Curriculum Matters 4 : 2008

Imagine school students developing confidence and connectedness, being actively involved in society and autonomous learning, and demonstrating abilities in thinking, using language, managing themselves, relating to others, and participating and contributing. Would society think that schools were achieving the major educational goals? Would they recognise the role of schools in this process? Would parents want to have these abilities measured and reported? Alternatively, are parents and… Read more

Miles Barker analyses the development of The New Zealand Curriculum from the point of view of preservice teacher education. He presents 20 challenges that he believes the new curriculum poses for teacher educators.

Using an infamous case of cyber bullying, Dennis Sumara, Brent Davis, and Tammy Iftody  examine how we should teach “ethical know-how” for use in the social spaces of the Internet—a world that disrupts empathy but vastly magnifies consequences as people have myriad connections but are rarely face to face.

In this article Jim Neyland responds to Dennis Sumara and Brent Davis in 2007’s Curriculum Matters, revealing how the writings of 20th century thinkers such as Niebuhr, Macquarrie, Korzybski, Fromm, and Dewey resonate with their idea of the “ex-centred” individual.

Years 7–10 have now been identified as a distinct learning pathway within The New Zealand Curriculum. Penny Bishop and John Downes recognise this as an opportunity to address the declining engagement of young adolescents with school. They present some principles that could be used to guide towards an engaging middle years curriculum.

Since 2004 Alfriston College has experimented with ways to remodel curriculum and curriculum delivery to meet 21st century learning needs. John Locke reports on how the school developed its innovative programme and the effects for students.

Rebecca Luce-Kapler reflects on how two groups of students responded very differently to a hypertext story in school and out of school. What this reveals about the mindset of schooling has far-reaching implications for how digital literacy is taught.

Jane McChesney and Bronwen Cowie explore the key competencies of thinking and using language, symbols, and text in terms of Mathematics and Statistics, Science, and Technology. What do these competencies mean in this context, and how do they relate to each other?

In this article Martin East reviews the provision for learning additional languages in New Zealand schools and in British schools. How do they compare and is either adequate to address entrenched monolingual attitudes?

Gregor Fountain analyses how, since the 1990s, changes to the curriculum and the development of NCEA have impacted on the teaching of history in New Zealand schools. He argues that the inclusion of history achievement objectives in the new curriculum is an opportunity to reclaim lost ground.