Schools and Educators
How do we align with the new curriculum?
The Sexwise programme aligns with the current Curriculum under Relationships and Sexuality Education Levels 4-8.
Ko Aku Hoa
Friendships and relationships with others
Understanding Skills to enhance relationships, for example in relation to friendships, intimate relationships, love, families and parenting.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Are able to manage intimate relationships (involving attraction, love, and desire) and relationship changes (including changes to relationships online and using social media), through:
- Knowledge of rights and responsibilities.
- Knowledge of the need to give and receive consent and to make informed choices.
- Assertive communication.
Ko Tōku Ao
Me And The World
Critical inquiry, reflection and social action skills related to issues of equity, gender, body image, risk and safety.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Know how to access help for themselves and others, know about a range of strategies and resources that support health and wellbeing, and understand how these can enhance wellbeing, mitigate risk, and support gender and sexual identity.
Ko Au
All About Me
Knowledge understandings and skills relating to physical and sexual health and development: emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Know about a range of cultural approaches to issues of gender and sexuality and how these relate to holistic understandings of wellbeing, eg, in terms of:
- Cultural, generational, and personal values related to gender and sexual identities.
- Take part in a range of practices and activities (eg, physical activity and sport, school and community events, classroom activities, and interactions on social media); reflect critically on how these practices connect with issues of body image and gender norms; and develop strategies to promote inclusion and wellbeing.
Ko Aku Hoa
Friendships and relationships with other
Understanding Skills to enhance relationships, for example in relation to friendships, intimate relationships, love, families and parenting.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Have skills for enhancing relationships, including skills for:
- Strengthening personal identity.
- Effective communication.
- Assertiveness.
- Negotiating intimacy.
- Giving and receiving consent.
- Dealing with pressure.
- Demonstrating care and respect.
- Understand how people’s ideas about love, intimacy, attraction, desire, romance, and pleasure can affect wellbeing and relationships.
Ko Au
All About Me
Knowledge understandings and skills relating to physical and sexual health and development: emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Are able to examine how gender and sexual identities can shift in different contexts and over time, and understand how these identities can be affected by relationships, family, media, popular culture, religion, spirituality, and youth cultures.
Ko Aku Hoa
Friendships and relationships with others
Understanding Skills to enhance relationships, for example in relation to friendships, intimate relationships, love, families and parenting.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Have knowledge and skills to enhance wellbeing in intimate relationships, including knowledge and skills about:
- Rights and responsibilities.
- Consent, decision-making, and problem-solving.
- Considering risks and safe sexual practices.
- Recognise how different values affect people’s behaviours in intimate relationships and can develop interpersonal skills and plan strategies for responding to needs and challenges, solving problems, and making decisions.
Te Ao
The World
Critical inquiry, reflection and social action skills related to issues of equity, gender, body image, risk and safety.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Are able to compare concepts of love, attraction, romance, pleasure, and consent from different perspectives and in different situations, and can take ethical standpoints (eg, by considering cultural values, church values, family values, and the values portrayed in social media and films).
- Are able to critique heteronormative messages and practices in the school or community and recommend actions to address these.
Ko Au
All About Me
Knowledge understandings and skills relating to physical and sexual health and development: emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Understand physical change across the lifespan for different people, including changes relating to fertility, menstruation, and the menopause, and explore the impacts of people’s choices relating to sexual health (eg, choices about using contraceptives, hormone blockers, or drugs, and about dealing with STIs).
- Are able to identify risks arising from intimate relationships in online and offline environments and can explain their personal values and needs (eg, in relation to dating, the influence of pornography, or issues of consent).
Ko Aku Hoa
Friendships and relationships with others
Understanding Skills to enhance relationships, for example in relation to friendships, intimate relationships, love, families and parenting.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Are able to analyse their own close friendships, partnerships, and social interactions, and can plan actions to enhance communication and wellbeing in a range of situations (including online situations and situations involving alcohol and other drugs).
Te Ao
The World
Critical inquiry, reflection and social action skills related to issues of equity, gender, body image, risk and safety.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Are able to:
- Evaluate societal and cultural influences on partnerships, families, and childcare relationships.
- Analyse beliefs, attitudes, and practices that influence choices by reinforcing stereotypes (such as sexism, homophobia, and transphobia).
- Use principles of social justice to advocate for inclusive practices.
Ko Au
All About Me
Knowledge understandings and skills relating to physical and sexual health and development: emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Are able to reflect on their personal identity (which will include their gender, sexuality, body, ethnicity, culture, location, ability, and age) and to explore identity politics and related issues in diverse contexts (including issues around labels such as “LGBTQI+”, “rainbow”, “takatāpui”, and “MVPFAFF”).
