Your opportunity to push back on cruel & dangerous “education”
Update 14 May: You can read our submission on the RSE guidelines here.
April 2025
The government is attempting to impose its extremist transphobic, racist, colonial and misogynistic views on the next generation via wholesale changes to education about relationships & sexuality. You can let them know what they’re doing is unacceptable.
The sensitive and vital curriculum area of relationships and sexuality can have enormous impact on how children & young people see themselves; keep themselves safe; and treat others around them with respect and care.
In place of the rich, diverse and inclusive guidelines reflecting contemporary Aotearoa NZ which we have had up until now (Y0-8; Y9-13), the proposed changes create a sparse framework which presents the world solely as a monocultural gender binary, with little understanding of power, coercion and control.
The proposed changes are counter to best practice and will put children and rangatahi of all gender identities at higher risk of harm.
What you can do
You don’t need to be an expert. You just need to tell decision-makers what you want(ed) to learn in school, what your friends, children or siblings need, and what your community deserves.
- Email the Minister of Education Erica Stanford e.stanford@ministers.govt.nz, and your local MP (firstname.lastname@parliament.govt.nz), and let them know in your own words (strongly but politely) what you want to see in the relationship & sexuality education framework (some ideas below – for example, most simply reinstating the 2020 RSE guidelines and considering making them mandatory).
- Offer feedback on the changes either via the Ministry of Education feedback form or by emailing NationalCurriculum.Refresh@
education.govt.nz by Friday 9 May. If you use the form, you can skip most questions if you wish – to focus on question 14 and/or question 15. For the compulsory agree/disagree questions, we suggest checking “strongly disagree”. Ministry of Education encourages use of the survey, saying “The collation of the feedback from this consultation is being managed by an external provider to ensure a robust and considered process.” But they do note “If for some reason, you are unable to access this link, or have concerns with doing so, we are able to pass on your written feedback on your behalf.”
- Tell your friends and help them to also offer feedback and emails to politicians.
Key ways the proposed changes would create harm
To put in your own words:
Trans & Non-Binary Erasure
The draft RSE framework makes no mention at all of gender diversity, trans experiences, or non-binary identities. At its core, this is the erasure of trans and non-binary rangatahi, who, already face higher rates of harm.
This exclusion is harmful, and we need to say so – clearly and loudly. See InsideOut’s fantastic submission guide for more detail on this and related points. For more on Auckland Women’s Centre’s support for trans rights and position on transphobia see our 2024 op-ed.
Te Ao Māori has been scrubbed out
The draft RSE framework strips away Te Ao Māori entirely — no references to tikanga, whakapapa, whanaungatanga, or Māori understandings of identity, relationships, and care. This isn’t just a gap — it’s an active erasure.
For Māori rangatahi, this means being taught in a framework that doesn’t reflect a Māori worldview, whānau structures, or lived realities. For all students, it means losing the richness of mātauranga Māori and the chance to understand connection and wellbeing through a relational, collective lens.
This is a breach of the relationship founded on Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It fails government obligations, and fails the next generation. Any and all Māori content, framework and translation should of course be guided by experts in te ao Māori.
No other cultures in Aotearoa are mentioned by name either – in the spirit of manaaki from tangata whenua to tangata tiriti, we expect Pacific, Asian and other cultures to be mentioned and directly considered as they are in the 2020 guidelines.
Consent education that misses the point
Consent isn’t just about getting a yes. It’s about understanding power, pressure, fear, silence, and safety. It’s about recognising that consent can change — that people might say yes when they’re scared, or freeze when they mean no.
But the draft framework doesn’t reflect that. There’s only one mention of coercive control. No acknowledgement of how gender, age, or past trauma shape someone’s ability to consent. No tools for recognising red flags in real relationships.
This kind of surface-level consent education won’t keep young people safe. Rather, it’ll keep them unprepared and unsupported — especially those already most at risk.
No mention of stalking
Stalking is about control. It creates fear, isolates people, and makes them feel like they have to say yes just to stay safe. No one learns how to name it, how to ask for help, or how to support someone going through it. Click here for more on our Aotearoa Free From Stalking campaign.
Where’s the conversation about porn?
Porn is shaping how young people understand sex, intimacy, and power — but this framework barely goes there.
There’s no acknowledgment of how porn intersects with coercion, violence, unrealistic expectations, or body shame.
No critical thinking tools. No unpacking of how mainstream porn often centres male pleasure and objectifies women and queer people.
Ignoring the existence of porn doesn’t protect young people. Instead, it leaves them to figure it out alone, online, without the language or guidance to unpack what they’re seeing and what it means. Click here for a report on our 2019 forum on porn.
Little on gender stereotypes
The draft framework gives gender stereotypes a quick nod, then keeps it moving. There’s no meaningful unpacking of how these norms shape young people’s lives, identities, or safety – or the unbalanced power dynamics between them.
No understanding the system itself may be at fault
Bullying is mentioned, but without an intersectional lens. There’s no real recognition that trans students, disabled students, Māori and Pasifika youth are at far greater risk. Not just from other students, but often more likely from teachers, systems, and curriculum content itself.
We don’t need vague encouragements to “respect each other.” We need relationship and sexuality education that names power, challenges injustice, and actively dismantles the harmful norms that keep getting our people hurt.
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This is about rangatahi who are navigating their bodies, identities, and relationships. We’re all too often failed by silence, shame, and erasure. It’s time to speak up.
Aotearoa deserves RSE that’s honest, inclusive, and actually useful – and we already have it in place. Schools need to be encouraged – and possibly mandated – to use the 2020 guidelines. Let the Minister and the Ministry know by Friday 9 May 2025!