The government has recently removed Relationships and Sexuality Education, or RSE, guidelines in schools without implementing a clear alternative.

The RSE guidelines were changed in 2020, to better support, and include updates to the the 2007 curriculum for primary and secondary school students, on topics such as the prominence of social media, bullying and cyber-bullying, and consent, in an age-appropriate manner.

With the removal of the 2020 guidelines, many educators are wondering how they adequately cover the topics covered in RSE.

As well as this, concerns have been raised about whether a move like this will impact the mental health of students, especially from minority communities, such as the LGBTQIA+ community.

News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation New Zealand, Shaun Robinson, about the removal of RSE guidelines without the government clearly indicating to an alternative, and the organisations concerns regarding these developments.

They started off by asking him what RSE is.