The Code of Practice has been revised, but it doesn’t seem to deal with hosts being cuckolded

Bugger me, Alf muttered in his inimitable way on learning of yet another outrageous demand of our fiscally strapped public services.

A bloke on Auckland’s North Shore (and we should not be surprised to learn an Aucklander is involved) wants the Education Ministry to issue guidelines on sexual matters.

Alas, the report in the Herald does not make plain to whom this bloke believes the guidelines should be issued.

But Alf’s strong suspicion is that the bloke might want them issued to his missus, 45 years old and frisky, because he found her having sex with a teenage foreign student the couple were hosting.

The North Shore man – who did not want to be named – said he had contacted police after his wife’s encounter with the 19-year-old South American, but was told they were powerless to help as the student was legally an adult.

“I’m at a total loss about what to do in such a situation and I’m bloody angry,” the North Shore man told the Herald.

Dunno why he should be at a total loss.

There is much he could do, without calling in state authorities.

The man said he had faced issues in the past, where international students he hosted sneaked friends into the house late at night for sex.

“We really need to know what we can do in such situations, and I’ve suggested they add it to their pastoral care code. Is this something international students should be allowed to get away with?”

According to the Herald, a compulsory code of practice for pastoral care was introduced in 2003 to protect the rights and welfare of international students.

The code is being reviewed by the ministry, and those involved with international students and the export education sector are being consulted, the newspaper says.

But Alf’s inquiries ascertained that a Code of Practice commenced in 2002 “and was last revised in 2010.”

Translations of the Code will be available soon in various languages, accoding to the Ministry of Education web-site.

Please note that the new Code (revised 2010) will take effect on 1 November 2010, except for clause 3, clause 15.5.1 and the definition of “group students”, which come into force on 23 July 2010.

The Code of Practice advises education providers on the standards of care that they must provide to international students living and studying in New Zealand.

It does not seem to mention the standard of care that hosts and their wives must provide, but he suspects that in the North Shore case the host’s missus took her hostessing services far beyond the call of duty.

Alf did not find any advice on who may shag whom, under the code.

Mind you, listing unacceptable behaviour in a code is one thing. Having people observe the code is another.

In the North Shore case, it sounds as if the cuckolded husband should look closer to home for a remedy to his grievance.

He might start by throwing out the missus and the student, preferably in different directions, although perhaps he is not physically up to such a challenge, which would explain why the missus took the student into her bed and why the bloke was reduced to trying to find out what the cops could do.