Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Education Minister Erica Stanford is standing by the contentious draft school curriculum for Years 0 to 10 as a significant step toward a world-leading education system.
The final curriculum content for Years 0-10 in English, Te Reo, Mathematics and Statistics, and Pāngarau was released last week. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Education began releasing the remaining draft curriculum content for Years 0 to 10, amid growing criticism and calls from some teacher groups to hold off.
Physical education and arts teachers said the content was far too narrow, and dozen of maths education professors said the already-published maths curriculum was over-crowded with multiple errors.
Physical Education New Zealand managing director Hemi MacDonald told Morning Report the proposed curriculum for PE was too focused on the end result.
"I think one of the key messages that is emerging is that where learning is identified in the new draft, it is almost entirely on the performance of movement skill, rather than an understanding of movement, the thinking, cultural and social knowledge that sits behind it," he said.
"We support the idea of a nationally consistent framework, but consistency only works if what we're teaching is actually worth being consistent about."
But Stanford told Morning Report the proposed new curriculum for PE was more than just beep tests and dodgeball.
"We know that we have to build up knowledge and skills and so the new curriculum has the knowledge that children need to know, and then what they can do," she said.
"So, there's knowledge and skills, there's different types of knowledge. It's decorative knowledge, procedural knowledge, there's lots of nerdy things I won't go into.
"But essentially the entire curriculum is building up a knowledge base for children, so that then they can start to develop those really higher order skills, which companies and universities and everyone loves, which are your critical thinking and your problem solving and collaboration and communication and those things.
"But you need to have knowledge first before you can do those things. But also, school's about being fun and engaging, and kids love going to school to play dodgeball."
Stanford said they were still out for consultation and encouraged any suggestions.
She acknowledged writing a new curriculum was tough, but they had been listening to different views from people from different backgrounds.
Stanford said she had seen criticism of the draft, including an open letter from 44 math experts labelling it as more political than educational.
"Well, that's just a bit silly. Firstly, there are a lot of academics who really love this curriculum. The ones that we have used, or the ministry has used, who love this curriculum," she said.
"I've spoken to a number of principals who have unpacked it in the last week who love it. Essentially, it's not a new curriculum. When we came into office we wrote the curriculum.
"It's been in for a year, and we always said at the end of this year we will go out and we've been consulting with schools all year, getting their feedback.
"They've been emailing us; we've been talking to them. They've given us a range of feedback of changes that needed to be made and there's a little bit of international benchmarking that's happened as well."
She said topics like probability were moved up after hearing it was taught too early.
Stanford also pushed back at criticism from four arts teacher groups, saying they had not even seen the proposed art curriculum yet.
"There is a huge amount of indigenous arts in the arts curriculum, and when they see the curriculum, I'm sure they're going to be very embarrassed because there is so much te ao Māori and culture and language throughout every single curriculum area, so much more than there was before.
"I think when these people just need to sit down, have a look at the new curriculum, unpack it, and then make comment."
Highlights
Social Sciences: history covers New Zealand and global history, exploring how people, places, and ideas connect and evolve over time. Students will learn about early explorers, settlers, and migration stories, the Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and key civilisations and figures that have shaped societies and decision-making. New strands include civics and society and economic activity (which introduces financial education to build practical money and economic skills). Geography remains central, deepening an understanding of people and place.
Science: spans the natural world and physical world so that students can explore, investigate and explain the world around them. It includes learning that celebrates prominent scientists, including New Zealanders, who have made influential discoveries or advances, relevant to the content being taught.
Health & Physical Education: develops movement skills, teamwork, and wellbeing through sport, choreography, and the relationships and sexuality strand. A key change is compulsory consent education, ensuring every student can build safe, respectful relationships.
The Arts: provides a structured pathway for creativity and expression, with a strong focus on indigenous art forms unique to New Zealand. A highlight is the new music technology strand, preparing students to create and produce sound across digital platforms. The curriculum provides opportunities for composition, design and creation across multiple art forms.
Technology: focuses on design, innovation, and creation, helping students to solve problems and become capable creators and informed consumers. Learning includes circuits, coding, food technology, design ethics, and sustainable practices, with opportunities to work in both digital and "unplugged" environments.
Learning Languages: offers structured progressions across thirteen languages in five groups, Pacific, Asian, European, te reo Māori, and NZ Sign Language, providing a clear pathway from novice to expert and allowing schools to tailor learning to their communities.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
