Hauora and Media Choices

Overview

Students examine how pornography can present unrealistic ideas about bodies, sex, consent and relationships, and consider possible effects on hauora. The lesson uses non-graphic scenarios and a critical media-literacy approach: pornography is media designed for adults’ entertainment, not education or a model for real relationships. Students are not asked to disclose personal experiences.

Learning intentions

• WALT explain how media messages can influence beliefs, expectations and decisions.
• WALT use the four dimensions of hauora to consider possible effects of pornography.
• WALT distinguish media portrayals from respectful, consensual relationships.
• WALT identify safe, respectful actions and trusted sources of help.

Success criteria

• I can describe possible effects on taha tinana, taha hinengaro, taha whānau and wairua without assuming they happen to everyone.
• I can identify unrealistic or harmful messages in a non-graphic media scenario.
• I can explain why consent, privacy, respect and communication matter.
• I can name an appropriate help-seeking pathway.

Curriculum links

• Health Education: understanding wellbeing through taha tinana, taha hinengaro, taha whānau and wairua.
• Health Education: critically assessing media representations of sexual activity, safer sex, consent and relationships.
• Health Education: analysing how online platforms influence relationships, self-image and personal development, and developing safe strategies.
• Health Education: understanding privacy, consent, peer accountability and the consequences of sharing intimate content without consent.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–7 min · Prepare a safe learning space. Teacher gives a content note: “Today we discuss pornography and its possible effects. No explicit images, descriptions or personal disclosures are needed.” Establish agreements: use respectful language; pass is always allowed; discuss ideas, not classmates; no naming or questioning others; confidentiality has limits if someone may be unsafe. Explain the anonymous question box and that students may privately request a check-in or use an alternative task. Students silently choose a comfort signal (green: ready, amber: unsure, red: need support) and may move seats or work with the teacher.

2. 7–15 min · Hook and prior thinking. Open with the question and safe-space slides and ask: “Where might young people learn ideas about relationships, and how trustworthy is each source?” Students complete a think-pair-share, then contribute general ideas without naming websites, people or experiences. Teacher clarifies that curiosity is normal, pornography is age-restricted adult media, and it is not relationship or consent education.

3. 15–25 min · Hauora and critical media literacy. Use the hauora and media-literacy slides to introduce the four dimensions: taha tinana (physical wellbeing), taha hinengaro (thoughts and feelings), taha whānau (relationships and belonging), and wairua (values, identity and sense of meaning). Explain that effects vary: pornography may shape expectations about bodies, sex, pleasure, gender roles, communication or consent; it may contribute to confusion, pressure, comparison, distress, secrecy or unsafe decisions for some people, while others may not experience these effects. Students complete the first section of the hauora media-analysis worksheet by sorting possible messages into “realistic relationship learning” and “entertainment/media portrayal”, with reasons.

4. 25–39 min · Scenario think-pair-share. Teacher displays three non-graphic scenarios from the scenario discussion slides and reminds students to discuss the character’s choices, not judge the person. In pairs, students analyse one scenario on the worksheet:

• A student assumes a partner should agree to something because it appeared in pornography.
• A group chat pressures someone to forward an intimate image of another person.
• A student compares their body or relationship with media portrayals and feels anxious. Students identify the possible hauora impacts, the missing information or harmful assumption, and one respectful response. Share selected responses; reinforce that consent must be freely given, informed, specific, ongoing and able to be withdrawn. Sharing intimate content without consent is harmful and may have serious social, emotional and legal consequences.

5. 39–51 min · Continuum and decision-making task. Place an imaginary continuum across the room: “supports safety and respect” to “could increase risk or harm”. Read actions from the continuum task slides: checking whether information comes from a reliable health source; stopping when content appears unexpectedly; forwarding an image “as a joke”; asking for clear consent; reporting harmful content; pressuring someone to prove trust; speaking with a trusted adult. Students position themselves or indicate privately, then justify using the questions: “Who could be affected?”, “What are the short- and long-term consequences?”, and “What safer choice is available?” Students record one decision-making strategy: pause, check, communicate, protect privacy, report, and seek help.

6. 51–60 min · Consolidate and support. Teacher uses the help-seeking and exit slides to revisit the key message: media is constructed; real relationships require respect, communication, privacy and consent. Students complete the worksheet exit ticket: one possible hauora effect, one realistic relationship principle, and one person or service they could contact. Students may place an anonymous question in the box or privately approach the teacher. Remind them that support is available from a trusted adult, school counsellor, Healthline on 0800 611 116, or Netsafe for online-safety concerns.

Resources

• the complete media, hauora, scenarios and plenary slide deck
• the hauora media-analysis worksheet
• Anonymous question box and paper slips
• Board or projected continuum
• Pens and highlighters
• School counselling and safeguarding referral information
• Teacher’s school-approved alternative activity

Assessment

• Listen for students linking a scenario to more than one dimension of hauora and using possibility language such as “may” or “could”.
• Check pair explanations for understanding of consent, privacy, media influence and safe decision-making; address misconceptions immediately.
• Use the exit ticket to identify students needing clarification, private support or a follow-up lesson.

Differentiation

• Provide sentence starters: “This message could affect… because…”, “A respectful response would be…”, and “A trusted source is…”.
• Allow students to write, point to continuum positions or work privately with the teacher; never require personal examples or public movement.
• Pre-teach hauora terms and use clear, non-graphic language; offer a quiet space, supported reading and an alternative task analysing general online advertising if the content is distressing.
• Extend confident students by comparing pornography with another media genre and evaluating how platform design, algorithms and peer norms can influence choices.

Teacher preparation and safeguarding

Before class, check the school’s relationships-and-sexuality-education and safeguarding procedures, prepare the anonymous question process, preview every slide, and arrange a counsellor check-in pathway. Do not investigate disclosures in front of the class, promise secrecy, or ask for unnecessary details. Thank the student, listen calmly, state that safety matters, and follow school reporting procedures. Likely misconceptions to correct include: pornography is not a reliable source of sex education; consent is not implied by a relationship or previous agreement; silence, pressure or intoxication is not consent; and responsibility for harmful sharing rests with the person who shares, not the person depicted.

Family and whānau communication

Send a brief notice before or after the lesson explaining that students are learning about media influence, hauora, consent, privacy, respectful relationships and help-seeking through non-graphic scenarios. Invite whānau to discuss trusted sources of information and family values, acknowledging diverse cultures, beliefs and experiences. Provide the school’s contact pathway for questions or concerns.