"The schools are all self determining, but for young people to grow up safely and have an understanding of relationships and consent we definitely have to open up the conversation."
Rotorua Intermediate School adolescent health facilitator Rachel Hitchens said rape culture was a big part of what she taught her students.
"We do have a sexual education programme which every child in the school goes through," she said.
"Teaching solely about rape and rape culture is not enough. We take a broader, holistic and more in-depth approach."
Mrs Hitchens said it was important pupils learnt relationship skills, including friendships and romantic relationships.
"We learn about self-respect, self-regulation, respecting others, having clear personal boundaries, and being able to articulate and enforce your own boundaries," she said.
"Being able to say 'no' to their peers, parents, and other adults if they feel something is not right or there is something that they are not comfortable with."
With a rise in social media and increased access to adult media Mrs Hitchens said the school looked closely at how it could influence students into positive decision making.
"Students are encouraged to take their learning and thoughts home, to gain another perspective and take on advice from those that love and care about them."
Mrs Hitchens said it would be difficult to audit, because the subject was constantly evolving and changing with feedback from students.
Head of department for health education at Western Heights High School, Wendy Hague, said sexual education was part of physical education in Years 9 and 10, but optional after that.
"We only have one hour per week allocated for health education, in which we try to cover so many important topics," she said.
"We try our best to provide enough information to help students make safe choices with the best outcomes and provide information about where to get help to support them when things don't go right."
Mrs Hague said more time needed to be allotted to sexual education.
"Support is needed at home, in the wider school and in the community. We have sex education - this implies that sex at a physical level is our focus, which it is not."
She said parents were sent letters about their programme.
Rotorua Boys' High School head of physical education and health Kevin MacDonald said the school used the same programme as other schools in Rotorua, called Sexwise.
"The safe sex practices programme is delivered by an organisation called The Theatre in Health Education Trust who have an agreement with the Ministry of Health to deliver the free programme to lower decile (1-6) schools and schools with a high percentage of Maori and Pacific Islands students," he said.
"It is delivered to all year levels over a week in Term 2."