Shaping the future of learning in Aotearoa

Chairperson Mary Chamberlain says the ideas aim to build on the great practice that exists in our schools and kura. 

“We want to support leaders and teachers as they design rich opportunities to learn, and respond to their students’ progress in learning that matters. 

“To do this, we need to understand and value what each child brings to their learning.” 

Established earlier this year, the MAG includes educationalists and practitioners with expertise in Te Marautanga o Aotearoa and The New Zealand Curriculum, and is responsible for advising the Minister. 

The MAG wants to hear what teachers and leaders think about the emerging ideas and the ways in which they might be changed or further developed. 

“Our MAG imagined people across the system coming together to have conversations that we have not had before to create a new possibility – the possibility of New Zealand becoming a system that learns,” says Mary.

“We need to test our ideas with educators, learners, parents, whānau, communities and iwi. The more feedback we get, the more we can refine the ideas and the stronger they’ll become.”

Conversations about the ideas are being led by members of the Curriculum, Progress and Achievement Reference Group – teachers and kaiako, school and kura leaders from across the sector, and representatives from organisations that support teachers and students. 

“Our Reference Group has been providing us with important feedback and helping us to get a broader perspective by using their existing networks to talk to people involved in education at every level, right across the country,” says Mary.

“We’d love for teachers and kaiako to reflect on the ideas we have developed. Talk about them in your schools and with your whānau, then let us know what you think.”

The feedback will help shape the MAG’s recommendations to the Minister at the end of the year. The ideas will then be tested and refined in term 1 of 2019, in partnership with schools and kura and the wider education sector.

Group and individual submissions should be made online through the Education Conversation website(external link) before 30 November. 
 

Reporting requirements for schools and kura in 2019

With the MAG still in the early stages of preparing its recommendations to the Minister of Education, the current reporting requirements for schools and kura will continue through 2019. 

In the meantime, a range of resources, tools and guidance are available to schools and kura to support curriculum design, assessment and aromatawai practices, and reporting to students, parents and whānau. The Ministry will be communicating with schools and kura to ensure they are aware of what is available and how it can support the shift to focusing on progress across the curricula.

Curriculum, Progress and Achievement emerging ideas:

• Commit to a system that learns.
• Design a process for evolving national curriculum in Māori and English.
• Clarify pathways for ākonga progress.
• Support the design of responsive local curriculum.
• Design and trial rich records of ākonga learning.
• Build assessment, inquiry, and evaluative capability.
• Strengthen collaborative inquiry networks.
• Grow learning partnerships with parents and whānau.
• Establish a Curriculum and Assessment Institute (CAI).