New Zealand Eliminates Gender Ideology from National School Curriculum
Increased opposition to gender ideology being taught to young people is the main driver behind the plans to revise and rewrite health guidelines in schools.
The coalition government in New Zealand has agreed to revamp the existing gender, sexuality, and relationship guidelines in schools, with the goal of shifting the focus towards academic achievement rather than ideology.
This decision will entail the removal and replacement of the existing relationships and sexuality-based guidelines.
This move has received a mixed response from various quarters, including parents, educators, members of the LGBTQ community, and advocacy groups.
Advocates of the decision, such as Resist Gender Education (RGE), assert that the current Relationships and Sexuality Education Guide (RSE Guide) is scientifically inaccurate, promotes an ideology not held by a majority of parents and caregivers, and is not age-appropriate in some instances.
There are concerns that certain concepts being taught, like the spectrum of sex and the fluidity of gender identity, are more ideological than factual and potentially confusing for young students, and may promote body dissociation in young children.
RGE is of the opinion that it is too early to introduce topics such as ‘gender identity’ to children as young as five. The group believes that schools are teaching children that sexist stereotypes determine their sex, potentially encouraging body alteration for non-conformity to these stereotypes.
Rather than promoting a non-biased approach to the content of Relationship and Sexuality Education lessons, RGE emphasizes the need for education about consent and healthy relationships.
Critics of the proposal to remove and rewrite the guidelines, such as Education Professor Katie Fitzpatrick from the University of Auckland and New Zealand’s largest Education Union, the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI), argue that doing so could result in regressive schooling and withhold essential knowledge and education from young people.
NZEI also emphasizes the need for government policies that support student well-being and a sense of belonging, rather than implementing educational changes driven by political agendas.
Efforts to obtain a comment from New Zealand’s Minister of Education, Erica Stanford, have been unsuccessful at the time of publication.
