The draft New Zealand Curriculum

Abstract

Abstract Much is invested in, and expected of, a New Zealand curriculum. Following curriculum developments in the 1990s, a curriculum stocktake was carried out from 2000 to 2002, to investigate issues such as the manageability of the current curriculum, and the capability of teachers to meet the demands of the curriculum. At the same time, research findings were emerging from reports commissioned by the Ministry of Education, summarised in the Best Evidence Syntheses (BES), (1) identifying that the most important influences on student outcomes are the quality of the teaching in the classroom, and schools' partnerships with families and communities. Accepting that it matters what teachers teach, the New Zealand Curriculum Project, implemented in March 2003, was committed to a participatory process. The intention was to redevelop the New Zealand curriculum, in partnership with the sector, to build knowledge about the national curriculum. The focus of this article is the development of the draft New Zealand curriculum: English medium only. Introduction In April 2003, the Government agreed to the revision of the New Zealand curriculum, its subsequent incorporation into regulation, and the incorporation of the Maori medium curriculum into regulation. Since May of that year, 15,000 people have participated in the revision of the New Zealand curriculum. This paper outlines why a revision of the New Zealand curriculum was considered necessary; how the revision was conducted; and what the revised draft curriculum contains. The article begins by giving the context in which the New Zealand Curriculum Project is set. The context Students begin early childhood education, primary, and secondary schools with lots of anxieties, questions, and perceptions such as: How does blood work? Why do the stars stay in the sky? What if maths is too hard? Who will help if you get lost? How do you make friends? How do you become a doctor or plumber, or own a business, or sell clothes in a shop? A parent places her trust in the education system and the school down the road, and hopes that her child has the same opportunities at school in Te Kao, as the children do in Bluff and Wellington. The Government needs surety that the country will benefit from the investment placed in education. It therefore has an interest in what is taught, as stated in the New Zealand Curriculum. Employers' and tertiary institutions' expectations are that students are well prepared to leave schools to enter the workforce, or to continue with further study. These stakeholders have an interest in our education system. All have experienced schooling in state, private, or home schools, so know from firsthand experience what should be taught, and the best way to teach it. John Dewey's words of 100 years ago are still relevant today, and capture a key purpose of a national curriculum: What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy. (Dewey, 1936, p. 3) All these expectations are captured as a set of directions in the official policy for teaching, learning, and assessment in New Zealand schools. It specifies expectations for all New Zealand students. It articulates aspirations for what children will know and be able to do, how they will act, and what they will become. The New Zealand Curriculum is outcomes focused, and articulates levels of learning that students progress through to enable them to leave school as successful learners. Therefore, what it contains is of significant interest to all New Zealanders. Modifications to the national curriculum were considered as part of the solution to making the curriculum more responsive to student needs, and to contributing to the Government's goals for the education sector: * Goal one: Build an education system that equips New Zealanders with twenty-first century skills; and * Goal two: Reduce systemic underachievement in education. …