Teach the truth - sex cannot change

Make your submission to the RSE curriculum consultation before it closes on 24 April.

Don’t leave it to scaremongers like the Auckland Women’s Centre to distort the feedback that the Ministry of Education receives on the new Relationships and Sexuality Education curricuum for New Zealand.

Submissions are open until 24 April. If you care about children being taught the truth about sex and sexuality, please have your say. Details of how to submit are below.

Here is the link to the submission sent by Resist Gender Education, or read on for a summary.

We are unequivocal that children deserve to be taught the truth – that there are only two sexes, that sex is a reproductive category, and that it is impossible for humans to change their sex.

There are several major improvements in the content of the RSE curriculum that we endorse:

• There is no mention of ‘gender’ or ‘gender identity’ in the entire curriculum. The word ‘identity’ is still used a little at each year level but in the context of children having personal traits, not special ‘genders’.

• The age of consent is explicitly stated at Y8 and Y9, an important piece of knowledge that was missing in the previous curriculum.

• The topic of contraception has been moved to Y10 where it is age-appropriate.

• Pornography has been improved as a topic, first covered in Y8, as part of the comprehensive consent and online safety themes that run through the whole curriculum.

• The word ‘intersex’ does not appear in the curriculum, but because there is no overarching definition of sex that confirms that 99.98% of humans are unequivocally known to be male or female at birth, confused teaching about this medical condition may continue.

• Topics are presented in a matter-of-fact way at age-appropriate levels.

However, we have identified some gaps in the curriculum that need to be addressed.

Definition of sex

A simple, clear definition of sex that is based on gamete size needs to be added. It must be made clear to children that sex is a binary, reproductive category, with each sex having an innate and complementary role.

Abstinence and abortion

Mentioning abstinence only once in the curriculum, in the context of contraception, is not sufficient. Abstinence should be discussed as a personal sexual choice, not just as a method of contraception.

Another gap is the lack of any reference to abortion. Although this is a contentious topic, students need to be informed about the availability of abortion as well as other options when faced with an unplanned pregnancy.

Misogyny

Alongside investigating the harms of pornography, misogyny – a contemptuous attitude that negatively affects the whole population – needs to be examined, especially because there has been a recent rapid rise in misogynistic attitudes being expressed towards female teachers and students in our schools.

Learning to respectfully disagree

Young people need to learn how to disagree without casting those with different opinions as harmful or toxic. Understanding that not everyone has the same point of view and that we can live and work together constructively anyway has become crucial in this era of rigid and tribal thinking. Instead of characterising words as dangerous and demanding safe spaces, adolescents should be taught to be open to learning by being willing to explore a topic from all angles.

As part of education about positive relationships, children should learn to reject the idea that it is noble or self-preserving to sever contact with friends or family simply because they disagree.

In recent years, the value of family relationships has been downgraded, so that it has become fashionably acceptable for young adult children to cut off their families for perceived bigotry. The whole of society suffers when these foundational relationships are destroyed. Including lessons in maintaining healthy relationships through open and respectful discussions needs to be a core part of RSE so that it can also contribute to examining another essential topic – transgender ideation.

Transgender ideation

That the concept of being ‘transgender’ is not in the curriculum at all is a relief after years of this idea being taught to our children as if it were factual and something uniquely wonderful. However, RGE believes that ‘gender identity’ cannot be ignored entirely because it is everywhere in our society – it is the elephant in the room.

Transgender belief must be addressed in RSE because otherwise there is no challenge in schools to the false idea that humans can change sex and the widespread confusion and harm this ideology is causing will continue unabated.

Gender identity is clearly a belief as much as Jesus being the son of God is a belief and that is how it should be framed in the curriculum. Beliefs should be presented with respect - the classroom is not an environment for disparaging anyone’s sincerely held beliefs. The idea that many people hold sincere views which they think are factual rather than belief-based, can be examined with nuance and empathy in a classroom using the previously learned skills of critical thinking and respectful disagreement.

We need to talk about gender ideology which has real life consequences for those who believe in it as well as those who don’t.

Language choices

Although the language in the curriculum is no longer overtly ideological there are still some red flags and loopholes that lobby groups or activist teachers could use to continue pushing their personal gender identity beliefs.

