11. Question No. 11—EducationJAN LOGIE (Green) to the Associate Minister of EducationQuestion No. 11—Education11. JAN LOGIE (Green) to the Associate Minister of Education: What actions will she take if any in response to the finding in the Christchurch Girls' High School survey on harassment and abuse that half of all students have experienced sexual harassment and does she believe that Aotearoa's schools have a sexual abuse culture?Hon JAN TINETTI (Associate Minister of Education): I was extremely upset and concerned by the findings of this report. Sexual harassment is absolutely not acceptable in any form anywhere in society—and particularly in our schools. I would like to take a moment to thank the young women who came forward to tell their stories and for bringing to light the harassment and abuse they have experienced—that takes a lot of courage. In terms of the immediate actions our focus has been on the young women affected. The Ministry of Education has made appropriate support available to the school and to all students. Ultimately the seriousness of the issues that have been raised are a matter for the police. In regards to the second part of the question there is no place for sexual violence in Aotearoa but I think that this report has raised some systemic issues we must address as a country which is why we now have a Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence the Hon Marama Davidson who has been leading work on a longer-term strategy to end sexual abuse and violence.Simeon Brown: Meeting with the gangs.Chris Bishop: How's she going? How's she going? She's done nothing.SPEAKER: Order! This is a serious matter not a laughing matter. Jan Logie: Will she direct the Education Review Office (ERO) to run a nationwide survey to ensure all schools understand the prevalence of sexual harassment and violence experienced by their students?Hon JAN TINETTI: In its review programme ERO regularly raises issues about student wellbeing with schools. ERO requires school boards to confirm that policies procedures and guidelines are in place around wellbeing including providing a safe physical and emotional environment anti-bullying initiatives and internet safety. In terms of a more wide-reaching survey I also know that Minister Davidson has recently launched a national engagement process around the elimination of family and sexual violence which will be used as the foundations of a national strategy and action plan. Similarly Minister Radhakrishnan has the first national youth health and wellbeing survey What About Me currently under way to look at youth wellbeing in New Zealand. That survey covers a range of topics such as self-harm pornography consensual sexual activity unwanted sexual contact and where young people go for advice and help about sex and relationships.Jan Logie: Will any of those initiatives give individual schools the information on prevalence and how much abuse their children that they have care for have experienced to drive their response?Hon JAN TINETTI: The surveys will give us an understanding of the prevalence of this really terrible issue within this country. New Zealand State schools are required to ensure a safe and inclusive environment for their schools and the Minister of Education and his associates including myself expect schools to have policies practices and programmes which support a bully-free environment including programmes which give attention to the elimination of homophobic bullying transgender bullying and sexual harassment. Clearly there is more work to do in this area and these are conversations that I wish to continue with the member but also with the Minister the Hon Marama Davidson. Jan Logie: Is she monitoring the implementation of the recommendations made in the 2018 ERO report Promoting wellbeing through sexuality education that depressingly found only 20 percent of schools were teaching sexuality education well; and if yes what has changed for students on the ground since then?Hon JAN TINETTI: The results of the 2018 ERO report were very concerning and as a direct result of that report guidelines from the Ministry of Education on relationships and sexuality education were implemented in 2020 that expect that schools will teach and develop in students knowledge of issues around coercion consent and safety in intimate relationships; effective and assertive communication skills; awareness of ethics and of their own personal values; and a respect for the feelings and decisions of others. In Budget 2020 we funded 40 curriculum wellbeing leads in the Ministry of Education to support schools in delivering this part of the New Zealand Curriculum. We expect all schools to be delivering on the requirements that sit within the New Zealand Curriculum and in particular those around relationships and sexuality. I also expect to get detailed updates in that area.Jan Logie: If Christchurch Girls' High School has with the Minister's support had to employ two more counsellors provide additional support for teachers bring agencies into the school to provide reporting options and set up new reporting systems doesn't this suggest we need to properly resource whole-of-school responses to ensure all our students are safe and this violence isn't tacitly normalised?Hon JAN TINETTI: This Government has increased the numbers of counsellors in schools from the beginning of this year. We increased the full-time teacher equivalent number of counsellors into secondary schools and announcements are to be made soon about counsellors in primary schools. There is a need to ensure that our traumatic incident teams are available at any time—which I know from personal experience they are—to be able to go in to support those schools and those young people most in need. What we do need to say though is given the seriousness of what this report has brought to light that this is not something that we can expect teachers to fully address themselves. We have a responsibility every single one of us to change attitudes assumptions and cultures around sexual harassment across our society.