Ko Aku Hoa
Friendships and relationships with others
Understanding Skills to enhance relationships, for example in relation to friendships, intimate relationships, love, families and parenting.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Are able to critically analyse values, practices, and legislation for promoting safer and more pleasurable sexual practices (eg, by examining health promotion strategies, law changes, and health policies).
- Are able to explore desire, pleasure, consent, and attraction as interpersonal, social, and ethical concepts, and can plan to actively promote positive, equitable, and supportive relationships.
Te Ao
The World
Critical inquiry, reflection and social action skills related to issues of equity, gender, body image, risk and safety.
Ākonga can show that they:
- Are able to critically evaluate societal attitudes to sex and sexuality (including attitudes in families, communities, religious contexts, and online), and can apply health promotion strategies to enhance sexual health and affirm diversity.
- Are able to critically analyse a range of issues that affect relationships, gender identity, and sexuality (eg, by considering the social impacts of online dating and pornography as well as the social and environmental impacts of menstrual products, contraceptive devices, fertility treatments, and pharmaceuticals), and can advocate for sexual and environmental justice and for inclusive cultures.
We really value the Kaupapa of Sexwise. Each year it has been consistently relevant to the students, engaging and linked to the language we use which is connected with the NZC.
What is Sexwise?
Sexwise enables youth to gain current, accurate information about sexual health and well being in an engaging workshop environment.
Who is it for?
The youth of Aotearoa in Years 9-13, with a specific focus on decile 1-6 or equivalent Equity Index High Schools, as well as Māori & Pacific communities.
Where is it available?
We visit schools, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori, alternative educators, Youth Justice Centres, Teen Parent Units and Youth Groups nationwide on an annual tour. Our Sexwise Facilitators travel the length and breadth of Aotearoa to deliver our programme.
How much does it cost?
Sexwise is fully funded for: The youth of Aotearoa in Years 9-13, in decile 1-6 or equivalent Equity Index High Schools, or educational settings with a large percentage of Māori or Pacific Island youth.
How does Sexwise work?
The Sexwise Tour travels throughout Aotearoa annually and is designed to enhance the existing Relationships and Sexuality Education curriculum. Up to 100 students per day can participate from Years 9-13.
All students watch a play and participate in a workshop, which sparks conversations around sensitive topics; whilst facilitators support the students with problem-solving, increasing understanding, positive attitudes and confidence about building healthy relationships, and looking after their sexual wellbeing.
Tell me more...
Our facilitators use an approach known as Applied Theatre, which has been used by many organisations in New Zealand including government departments to help shift mindsets and evoke positive change.
It has the ability to break down barriers and pave the way for meaningful dialogue between students, teachers and facilitators, making it the perfect tool for topics that are often considered taboo.
The Sexwise programme consists of a performance by our professional facilitators depicting four teenage friends struggling with various aspects of their sexuality and relationships; followed by a workshop where students discuss the scenarios, work together to find solutions and offer advice to the characters. This feedback is then used to replay certain scenes so that students can experience the impact of their ideas.
The programme is revised every year by professional facilitators who are easy for teenagers in Aotearoa to relate to, in terms of age, culture, sexual and gender diversity.
No two sessions are the same because each student brings their culture, faith, experience and challenges with them. This means that the solutions and advice developed reflects the values of the students in that class.
The programme uses several tools, including waiata, humour, contemporary references and interactive games to ‘break the ice’ and remove barriers during the workshop to allow open discussion of potentially difficult topics.
When is Sexwise coming to your region?
View the dates for our national tour here.
What to expect on the day?
We support schools to use Sexwise as part of an integrated approach to the delivery of the Sexuality and Healthy Relationships component of the New Zealand Curriculum.
Teachers should use the programme as an experience to enhance the broader curriculum delivery they are planning for their students.
All rangatahi need to participate in both the performance and one workshop.
We can deliver to a maximum of 100 rangatahi per day. We will help you to build a schedule that fits your timetable.
On the day, teachers and support staff are welcome to join in, but keep a low profile to allow students to participate and speak freely.
What we need from you...
- A clean, comfortable classroom or group space large enough to hold your participating youth
- Someone to welcome the facilitators on arrival, show the team where the adult bathrooms are, and provide a health and safety briefing.
- It is mandatory to have one qualified teacher present at all times during both the performance and workshop/s.
- Four chairs.
Who needs to be involved?
Work with your school nurse and/or counsellor to prepare for the visit. It is important that trusted members of your school team are available during and after the programme to support any disclosures, triggering, and answer any questions or concerns your rangatahi may have as the learning sinks in.