Curriculum Matters 12: 2016

Many ideas from the discourse of 21st-century learning are already present in much secondary school music teaching in New Zealand and have been for some time. The adoption of these ideas has resulted in many positive changes in students’ experiences of music at secondary school. On the other hand, there have been some unintended consequences which are potentially less positive. The changes in music education therefore may be instructive for educators in a range… Read more

As the tenth anniversaries of The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa approach it is timely to consider how we should prepare the next generation of New Zealanders for their digital future. In this article I explore what should be included in a curriculum if we would like all citizens of the future to be able to participate in a digital future. I draw on literature about equity in a digital age and argue that… Read more

Primary teachers in New Zealand schools are required to teach dance education as part of a balanced classroom programme. This responsibility requires that teachers have positive beliefs about their own competence and capabilities to teach dance to achieve desired outcomes for their students. This article presents qualitative findings from a mixed-methods study which investigated teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs for teaching dance education. Seventeen teachers… Read more

This article reports on aspects of an interpretative qualitative single case study that investigated teachers’ and students’ understanding of how self-worth is influenced in the teaching and learning environment. Findings indicate that important determinants in the development of self-worth include personal teacher qualities such as humour, justice (fairness) and trust; teaching strategies associated with meeting individual needs; establishing safe environments… Read more

This article reports on physical education teacher education students’ perceptions of the pedagogies they have recently experienced in senior secondary school biomechanics classes. Despite the plethora of educational research surrounding pedagogical best practice in the wider field of physical education, there is a paucity of research seeking to understand links between pedagogy, assessment, and achievement in relation to the specific area of biomechanics and… Read more

There is much international evidence that parental involvement in children’s learning can positively influence achievement. New Zealand policy expects schools to nurture such involvement, particularly in relation to Máori and Pasifika learners. Despite policy imperatives and valuable professional development projects, such involvement has proved challenging to embed within many English-medium school settings. We examined policy, theoretical, and research… Read more

This article describes and discusses a self-inquiry into curriculum practice on the part of a New Zealand-based social studies educator. The approach used was adapted from Barber’s Gestalt approach to holistic inquiry. It is a qualitative approach in which the self-aware practitioner-researcher and his (or her) interactions with others is at the centre of the inquiry. It prioritises the co-construction of respectful relationships. Self-awareness and reflexivity… Read more

It is 10 years since the introduction of the revised New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) (Ministry of Education, 2007), for teaching and learning in years 1–13 in English-medium schools. It is also 20 years since the introduction of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996) and a curriculum review of the early childhood curriculum policy statement is currently being undertaken. These milestones provide an opportunity for perspective, opinion, and… Read more