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Abstract
In 2015, the New Zealand Ministry of Education released a new curriculum policy document for sexuality education in all schools – Sexuality Education: A Guide for Boards of Trustees, Principals and Teachers. This policy is a rare international example of a curriculum document that explicitly values diversity, promotes inclusive school environments, and approaches sexuality education as an area of study (rather than a health promotion intervention). Since its release, the document has, however, gained little attention either of a scholarly nature or in terms of dedicated implementation in schools. One exception is a recent article in this journal by Sarah Garland-Levett, which raises some interesting and important concerns about the possibilities of such policy documents. I follow her lead here and continue the discussion about the place and potential of progressive sexuality education policy, and offer some thoughts about the content and intentions of this text.
Acknowledgements
I want to thank Peter Aggleton for his advice and editorial support in constructing this piece, and the sage feedback of two reviewers.
Notes
1. The New Zealand Education Review Office audits schools every 3–5 years and reports on curriculum delivery. It does not necessarily report on sexuality education in individual schools (indeed, this would be rare). The office did conduct a national evaluation in 2007 (Education Review Office Citation2007a, 2007b), and a further review is currently underway.
2. The Whare Tapa Wha model can be seen here: https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/populations/maori-health/maori-health-models/maori-health-models-te-whare-tapa-wha
3. The Fonofale model can be seen here: http://www.hauora.co.nz/resources/Fonofalemodelexplanation.pdf