High school students should be taught how to become good lovers, says New Zealand’s sexual health agency, Family Planning. However, the suggestion has been rejected by principals who say such lessons are inappropriate.
Christchurch Boys' High principal, Nic Hill, told Stuff.co.nz it was "interesting ground" but he could not imagine his staff wanting to "get in to technique".
"I'm a little surprised. I don't think that will be happening at Boys' High," Hill said.
Burnside High School principal Phil Holstein, who is also Canterbury Westland Secondary Principals' Association chairman, said such lessons were “not appropriate” in the form of the health syllabus in schools.
"I don't think it was ever intended that those things be discussed," Holstein said.
Family Planning, which provides co-teaching, professional development and a range of other services to schools, said it was important that ‘pleasure’ be addressed in sexuality education classes.
"There is a fear of talking about pleasure," an information and evidence briefing said.
"Pleasure is part of what people, young and old, hope to experience when they have sex, with research suggesting that the pursuit of pleasure is one of the primary reasons people have sex."
Sex education is a compulsory part of the health curriculum but schools are free to decide how they teach it.
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