Consultation open on the Education Act
Thu 03 Dec 2015
The Government is carrying out consultation on how to improve the Education Act 1989. Consultation closes on Monday 14 December 2015, 5pm. In ...
The Government is carrying out consultation on how to improve the Education Act 1989. Consultation closes on Monday 14 December 2015, 5pm.
In November 2013, the government established the independent Taskforce on Regulations Affecting School Performance to "consider how improved legislation and regulation could contribute to the goal of raising the achievement of all students." On 30 May 2014, the Taskforce delivered the report Considering Education Regulation in New Zealand which recommended reviewing the Act, "with the aim of creating an outcomes-focused, student-centred and usable piece of legislation with a clear purpose."
The government seeks feedback on five specific proposals. Proposal four is "Making every school and kura a great one - How a graduated range of responses could be developed to better support schools when difficulties arise."
A series of regional meetings and hui have been scheduled across the country to discuss the Education Act proposals. Submissions can be made online and via email or post.
Changes will be considered by Cabinet and drafted into a Bill to be introduced to Parliament in 2016. There will be further opportunity to provide feedback on the Bill during the Select Committee phase. Further information on the consultation or the Taskforce can be found on the Ministry of Education website.
Young people's experiences of violence
In New Zealand, from the Youth '07, Young people and violence report:
- 12.3% of secondary school students reported they had been hit or physically hurt at home in the last 12 months
- 10.4% had witnessed adults hitting or physically hurting each other
- 19.9% of female students and 5.4% of male students reported having been touched in a sexual way or made to do sexual things that they didn’t want to do
Family, sexual and dating violence can have serious detrimental impacts on young people’s health, well-being and ability to learn. For example, students who had experienced or witnessed violence in their home were much more likely to:
- Have significant depressive symptoms (males 12.6% and females 25.9%) than students who had not experienced or witnessed violence in their home (males 5.7% and females 11.3%)
- Have attempted suicide (males 7.3% and females 13.4%) than students who had not experienced or witnessed violence in their home (males 2.0% and females 4.5%)
Research and resources
A range of resources which may be useful in writing submissions are below. These focus on the role of schools in family, whānau, dating and sexual violence prevention, and the importance of schools responding effectively when students have experienced or used violence or are at risk.
Internationally there is evidence that school-based prevention works to reduce rates of violence. Effective violence prevention programmes support young people to build skills based on respect, negotiation and consent, to develop healthy relationships and to step up if their friends are experiencing or using violence or violence-supportive attitudes. However one-off programmes are ineffective: see this rapid review of international and New Zealand evidence on what works in school-based relationship education programmes to prevent intimate partner violence (Superu, 2013). Criteria for effective programmes include: (1) a whole-school approach, (2) a program framework and logic, (3) effective curriculum delivery, (4) relevant, inclusive and culturally sensitive practice, and (5) impact evaluation: see Respectful relationships education: Violence prevention and respectful relationships education in Victorian secondary schools (Flood, Fergus and Heenan, 2009).
For a New Zealand based literature review, see School-Based Violence Prevention Programmes: A Literature Review (Hassall and Hanna, 2007).
Existing New Zealand schools-based violence prevention programmes are listed along with resources for promoting healthy relationships with young people previously compiled by the New Zealand Family Violence Clearinghouse.
Schools-based programmes include ACC's Mates and Dates healthy relationships programme for years 9-13. Before Mates & Dates, there were no multi-year programmes based on best practice for secondary students that were available nationwide. Mates & Dates was delivered to address this gap. Mates & Dates was piloted in eight schools in 2014 and in those plus additional schools in 2014.
The Ministry of Education published updated guidelines on sexuality education in schools in 2015. These were broadly welcomed by sexual violence prevention advocates and Family Planning. The Ministry of Education has also published Relationship education programmes: Guidelines for Schools (2013). However both documents remain guidelines only and there is no requirement on schools to teach violence prevention or in relation to how it is taught. Specialist agencies have called for the Government to make sexual violence prevention education mandatory in high schools and say sexuality education shouldn't be a "lottery."
Parliament's Health Committe released a report on improving health outcomes for children and preventing child abuse (2013). Its recommendations included that the Government develop a "co-ordinated cross-sectoral action plan with the objective of giving New Zealand world-leading, best-practice evidence-based sexuality and reproductive health education" within a year of their report, matched with appropriate resourcing.
Section 60B of the Education Act requires state school Boards to consult with their school community and adopt a statement on the delivery of the health curriculum, at least once in every two years. Sexuality education comes under the health curriculum. The consultation is to inform the school community about the content of the health curriculum, "ascertain the wishes of the school community regarding the way in which the health curriculum should be implemented, given the views, beliefs, and customs of the members of that community" and determine the health needs of students. School Boards are not required to consult on any other aspect of the curriculum.
WAVES Trust published Do West Auckland children who witness family violence get an adequate response?: An assessment of the current situation with suggested strategies for the future (2012).
An evaluation by the Education Review Office (2007) found that two thirds of the schools it looked at "needed to improve their performance significantly" in relation to learning in sexuality education and meeting the needs of diverse groups of students.
Renewed calls for healthy relationships education (among other measures) were made again in 2015 after similar behaviour by young men with links to Opotiki College, who were charged with unlawful sexual conduct against six young women aged 14-15 in December 2015 (see the media list at the bottom of the page for further information). Discussing the Opotiki case on TV3's Paul Henry, national survivor advocate Louise Nicholas said "Let's start being proactive instead of reactive. We need to be in our schools. It's not about saying don't drink, don't have sex or don't take drugs. We have to help them understand the repercussions."
Other relevant reports include:
Breaking the Silence but Keeping Secrets: What Young People Want to Address Sexual Violence (Woodley et al, 2013)
Preventing Sexual Violence: A Stocktake of Tauiwi and Bicultural Primary Prevention Activities (Dickson, 2013)
"The program really gives you skills for dealing with real life situations": Results from the evaluation of the Sex + Ethics Program with young people from Wellington, New Zealand (Carmody et al, 2011)
International
The United Kingdom agency Against Violence and Abuse (AVA) provides the AVA Digital Prevention Platform, a 'one stop shop' website to support practitioners working with young people in schools and other educational or youth centres to prevent violence against women and girls. A recent blog post highlights the importance of taking a whole of school approach.
Also in the UK, the Bristol Ideal works with schools to achieve a set of standards which aim to make a real impact on promoting healthy relationships and reducing domestic and sexual violence.
US based Futures without Violence has an online toolkit to assist those in developing teen dating violence (TDV) prevention programmes based on the programme Start Strong. As part of the programme, schools implement one of two evidence-based teen dating violence prevention programmes: Safe Dates or Fourth R.
US based Prevent Connect reports on a review that has found addressing gender and power should be considered a key characteristic of effective sexuality and HIV education programs.
An Australian report has looked at wellbeing in schools:
Graham, A., Fitzgerald, R., Powell, M., Thomas, N., Anderson, D., White, N. & Simmonds, C. (2014). Improving approaches to wellbeing in schools: What role does recognition play? Centre for Children and Young People, Southern Cross University, Lismore.
Media
Public has its say on future of education, Beehive, 15.12.2015
One more week to have a say on Education Act, Beehive, 07.12.2015
How important is sex education in NZ schools?, Stuff, 25.11.2015
Lee Suckling: We all need sexual consent lessons, NZ Herald, 21.10.2015
Kiwi students using school computers to access porn, Educators, 02.10.2015
Schools face increasing challenge, Press Release: Computer Forensics NZ, Scoop, 01.10.2015
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