Family Planning thought it was timely and important to hear more from parents in New Zealand about their views of relationship and sexuality education, both at home and school. This survey is a follow-up to a survey on young people’s views of relationship and sexuality education and is part two of a three-part series to improve our understanding of how we can better meet the needs of young people, parents and caregivers, and teachers.

Parents told us: 

• 83 per cent of respondents said they talked openly to their child/children about relationships and sexuality. 
• They think relationship and sexuality education is a really important part of learning at school with an average rating of importance of 87. 
• They want more information on talking to their children about safety online, pornography, sexting, bullying and harassment. 

We say that relationship and sexuality education is a partnership between parents and caregivers and schools. Schools should be supported to building on parents' and caregivers' confidence and interest in this area of the curriculum in order to enhance their learning programmes. 

Read our Parents' and Caregivers' Views of Relationship and Sexuality Education Survey 

Read Stuff's story on our survey.