In 2020, we published Relationships and Sexuality Education: A guide for teachers, leaders, and boards of trustees for both years 1–8 and 9–13 for the Ministry of Education. Learning about relationships and sexuality is part of the New Zealand Curriculum and is one aspect of health education (within health and physical education).
The overall aim of these guidelines is to enable schools to deliver effective, quality programmes covering relationships and sexuality education (RSE) to their students. They describe a school-wide approach to RSE focused on the idea of wellbeing. The guidelines make explicit the key learning at each curriculum level, including ideas for building a young person’s life skills – emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and environmental. These guidelines are intended for all state and state-integrated English-medium schools in Aotearoa New Zealand.
