The government began consulting the New Relationship Network Guidelines and Sexual Education (CRS) for schools.
New Zealand’s first leader Winston Peters called the previous non -compulsory guidelines that were removed, “woke up” and “out of contact.”
Education Minister Erica Stanford of National said that New Zealand first had no influence on the new structure and the government is seeking feedback from those who want to provide it.
They offered guidance to teach different age groups on consensual relationships, bullying on -line, sexualities, gender identities and pornography, but were discarded in June last year under the national agreement and New Zealand.
The agreement required the government “reoriebly the curriculum on academic performance and not ideology, including the removal and replacement of gender, sexuality and relationship -based education.”
The new draft structure – which feeds on the broader mandatory curriculum – shows few mentions to gender or gender identities, but Stanford said New Zealand first had no influence on it.
“The writing group that gathered this was a newsroom specializing in the ministry. So what they placed us was not influenced by New Zealand first or me.
“This is an independent group that is in the ministry that has announced this for consultation, and now we will receive an industry response about whether or not there are things that are missing, things that should be put back, things that must be removed, things that must be moved. [consultation] It’s for.
“There was no direction given to the writing group about what to teach when. It depends to them. They are experts in the ministry who wrote this document.”
The consultation documents said they focused on “ensuring that the content is appropriate for age, informed by evidence and of course what is covered in the RSE at each age, from year 0 to year 13”.
He said the guidelines were developed by experts on curriculum and quality issues guaranteed by internal and external experts.
“When getting involved with the content of this structure, teachers and leaders should consider the adequacy of age for each phase of learning, if the content is comprehensive and if you feel that something should be removed or added.”
Stanford told RNZ that the structure would provide a rich year -by -year curriculum for health and physical education, which would include sections on relationships and sexuality. This would establish what would be taught at what age, giving parents more clarity about what was being taught.
“This structure is only to get feedback from parents, teachers, schools and groups in the sector to ensure that we think we should teach and when it is in the right place.”
I would ensure that children were being taught about being kind and respectful and ensuring teaching about consent at appropriate ages, she said.
The government was looking for feedback from all groups.
“Congratulations with all the appointment. This is the goal of this. I’m not telling any group ‘we won’t hear you’, we are consulting all groups.”
The guidelines were updated in 2020, after the Education Review Office (ERO) in 2018 found that many schools had teaching gaps on topics, especially consent, digital technologies and relationships.
“We are going out in consultation to say, is the right time to be talking about these differences. Is it the right time to talk about consent? Is the right time to name body parts when you are five? It’s okay that we are talking more about boys in secondary school” … Is it good to start talking online compared to five years?
After the guidelines were removed, some schools would have chosen not to teach RSE material.
Stanford advised schools to continue using the 2007 curriculum in the meantime.
Another ERO report last year found 91% of students and 87% of parents supported the RSE being taught and noted that there was a lot of flexibility for the schools exactly what was taught and how.
Only one third of education reported being taught about gender identity or gender stereotypes.
About 53% of parents said they wanted the CSR to remain the same, compared to 34% that wanted a change and 13% who did not want to teach him.
Parents of the Pacific, parents of elderly students and parents of faith were less likely to support it.
The December report warned that demanding schools consulting the contents of the lessons exposed schools to wrong information, intolerance and threats.
Stanford said the government would make more decisions later about whether schools would continue to be required to consult communities about what was being taught.
“They are in the midst of what can be quite difficult to manage discussions with the community, where you have people who think different things, you have religious groups on one side and then other groups on the other, and so schools are caught in the middle, and it’s a really unfair place to be. And I have a huge amount of sympathy for the directors who need to browse it.
“The more clarity I can offer the center that says ‘this is what we are teaching and when, and here is a detailed description of the words we will use and the types of topics that will be discussed’, it facilitates part of the pressure on schools when they need to go out and talk to their communities.”
She said the government would also work more to provide guidelines around teaching environments and provide additional professional development for teachers, as had been done with math and English curricula.
“You will notice in mathematics and English – with totally resources about learning and professional development, as well as tactile resources.
“So, of course, we already show that when we publicize a curriculum area, the appeal with learning and professional development about how – so we give you ‘what’, it’s ‘how’ … we have already shown that this is how we operate in this government, and we will do the same for all the curricular areas we write.”
Stanford After this report, he said the government wanted to be sure, and RSE’s first full curriculum in 20 years would reflect changes in society at that time.
Consultation on the new structure is open until May 9, with feedback to be added to the “Learning Area of Physical Education and Health” for an additional consultation in the four.
It will be mandatory as part of the 2027 curriculum.
