Curriculum News August 2024
Published August 14th, 2024
This is our third Curriculum News email for 2024 and you can find earlier updates in the Newsletters section. Note that information is changing all the time so some links from previous newsletters may now be outdated, including those linking to the Curriculum Refresh website which has now been taken down.
The aim of these updates is to summarise and highlight key information that is relevant to kaiako and environmental education providers, with a focus on the curriculum refresh and NCEA change programmes. This includes news about policies, curriculum documents, online support and new resources, from both the MoE and other Networks of Expertise.
This update includes:
- Maths and English curriculum change timeframes for primary schools (2025)
- ACTION: Consultation open in August - September for Maths and English drafts
- Timeframes for review of Science, Technology, Arts, Social Sciences
- Links for documents previously held on the Curriculum Refresh website, including Social Sciences and Te Mātaiaho
This update summarises the most recent announcements from the Ministry of Education - you can sign up to receive their curriculum newsletters here - and also includes quotes from government media releases.
Maths and English Curriculum Changes
As you will know from recent announcements in the media, the government will now require primary schools to implement the updated Maths and Pāngarau (Yrs 0 - 8), and English and Te Reo Rangatira (Yrs 0 - 6) curriculum from Term 1 next year. The timeframe for these changes is extremely short, with the draft curriculum documents only being released in August, with 4 weeks of consultation time (see links below).
The table below summarises the proposed timeframes including consultation dates. This is from Pg 4 of the document: Consultation on updated learning areas
Note that the draft curriculum documents for Yrs 9 - 13 (Maths and Pāngarau) and Yrs 7 - 13 (English and Te Reo Rangatira) will be released in Term 4 and implementation of these levels is required from the start of 2026. We will keep you updated about this process.
How to Take Part in Consultation
Maths and statistics
The draft updated curriculum document is available now (released August 12) and can be accessed through Tāhūrangi.
Find all documents and information about consultation on this page: Draft Maths Curriculum
Here is the quick link to the PDF
Step 1: Review the Aug 2024 updated document and compare this with previous maths curriculum documents, including the Sept 2023 version here (web archive link).
Step 2: Consult with colleagues and teachers / principals to gather feedback and discuss the proposed curriculum document
Step 3: Complete the survey using this link to submit your feedback
NZAEE will be reviewing and submitting feedback, with a focus on how the maths curriculum document could and should include links to environmental education. We will send another curriculum update email with a copy of this submission in the next few weeks.
NOTE: The draft Maths document includes two pages at the start outlining the overall framework of the refreshed curriculum. This is an early indication of further changes to come, and the first draft we have seen from the new government related to Te Mātaiaho as an overall framework. Although at first it appears the framework has been retained, there are significant changes to the wording and the whakapapa of Te Mātaiaho has been removed. We will be providing further comment on this alongside the maths document.
English
The draft document will be released on August 26 on Tāhūrangi, with consultation open until Sept 20. Check the English learning area page to find the links from this date and we will also send another curriculum update with the link and NZAEE's summary of feedback.
Te Marautanga o Aotearoa
The updated draft wāhanga ako for Te Reo Rangatira in Years 0–6 and pāngarau for Years 0–8 can be found here: Draft Te Reo Rangatira and Pāngarau – Open for Consultation (education.govt.nz). You can place your feedback via the surveys here:
Kura
To place kura feedback on Te Reo Rangatira wāhanga ako, use the survey here.
To place kura feedback on Pāngarau wāhanga ako, use the survey here.
Kura Hapori
To place kura hapori feedback on Te Reo Rangatira wāhanga ako: te reo Māori| reo rua
To place kura hapori feedback on Pāngarau wāhanga ako: te reo Māori |reo rua
These surveys will be open until Friday, 6 September 2024.
Timeframes for other Learning Areas
The release of drafts and consultation for all other learning areas will now be in Term 3, 2025. The MoE have been establishing writing groups for Technology and Science over the last few months, but have not released the list of members yet.
You can find the list of writing group members for other learning areas using this link.
Science, Technology and The Arts
Although draft documents were ready for release in late 2023 (from the original curriculum refresh process), the current government has started reviewing these and they will now be released at the same time as the other learning areas in Term 3 next year.
Health & PE, Languages and Social Sciences
Health and PE, and Learning Languages were the last learning areas to be updated in the original curriculum refresh process, so the timeframe for these has not changed as much.
Te ao tangata | Social Sciences learning area has already been refreshed and released in 2023 and is available for schools to use (web archive link here), however the current government has announced the intention to review this learning area and release a new draft in 2025. We will seek opportunities to engage with this process and keep you updated.
Links to Documents from Curriculum Refresh (Sept 2023)
As indicated by the MoE, the official Curriculum Refresh website has now been taken down, but the draft documents for Te Mātaiaho, Te ao Tangata | Social Sciences, Maths and English have not been moved over to Tāhūrangi. We suggest accessing these using the web archive links provided below and then downloading and saving copies of the PDF documents. These documents are essential for the consultation process, to honor and include the work that has been done over the last few years to refresh the NZC based on feedback from the sector and curriculum experts.
Access and download the curriculum documents using the web archive:
Te Mātaiaho (full document)
https://web.archive.org/web/20240508002304/https://curriculumrefresh.education.govt.nz/te-mataiaho
Te ao tangata | Social Sciences
English
https://web.archive.org/web/20240508002251/https://curriculumrefresh.education.govt.nz/english
Maths
