
A draft of the topic areas to be taught would 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."
Stanford said the report's other recommendations would help inform the refresh.
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