ERO report on sexuality education seriously flawed

New ERO report on sexuality education in NZ is seriously flawed

Friday 24.08.07

The new Education Review Office (ERO) report into sexuality education has failed to actually measure the real outcomes of sex education in New Zealand schools.

The new report is circular in nature, because it simply measures the frequency and content of the sexuality education being delivered, rather than examining the actual effectiveness of the methodology being promoted in the curriculum.

“If ERO are truly interested in the effectiveness of sexuality education then they would be examining the outcomes in the lives of the actual students being educated under various sex education methodologies. This would indicate whether certain methodologies are actually leading to increased sexual activity, pregnancies, abortions and sexually transmitted infections” says Family Life International media spokesperson; Brendan Malone.

“Instead of doing this they have written the report based on the totally unfounded assumption that the current methodology is actually working in New Zealand, yet there is no reliable data to support such an assumption and all the anecdotal evidence suggests that the current methodology is actually flawed in many respects. This report simply endorses the current methodology and lambasts schools for not doing more to promote that methodology, despite the fact that the true effectiveness of that methodology remains unproven.”

“This new report appears to be nothing more than a vehicle that is designed to protect and increase the use of the current ideology about sex, and sex education, in New Zealand schools” says Mr. Malone.

ENDS

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