No tags yet.
There has been a number of thoughts on the new Science curriculum as a part of the NCEA changes. It is unfortunate that such a bold change is coming at a time when education is yet again the kick-around for various political parties. Going towards an election with a tired workforce who are justifiably worried about what their NCEA level 1 programme will look like for 2024. In the back of their mind, they may also be thinking that they will be working well into January to implement such changes as we have proven over the last few months that the unfeasible over 40-hour week many of our kiaako regularly take part in has not only seen attrition in the workforce but is not valued in dollar terms by our employees.
The curriculum though is not the political football here and any shiny politician stating they will shelf the plans or change things does not have a sound view of the current eduscape we are in. Engagement with rich contexts is what is needed to increase educational equity. For the first time as pointed out a lot better than me by Amy-Lee Budd (https://core-ed.org/en_NZ/blog/refreshing-the-new-zealand-curriculum/) we have a document that has mautaranga Māori and the Universal design for learning at the heart of the document not at the side. Having piloted the NCEA level 1 Commerce standards I have really loved the fact that the whole programme revolves around rich learning and teaching. There were a number of concerns leveled at the Commerce programme for example where was the accounting in the standards. Really though there is as much accounting as you want in the standards we looked through actual income statements and addressed businesses' finical viability. Talking at length several times to Chartered accounts of Australia and NZ they were really focusing on how much the job had changed and the fact that it is less about the basics of accounting and more about telling stories with the numbers. I digress though.
What our level 1 ākonga need is rich and deep learning contexts that reflect their culture and values and link into the world around them. I believe that the new curriculum delivers on this. I believe that a tired workforce and a population that seems to be going through change fatigue at the moment need time and support to really engage with this. It is a huge mind shift and change in practice for many of our kiaako but one that is necessary for our rangatahi.