MHF asks public to co-sign open letter to Government, to retain RSE guidelines in schools

“The current RSE guidelines can help schools create these safe and inclusive environments, environments where bullying isn’t enabled to thrive. Removing the guidelines will simply mean teachers have fewer resources to teach the sexuality education they still have to teach, while sending a strong signal to teachers and students that creating safe school environments is not a priority.”

The Government’s commitment to remove the RSE guidelines is in National and NZ First’s coalition agreement, where they agree to “refocus the [school] curriculum on academic achievement and not ideology, including the removal and replacement of the gender, sexuality, and relationship-based education guidelines". 

The ‘ideology’ being targeted in this agreement is gender and sexuality diversity and inclusion, even though studies show rainbow students experience much higher levels of bullying, discrimination and social exclusion than others. 

“Tauira who are bullied, discriminated against or socially excluded are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts, affecting their learning, relationships, and ability to feel good about themselves. Those who bully are also more likely to skip classes and drop out of school,” Mr Robinson says. 

The MHF’s open letter reminds the Minister and Government the RSE guidelines were the result of in-depth consultation with teachers, students and parents, and are not mandatory. Guidelines content related to gender and sexuality diversity, and relationships and identity is staged at age-appropriate levels, and parents and caregivers retain their right to withdraw their children from sexuality education in general, if they wish.  

“Practically, schools will still be required to teach RSE as an aspect of health education under the New Zealand Curriculum. Removing the guidelines will only disempower schools and empower bullies,” Mr Robinson says.