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The updated New Zealand Curriculum for Years 0-10 has been fully released after Education Minister Erica Stanford recently shared the final two learning areas – health and physical education as well as the arts.
This follows the release of the Year 0-10 learning areas technology and learning languages.
“This curriculum provides a clear and nationally consistent pathway for learning, helping students develop the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to succeed at school and beyond,” Standford says.
Stanford says the final curriculum came together after almost 3900 submissions from teachers, school leaders, curriculum experts, subject associations, whanau and communities.
With more than 180 experts involved in the writing, it includes an explicit focus on online safety for the first time – such as identifying misinformation, privacy risks, extreme content, and impacts on mental health.
Sexual education requirements are also changing, while parents still have the right to withhold their child from learning these topics, schools no longer need to consult with communities every two years.
“The Ministry has also ensured that learning areas that cover climate change are clearly signposted. Climate change was always in the curriculum, but it’s now more clearly labelled,” Stanford says.
The New Zealand Curriculum Framework (Te Mātaiaho) was also recently released, which sets the overarching requirements for teaching and learning programmes.
“Schools will have until the beginning of 2029 to fully implement these learning areas,” says Stanford. “This gives schools plenty of time to prepare and engage.”
Content for the entire curriculum will be updated into the online portal for parents by the start of next year so that parents can easily access and understand the content.
“The National Curriculum has not been fully updated for almost 20 years,” Stanford says.
“Our focus is making sure every young New Zealander leaves school with strong foundations, a deeper understanding of the world, and the knowledges they need to succeed in education and beyond.”
