Parents interested in the Relationships & Sexuality Education curriculum taught in their child’s school need to be aware of a change to the Education and Training Act 2020 came into force on July 6 2026.
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This amendment removes the statutory obligation for boards to seek community views about how health education will be delivered. No more consultations on the sex education programme at school.
Instead, Parliament has shifted the obligation to one of notification:
Parents must be told what will be taught;
Parents must be informed of their right to withdraw their child from specified sexuality education topics.
This is the legal removal of the participatory role previously given to parents.
The truth is, parents didn’t really have a say anyway. The many parents who have been ignored or brushed off during RSE ‘consultation’ know this.
The Government’s stated rationale was to reduce administrative burden on schools and make consultation requirements more proportionate, while retaining parents’ ability to opt their children out of sexuality education. Opponents argued that replacing consultation with notification diminished community influence over a sensitive area of the curriculum.
Information is now to be provided ‘every three years or when the curriculum changes’. However…
March 2022: (Labour-led govt) - Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti says “the [health] curriculum is currently going through a refresh and when we do get to the essential learning area of health and physical education, this will be a time when we will look at consent education. But that’s not until 2024.”
November 2023: (National/NZFirst/ACT-led govt) National/NZFirst Coalition agreement includes ‘Refocus the curriculum on academic achievement and not ideology, including the removal and replacement of the gender, sexuality, and relationship-based education guidelines.’
December 2024: Education Review Office (ERO): Let’s Talk About It - Review of Relationships and Sexuality Education Report
April 2025: RSE Guidelines were removed, and principals were directed to 2007 health curriculum until new RSE curriculum was finalised. This did NOT remove the contentious classroom content. Service provider Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa advises schools their Navigating The Journey resources are still fit for purpose and meet 2007 guidelines. Let Kids Be Kids believes this is misinformation. See short video:
The 2025 draft of a new health curriculum
Recently the MOE announced that the Health Curriculum is now not changing until 2029.
Since the Education Review Office (ERO): Let’s Talk About It - Review of Relationships and Sexuality Education Report was published in 2024, it was clear that this was going to happen.
Read what we wrote about this in 2025….
While looking into the proposed changes, we found something else that concerned us. A large number of proposed amendments were put forward by Green Party MP (their education spokesperson) Dr* Lawrence Xu-Nan. The most concerning was No. 623.
He wanted the Education and Training Act Amendment Bill to include:
“In clause 11, after section 91(2) (page 12, line 12), insert: (2A) In making the content of the health curriculum, the board of a State school must have regard (without limitation) for:
(a) prohibited grounds of discrimination under the Human Rights Act 1993; and
(b) consent.
Explanatory note
This Amendment Paper amends the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill. It is important that any relationship and sexuality education contains information on consent and is prohibited from perpetuating harmful homophobia, transphobia, interphobia, and biphobia that affects people with diverse genders, sexualities, and sex characteristics.”
*Dr Xu-Nan’s doctorate is in Ancient History specialising in Egyptology.
At Let Kids Be Kids, we’re happy to see that this wasn’t included in the amendment. However, it demonstrates how the anti-biology lobbyists will try many different ways to slip their preferences into law and policy, this time via a Green MP.
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Ask your school leaders what is in the curriculum - Section 91 states that you must be informed.
Be aware that the Ministry of Education has stated in an OIA that there are NO COMPULSORY TOPICS IN SEX EDUCATION. Use this information when querying topics of concern within the sex education curriculum.
If you are told you can’t view the material due to ‘Copyright’, ask to identify the specific provision of the Copyright Act 1994 or the specific licence term that prevents a you from inspecting the teaching resource.
If they will not show you what your children are to be taught in the sex education classes, we suggest that is a RED FLAG.
You can by law opt out (get our free email template here). The Education and Training Act Section 51 is clear about the school principal’s obligation to ensure your child is removed from class and provided alternative supervision, on your opt-out request.
Read our previous post…
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