ABSTRACT
Often grounded in colonialist Western ideas, education provision for māpū | young people in the Pacific is influenced by international trends and is rarely contextualised to the local setting. This is particularly the situation for sex, sexuality and relationships education. Drawing on the socio-cultural knowledge of young people in the Kuki Airani | Cook Islands, this chapter seeks to discuss the issues this raises for sex, sexuality and relationships education by exploring māpū | young people's experiences about these matters. This māpū | youth-grounded knowledge was used for the development of a culturally relevant Kuki Airani educational resource for both school and community settings.
