NZ Mum on Sex Education Concerns

New Zealand mum Terangimarie Ngahuka took to social media recently when her Year 10 (14 year old) daughter:

Was made to attend a ‘Healthy Relationships & Positive Sexuality’ class when the school had been previously notified by mum that she was opted out.
Showed mum the classroom workbook she was made to complete.

If you know parents who would appreciate this video, you can share it from our posts on YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram.

Are school employees breaking the law?

From the many reports from parents we receive – principals and teachers are overstepping their authority on the issue of parental opt out. The Education and Training Act 2020 states it very simply:

“If A PARENT … asks the principal for the student (their child) to be removed from the health curriculum… the principal… must ensure the student (their child) is released… and supervised”. END OF STORY.

We want to know WHY this is happening. Who is advising school employees to take actions to undermine parents? Examples where the law has not been upheld:

Parents are at odds (one wants the child in RSE class, the other doesn’t). Section 51 doesn’t make a differentiation. It states ‘A PARENT’, (not even ‘a custodial parent’).
Principal/teacher asks the student if want to be in the class. The parent is being usurped and the principal or teacher is outside of their responsibility. The parent’s request must be upheld, not overruled by a school employee. Even if the student wants to attend. NO MEANS NO from ‘A PARENT’. This action by school employees weakens the parent-child relationship.
Teacher emails parents asking which RSE ‘topics’ they want to opt out of. You don’t need to answer that. Simply OPT OUT of RSE lessons in entirety if you want. There is no requirement by law to pick and choose.

Remind the principal and teacher of THEIR legal obligations. Also look on your school website for their policies, which can be used to assist you.

Example of Year 10 Sexuality Workbook

This is not education. It is not ‘quality pedagogy’. It is not a ‘knowledge-based curriculum’. This is training and indoctrination. Workbooks in this style are seeking prescribed outcomes from the students.

For a simple explanation on what we mean, watch the short clip below…

At Let Kids Be Kids we encourage parents to ASK FOR LESSON CONTENT. Once you see it, it’s up to you to decide if this is what you want your children to learn, or not. If not, you can opt out. Each school has different content, so please check yours.

Education and Training Act Amendment Bill before parliament

This week the Education Training Act (System Reform) Amendment Bill is going through parliament. If passed, parents ‘won’t have a say’ during three yearly changes to the RSE curriculum (currently two yearly)…

The consultation process doesn’t work. So their solution is: Don’t consult.

The truth is, parents don’t currently have a say. The many parents around NZ who have been ignored during RSE consultation rounds know this. So the news item is not news at all.

Since the Education Review Office (ERO): Let’s Talk About It – Review of Relationships and Sexuality Education Report was published 12 months ago, it was clear that this was going to happen.

Here is what the (proposed) amendment says:

The board will have a requirement to INFORM the school community what’s in the content (that they now decide, without consulting with the community (i.e., parents)… but if you don’t like it, parents may ‘ASK the principal to excuse their child’…

Nothing has changed. It’s not news

A warning… there appears to be no clarity here that the principal MUST do what the parent days. Just that parents can ‘ask’. That’s a red flag so we’ll be watching closely. If the Education and Training Act Section 51 gets amended, we’ll raise alarm bells.

This announcement seems to be hot air, perhaps with the aim to increase political tensions between coalition parties? NZFirst campaigned in the last election for the RSE content to have gender ideology removed. Has it been? Look out for our report, to be released soon.

This article was originally published by Let Kids Be Kids.