Research finds many support the current Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum

The current Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum has support from many educators, whānau and ākonga, say recent reports from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER).  

The NZCER reports surveyed eight diverse school communities to gain insights into school leaders’, teachers’, students’ and families’ perspectives on the early implementation of the 2022 Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum. One paper focused on educator perspectives, and the other focused on ākonga and whānau perspectives. Both reports found attitudes were largely aligned, with most respondents saying the curriculum:  

• Strengthened knowledge of whakapapa, personal and collective identities, and sense of belonging whether tauiwi or Māori, and 

• Enabled critical thinking and engagement with past and present social issues. 

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The first report, which focused on educator perspectives, was released in May this year. It found most principals and teachers were positive about the content, and expressed belief in its benefit for all communities. Additionally, educators noted the curriculum’s clarity and direction, and said it addressed longstanding gaps in Māori history. Schools were in different phases of implementation, and most needed additional time and support. Concerns included community attitudes and the curriculum’s politicisation. Many educators noted wellbeing benefits for ākonga Māori and expressed hope that the curriculum would change negative attitudes toward te ao Māori.  

The second report focused on student and community perspectives, with 92 ākonga and 52 whānau members interviewed from eight schools. Responses were also largely positive, though students also shared insights on potential challenges, including disengaging teaching approaches, a lack of personal relevance, confronting content, and guilt or shame. Both ākonga and whānau said they saw the value of learning local history. 

Related School News article: Stakeholders react to curriculum changes.

These findings indicate that most teachers, students and communities support the curriculum in its current form. In the NZCER report on ākonga and whānau attitudes, the authors write: 

“The urgency to change the curriculum again, so soon into its implementation, has puzzled us. The case for change was largely predicated on the findings of one study that gathered data less than one full year into the curriculum implementation. 

“Given the long campaigns to strength the depth and focus onto Māori histories and Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories of colonisation in school learning, and the early positive indications of how it has been received, we hope that these facets of our histories will remain strongly visible and well supported in the updated curriculum.” 

Refreshing the refresh 

Social Sciences is one of the six “refreshed” learning areas released in October which has caused outrage in the education sector. Principals, teachers, subject associations and education leaders have been among the voices criticising the new curriculums.  

The New Zealand History Teachers Association (NZHTA) has joined their colleagues, releasing a special edition pānui in response to the draft Social Sciences learning area. They acknowledged that NZHTA was involved in earlier drafts, but alleged that collaboration did not continue and said they were not “meaningfully engaged” in the version now available to the public.  

The letter publishes several concerns over the new learning area, including its focus on facts “without the necessary conceptual, or contextual, depth”, and fragmenting the Social Sciences into siloed disciplines. They also say the level of content is unmanageable and encourages superficial learning due to its breadth. NZHTA also criticised the rigid chronological structure of content and its prescriptive nature.  

A “rebalanced” curriculum? 

Of the new curriculum, Education Minister Erica Stanford said “[students are] now going to learn about the Stone Age, the Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Kings and Queens, the Revolutions – it’s really exciting.” 

In an interview with Newstalk ZB, NZHTA chair Craig Thornhill said that although there were lots of interesting topics, there was “no conceptual framework” for this curriculum.  

“They all seem to be quite free-standing and there’s no way for students to join the dots between those topics.” 

Thornhill also said that it was a concern that local history was removed in favour of international history, because local history provided a point of reference and connection for students. Thornhill also said the NZHTA was concerned that resourcing could not keep up with the expected pace of change, “leaving teachers hanging”.  

Since the implementation of the 2022 ANZ Histories curriculum, there have been calls from the National party and its coalition partners to “rebalance” the curriculum. These calls were supported by an ERO report released nine months after ANZ’s implementation, which made seven recommendations “for ensuring balanced ANZ Histories curriculum content” including “Keep ANZ Histories engaging by teaching… history relevant to [students] and their communities [and] provide clearer expectations about what needs to be covered… including national and global context.”  

The same report, however, noted that most children were enjoying the new curriculum, and students of all backgrounds reported the curriculum helped them connect to “being a New Zealander”. Additionally, an internal survey NZEI Te Riu Roa carried out around the same time as the 2024 ERO report found most members did not want the curriculum “rebalanced”.