Learning about gender: Is it appropriate for school students?
Re: News asked recent school leavers and a high school teacher what they think about the proposed changes to sex education, which could mean students no longer learn about gender identity in their health classes.
Watch the full video on TVNZ+
In 2020, Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) guidelines were introduced for teachers.
They were an optional resource and included detailed information about gender identity and sexual orientation.
One school leaver Re: News spoke to said some of the topics included in those guidelines 'could definitely be seen as inappropriate, especially at a young age'.
Another said the topics should be taught at a young age and the Government shouldn't take that education away from kids.
The guidelines were removed in March. '
If parents actually knew what was taught, then I think the stigma would go — Teacher Ben Rogers |
In New Zealand First's 2023 election manifesto, the party said it wanted to 'remove gender ideology from the curriculum' when it negotiated its coalition agreement.
While on the campaign trail that year, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the party was 'going to make sure we go back to teaching education and stop indoctrination".
In March 2025, the guidelines were taken down from the Ministry of Education's website.
The Ministry of Education is aiming to release a new health curriculum by 2026 and they're currently consulting on it.
In April, a new RSE framework was put up, both for consultation, and as an interim support for teachers to use until the curriculum is released.
Unlike the 2020 Guidelines, the new framework does not explicitly mention gender identity and only mentions sexual orientation in one section.
The Ministry of Education says it's focused on making sure sex ed content is 'age-appropriate' and 'evidence-informed'.
It says the RSE framework was made by its own experts, and that it looked at a range of international guidance while writing it, including guidance from UNESCO. '
We wouldn't be the kind of men we are today without knowing all these sorts of things — Recent school leaver |
But UNESCO's guidance has a whole section on understanding gender, which says students should learn to respect people's unique gender identities and understand why transphobia and homophobia are harmful.
Ben Rogers is a Year 9 and 10 health and PE teacher at Onslow College in Wellington who supports teaching students about gender identity and sexual orientation.
'I definitely think teaching that is appropriate for that age group, because it's at that time when they're starting to form their identity and their feelings around that,' he says.
Ben says he teaches his students that gender identity 'is a thing' in the sense that some people don't identify with the gender they are assigned at birth.
He says it's better for students to learn about these topics in a safe classroom environment, which helps prevent misinformation and skewed views from taking root.
'This isn't as scary as what people think it is. And if parents actually knew what was taught, then I think the stigma would go.'
Watch the full video on TVNZ+
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