John MacDonald: New sex ed curriculum is a great start

I’m liking the sound of Education Minister Erica Stanford’s approach to sex education. But it won’t be plain sailing, and she knows that.  

But there’s a glaring gap in this new framework she’s put out for consultation, with ideas of what kids might be taught and when from year 1 to year 13.   

I’ll come back to the glaring gap. But Erica Stanford is going into this with her eyes wide open, knowing how fraught this can be – with some parents thinking that it’s not a school’s job to teacher their kids about sex and relationships.  

I’m the complete opposite. I think there is a role for parents in sex education, but it’s in the area of values. Because a curriculum can't teach values – that’s the sort of stuff kids learn from parents and caregivers.   

So let the kids get a consistent sex education at school and let the parents discuss how what they’re being taught fits with their personal and family values.  

I’ve had a read-through of the draft guidelines which are all about making sure kids up and down the country —from the time they start school at age 5 to whenever they finish school— are taught the same stuff at the same time about sex and relationships.  

The Education Minister has been at pains to say that NZ First hasn’t had its hands on the drafting of the framework, but it may as well have.  

Because I've read through the document and, from what I can see, the word “gender” is mentioned only once. And it’s not used in a way that means kids being confused about their gender identity.  

There’s pretty much nothing in there about gender identity, but there should be. Because, whether we like it or not, there are kids crying out for this.   

But that is something NZ First has been big on. With its demand —as part of its coalition deal with National— that the Government remove and replace the previous gender, sexuality, and relationship-based education guidelines.

And as a result of that, we have these new guidelines which are out for consultation.  

But nothing in there about gender identity, which I think is a major shortcoming. Because, surely, our sex and relationship education needs to reflect the real-world, not one particular view of the world.  

And, surely, kids who are struggling with this can only benefit from what they’re experiencing being acknowledged in the education they and their mates get.  

I’m not expecting you to get that if you haven’t necessarily been through the experience of having a child with gender issues. I haven’t, but I know people who have. And I reckon that, unless we’ve been through that experience, we have no real idea about the need for this to be included in the curriculum.  

I'm talking about the need for our sex education programme to be honest and realistic and to include some of the things that some of us would rather ignore.   

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerry Wood of Morning's podcast from
News Talks, he'd be.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I am liking the sound of Erica Stanford's approach to
sex education, but it won't be plain sailing. She knows
that as well. But there is a glaring gap in
this new framework she's put out for consultation with ideas
of what kids might be taught and when from year
one to year thirteen. I'll get to the glaring gap shortly.

(00:33):
But as I say, Eric Stanford is going into this
with her eyes wide open, knowing how fraught this can be.
With some parents thinking that it's not a school's job
to teach their kids about sex and relationships. I'm the
complete opposite of that. Actually, I think there is a
role for parents in sex education, but it's in the
area of values, because a curriculum can't teach values, can it.

(00:55):
That's the sort of stuff kids learn from parents and caregivers,
the people though they're around outside school. So let the
kids get a consistent sex education at school and let
the parents discuss how what they're being taught fits with
their personal and family values. It's it's where I come
at it from, or the angle I come at it
from I've had a read through of the consultation document,

(01:18):
which is it's called the Draft New Relationships and Sexuality
Education Brackets RAC Guidelines for schools. Not terribly exciting, but
it's all about making sure kids up and down the
country from the time they start school at age five
to two, whenever they finished year eleven, twelve or thirteen,
it's about making sure they are taught the same stuff

(01:40):
at the same time about sex and relationships. And the
Education Minister is expecting some fireworks because there's been a
lot of anks in the past, hasn't there about sex education.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
There will still be angst, of course, but direct that
angst at me, do not direct it at your schools.
I'd rather that I take the heat on this than
they have to do that. So that's why we want
to have this year by year curriculum that tells parents
exactly what will be taught, the words that we'll be used,
so they can make an informed choice about what to
do for their child. But more importantly, it gives us consistency.

(02:12):
At the moment we know that there are huge gaps
in young people's learning when it comes to our relationship
and sexuality education. This will now be consistent. It'll give
teachers in schools clarity, and there will be choice for
parents whether or not they have the conversations with their children.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
And she says this approach will be much better than
the way things have been done up until now in
terms of getting the views of parents.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
We don't have all the answers. Nobody does. But the
one thing I would say is that as you know
very well that there are many different opinions on this
and it's very split, which is why I'm doing this
rather than asking schools to do it. What we've had
in the past is a very loose, vague curriculum that
leaves it up to schools who have to go out
every two years by law and consult with their communities
about what to teach and when. And can you imagine

(02:55):
putting a school in that position? Even Ero reports that
it was very divisive and the principles found it really uncomfortable.
In fact, sometimes there was a lot of aggression from
communities about what was being taught.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Me I can imagine that. And Erica Stanford, she has
been at pains to say that New Zealand First hasn't
had its hands on the drafting of this sex education framework.
We shouldn't say that, but it may as well have, because,
as I say, I've read through the document this morning,
and from what I can see, the word gender is
mentioned only once, and it's not used in a way

(03:26):
that means or refers to kids being confused about gender identity.
There's pretty much nothing in there about gender identity, but
there should be, because whether we like it or not,
there are kids crying out for this. But that's something
New Zealand First has been big on whether it's demand
as part of its coelition deal with National that the

(03:46):
government remove and replace the previous gender, sexuality and Relationship
based Education guidelines, and as a result of that we
have these new guidelines which are out for consultation, but
nothing in there about gender identity, which I think is
a major shortcoming because surely our sex in a relationship
education needs to reflect the real world, not one particular

(04:09):
view of the world. And surely kids who are dealing
with us, surely they can only benefit from what they're
experiencing being acknowledged in the education they and their mates
get about sex and relationships. I'm not expecting you to
get that if you haven't necessarily been through the experience
of having a child with gender issues. I haven't, but

(04:32):
I know people who have, and I reckon that unless
you've been through that experience, if we haven't been through it,
we actually have no real idea about the need for
this to be included in the curriculum. I'm not talking
about dishing up puberty blockers at lunch time, but I
am talking about the need the need for our sex
education program to be honest and realistic and to include

(04:55):
some of the things that some of us would rather ignore.
I don't want to ignore it, and I don't want
to ignore it in the new curriculum either, but somewhere
and some do that overall. Overall, as for the government's
intention to make sure that all kids are taught the
same stuff at the same time, and the intention to

(05:18):
make sure every parent up and down the country knows
what their kids are being taught about sex and relationships,
this is a good start, but I'm curious to know
how much say you think those parents should have about
what is taught to their kids about sex and when.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
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