We recommended that:

• All references to menstruation must refer to ‘women and girls’ and specifically state that males cannot menstruate, nor can they have female-only medical conditions such as endometriosis, nor can they ever get pregnant.

• A secure definition of ‘sex’ based on gamete size should be reinforced throughout the curriculum.

• Whenever talking about inclusion, the curriculum must be clear that children can only expect to be included into groups or spaces to which they belong and there is no right to be included in every group or space based on personal wishes. There is also no right to demand to be addressed in a way that is outside the norms of standard English.

• The curriculum needs to be explicit about what is meant by “moderating behaviour appropriately”. Basic safeguarding means children should not be taught to override their own sense of wellbeing simply to assuage the feelings of others.

Constraining outside providers

Unless the Ministry of Education places firm constraints on resources produced by Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa (formerly Family Planning), InsideOUT, and Gender Minorities Aotearoa, these organisations are highly likely to continue to interpret the curriculum in whatever way they choose and maintain their outsized influence in our schools.

Last year, RGE wrote to the Education Minister, Erica Stanford, to ask her to prevent inaccurate and inappropriate teaching resources from being marketed to schools by outside providers.

We suggested that the best way to ensure children are provided with accurate information in RSE is for the Ministry to do as it has done with maths and literacy and produce a standard set of workbooks for every year level.

Having standard workbooks would preclude interference from outside providers and would also prevent parents being denied access to RSE resources on spurious ‘copyright’ grounds. With MOE-produced workbooks it would be transparent to everyone what is to be taught, thus avoiding parental-school conflict and enabling parents to make fully informed decisions.

Unfortunately, this sensible request has been turned down by the Ministry of Education, which responded to RGE in January:

Schools in Aotearoa New Zealand have the flexibility to select resources, activities, and learning contexts that best serve their students and local communities, provided they align with the national curriculum. Currently, schools are required to use the 2007 curriculum, and any resources should align with this. From 2027, the refreshed curriculum will become mandatory.

InsideOUT and Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa are independent charities that develop and provide their own resources for schools. The Ministry of Education does not hold contracts with these organisations for curriculum resource development and does not promote their curriculum resources through our channels. Schools may choose to use these resources if they consider them appropriate for supporting curriculum implementation and meeting the needs of their students and community.

You may be interested to know that the Ministry is currently developing resources to support the refreshed curriculum, including the Health and Physical Education learning area where Relationships and Sexuality Education is located. These resources will be available in 2026 and will provide exemplars of annual, unit, and lesson plans. They will be optional for schools to use.

The Ministry’s new resources must be provided to parents in an easily accessible format so that there is a clear understanding by all about what will and will not be taught to children in RSE.

How to submit

Here is the website link to the consultation: https://www.education.govt.nz/have-your-say/consultation-year-0-10-draft-curriculum-content/details

Scroll down until you see the various school subjects. Relationships and Sexuality Education comes under the Health and Physical Education Curriculum.

The new curriculum is divided into four double year levels (Phases), with each one containing a chart showing the Knowledge and Practices to be taught in RSE regarding Bodies & Minds, Relationships, and Sex (from Year 7).

Consent is to be taught in an age-appropriate way from the first year of school. That there are all sorts of families, including ones with same-sex parents, is also covered from the first year.

There is a link to a feedback form which you may prefer to complete rather than sending a written submission. For each Phase of RSE the form asks if the curriculum is well-organised and builds proficiency and whether there is any unnecessary or missing content.

RGE decided instead to send a written submission to nationalcurriculum.refresh@education.govt.nz Be sure to ask for acknowledgment of receipt of your submission.

Feeling daunted?

There is no expectation that you must comment on every aspect of the curriculum or every year level (Phase). Here are some tips to make the task less formidable:

• Select just one year level to comment on. This could be the Phase that your child is in or Phase 3 or 4 where the more controversial topics are covered.

• Select just one topic to comment on. Perhaps you are interested in how ‘consent’ is to be taught. You could follow that topic through all the year levels and send your feedback on that single topic. Ditto for other topics such as online safety, stereotypes or same-sex relationships.

• Submit in support of the recommendations made by RGE.

Submissions that give reasons for your position, including personal experience, will have greater impact.

Now is your opportunity to influence what is in the final RSE curriculum. For the sake of our children, don’t miss it!

By Fern Hickson