New Zealand to remove gender ideology from school curriculum

The gender ideology taught in schools faces growing opposition.

BY KERRY MEADOWS-BONNER for epochtimes.fr

December 16, 2023 06:31 Updated: December 16, 2023 06:31

New Zealand's three-party coalition government has agreed to review existing guidelines on gender, sexuality and relationships in schools to focus on academic success rather than onideology.

This decision will include the removal and replacement of guidelines relating to relationships and sexuality.

The deal has drawn a mix of support and criticism from various sectors, including parents, educators, members of the LGBTQ community and advocacy groups.

The decision is supported by Resist Gender Education (RGE), a group that advocates for evidence-based, age-appropriate education for children.

According to RGE the relationship and sexuality education guide currently in use is scientifically inaccurate, promotes an ideology that is not shared by a majority of parents and caregivers, and is not always age-appropriate. children.

There is also concern that some concepts taught, such as the gender spectrum and fluidity of sexual identity, are more ideological than factual and potentially confusing to young students, and that they may promote body dissociation in young children. .

RGE also believes that it is too early to discuss such complex topics as “gender identity” with five-year-olds.

RGE explains that schools currently teach children that what determines people's gender is the result of gender stereotypes.

“As a result, aspiring lesbian or gay children are told that if they are found not to conform to feminine or masculine stereotypes, then their bodies must be medically altered,” RGE said in a press release published on November 25.

On the contrary, the association considers that it is certainly necessary to educate about consent and healthy relationships with each other, but while adopting an impartial approach to the content of relationship and sexuality education courses.

”We are a non-partisan, non-religious group that advocates for children's rights to be themselves, without discrimination, without labeling, and without medical intervention to 'fix' them. “, said RGE.

The response

Critical of the proposed removal and rewrite, Katie Fitzpatrick, professor of education at the University of Auckland, publicly warned that removing the guidelines could lead to a regression in teaching.

Ms Fitzpatrick, one of the lead drafters of the 2015 sex education documents, says the omission of these topics amounts to a kind of deprivation of fundamental knowledge and education for young people.

The country's largest education union, the NZEI, echoed the sentiment, urging the government to consider the views of teachers and parents before implementing radical education policies.

“My first reaction was dismay,” said Mark Potter, president of the NZEI and a Wellington primary school teacher.

“The only thing our children don’t need is less education in relationships and health.”

Recent results from the Program for International Student Assessment, which assesses the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students and provides insight into education systems, have highlighted contextual factors such as increasing rates of food insecurity and anxiety among students.

The Epoch Times contacted New Zealand Education Minister Erica Stanford for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Original article : https://www.epochtimes.fr/la-nouvelle-zelande-va-supprimer-lideologie-du-genre-de-son-programme-scolaire-2493030.html