A growing chorus of professionals has sounded the alarm over the Government’s proposed new curriculum, which they say shows “a lack of understanding” and “is not ready for implementation”.
Several subject specialist organisations have spoken to media outlets this week, as well as issuing position statements encouraging their members to speak out against the changes.
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Common themes in the organisations’ criticism include a lack of localisation and sidelining of Te Ao Māori, as well as inconsistent progression and the absence of coverage of important subject strands.
Social sciences curriculum “not ready”
The New Zealand History Teachers’ Association (NZHTA) said in its position statement that the social sciences curriculum was not “meaningfully embedded”.
“NZHTA’s position is clear: the draft social sciences curriculum, in its current form, is not ready for implementation.
“The design as it stands will undermine effective teaching and student learning and substantive revision is required.”
“The draft social sciences curriculum risks creating a national history that perpetuates a lack of understanding of our shared, complex and sometimes difficult histories.
“So much content is included that the concern is not that New Zealand history is absent from the new curriculum, but that it will be taught in a cursory and monocultural manner, reinforcing outdated misconceptions
and myths.”
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The NZHTA also expressed concern that the new curriculum was “in breach of principles derived from Te Tiriti o Waitangi”, was “overloaded and untenable” and lacked coherent progression.
“Tokenistic” use of Toi Māori
Whakaari Aotearoa Drama New Zealand issued guidelines to its members on making consultation submissions, outlining its position that insufficient time per week would be given to the arts, and that the proposed Performing Arts curriculum overlooked many crucial components of drama and dance related disciplines.
Among their concerns were that a single performing arts framework for years 0-8 showed “a lack of understanding of the distinct disciplinary practices of Drama and Dance.”
“This narrows the disciplines of Dance and Drama and confirms a hierarchy of the Arts subjects.”
It also took aim at the “tokenistic use of Toi Māori as examples rather than embedded in the curriculum”, as well as the absence of Te Ao Haka as a discipline until Year 11.
Events and entertainment technologies, which covered theatre disciplines such as lighting, sets and sound had been removed altogether, and the total time allotted meant most students would spend just 15 hours a year learning drama.
PPTA “highly concerned” over changes
In a media statement, Post Primary Teachers’ Association Te Wehengarua (PPTA) president Chris Abercrombie said the Government should heed the warnings of the professionals who know their subjects best.
Their submissions, he said, show “the proposed curriculum is not fit for purpose, it’s confusing, it will take students back 60 or 70 years, the time allocations for particular subjects are very unrealistic, and some curriculum documents make totally false assumptions about students and teachers.
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“It is really clear that teachers – the professionals who know their subjects inside out – have been excluded from the curriculum development process and the results of that are extremely concerning.
“We are highly concerned with what the senior secondary (Year 11-13) draft curriculum that is due to be released this month will look like.”
“There is no way the secondary material is going to be able to be changed to reflect the feedback that has been given for the junior curriculum.”
Mr Abercrombie said he was mystified and extremely concerned that teachers were not being meaningfully involved in the process for designing and developing the new qualifications and assessment system for senior secondary school students.
“Qualifications and assessment are secondary teachers’ bread and butter – we live and breathe this work. Yet PPTA Te Wehengarua, as the representative of 22,000 secondary teachers throughout the motu, has been actively and deliberately locked out of the process for developing the changes.
“For someone who says she really values teachers and our amazing work, the education minister has a very peculiar way of showing it.
“Locking teachers out of these change processes does not bode well at all for their success.”
