Rangatahi deserve quality, comprehensive and inclusive relationships and sexuality education, enabling them to better understand themselves and others, and to safely navigate the world around them. Make sure the government hears your voice on their deeply flawed replacement of relationship and sexuality education (RSE) guidelines.

Consultations are your opportunity to share your perspective with decision-makers, and you can do this within minutes. Below we’ve created a quick explainer, with instructions on how to give feedback on the proposed new relationships and sexuality education (RSE) framework. Consultations closed 11:59pm, May 9th, 2025.

Why does this matter?

Children and young people deserve to be taught how to develop healthy relationships, positive identities and make informed choices. Relationships and sexuality education (RSE) guidelines support schools to teach these to young people, usually as part of the health and PE curriculum.

Right now, the Government is looking to replace RSE guidelines only released a few years ago, that were really well received, with a framework that will fail to provide the level of education and understanding that students should have access to.

While it is positive that the proposed framework retains guidelines for safety and consent education, it has largely removed references to gender diversity and the difference between biological sex and gender. It provides tokenistic representation of intersex and queer identities and removes any mention of takatāpui.

As it stands, this draft framework could do more harm than good for young people. Young people deserve RSE guidelines that reflect the diversity in their lives. Young people deserve RSE guidelines that include all of them.

How do I have my say?

You can read the draft RSE framework here and email your feedback to [email protected] with the subject line “Draft RSE Feedback”. This will then be collated and added into the feedback gathered via the survey. note: submissions have now closed. 

Alternatively, you can fill out a survey from the Ministry of Education here.

What could my email submission say?

We encourage you to write these in your own words as much as possible.  

Kia ora,  

My name is [INSERT NAME]. I am a [If you are a teacher, student, past-student or whānau member of somebody at school, let them know]. I would like to provide the following feedback on the draft relationships and sexuality education (RSE) framework.  

I support the decision to retain safety and consent education at all levels of the curriculum.  

  • Safety and consent education supports our young people to make safer decisions, develop healthy and consensual behaviors and choose healthier relationships. This should be taught at every level of the curriculum in a consistent and evidence-informed way.

I want to see the reintroduction of guidance regarding gender diversity and sexuality, previously included in the 2020 RSE Guidelines.  

  • As supported by international best practice guides, gender diversity is an essential part of relationships and sexuality education. 
     
  • RSE guidelines must reference trans, non-binary and intersex experiences. Whilst some diversity of sexuality identities is acknowledged, these are only defined in relation to there being only two genders. The exclusion of trans and non-binary identities in these draft guidelines is a concerning breach of human rights and an erasure of legitimate experiences. Such non-recognition places our trans and non-binary students at significant risk of victimisation, bullying and negatively impacted wellbeing. 

I want to see the reintroduction of guidance regarding takatāpui and Indigenous rainbow identities. 

  • The exclusion of takatāpui identities, as well as other queer Indigenous identities (MVPFAFF+) further sets a dangerous precedent for discrimination and harm against our tauira. Queer Indigenous identities must be included in RSE guidelines. 

For more information and to expand your submission 


we encourage you to read the following:  

InsideOUT Survey submission guide: here.  

Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa statement on draft RSE framework: here.  

2020 RSE Guidelines (formally removed Feb 2025): here.  

Full 2025 draft RSE framework: here.