Rethinking the New Zealand Senior Secondary Curriculum for the Future
Rachel Bolstad and Jane Gilbert
Will today’s curriculum prepare secondary school students for life in the
21st century?
Rachel Bolstad and Jane Gilbert propose radical new models for schooling that
challenge long-held ideas about the purpose and structure of the senior
secondary years.
They take a specific look at the curriculum that is taught in Years 11–13 and
how it will need to change to be relevant in the developing knowledge
society.
In the recent controversy and upheaval over assessment, they say we have
failed to think deeply enough about what, and how, senior secondary students
should actually learn. Bolstad and Gilbert tease out and challenge the historic
assumptions that have lead to the current curriculum—one that either lays down
the basis of a specific body of knowledge that will be developed by those who go
on to university, or weeds out those who won’t.
They argue that to be successful in the knowledge society no-one can be left
behind. It is not enough for our schools to produce people who are
knowledgeable; we need to develop adaptable, technologically and socially adept
people who can use and create knowledge.
Jane Gilbert is a Chief Researcher with the New Zealand
Council for Educational Research. She is the author of Catching the
Knowledge Wave? The Knowledge Society and the Future of Education, a book
that has caused vigorous debate in all education sectors.
Rachel Bolstad is a Senior Researcher with the New Zealand
Council for Educational Research. She is a regular contributor to
set: Research Information for Teachers and is the
author of a number of popular future-focused literature reviews.
Read
and comment on author Rachel Bolstad's entry on the Shifting to 21st Century
Thinking blog:
Disciplining and drafting, or 21st
century learning?
"...There is lots more we could say about
our metaphors - but really the idea here is to use them as a stepping-off point
for discussion. What do you think?...". Rachel Bolstad, Senior Researcher,
NZCER.
Read more
about Jane Gilbert's book Catching the knowledge wave
Read more about
Rachel Bolstad's literature review School-based curriculum
development
NZCER Press, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-877398-35-3 | 
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