Curriculum Matters 15: 2019

This article presents a systematic review of the ways in which inequality is featured within New Zealand’s secondary curriculum and Ministry of Education-supported Te Kete Ipurangi online teaching resources. Despite an increasing awareness of global inequality, there is minimal research on how inequality is represented within The New Zealand Curriculum and its implications for teaching and learning. The article draws attention to several insights: a general superficial level of engagement… Read more

Traditional sole-teacher classrooms are being replaced by large, open, flexible learning environments in New Zealand schools. Teacher collaboration within these shared teaching and learning spaces raises important questions about curriculum organisation in secondary-school settings. If secondary teachers are to work collaboratively in shared spaces, will collaboration occur in cross-subject teams or within traditional subject boundaries? This article seeks to open for debate the topic of how… Read more

This article analyses research literature and policy texts to investigate the extent to which culturally responsive education policies can improve Māori achievement in schools. It presents a snapshot of current levels of Māori inequity, which is followed by an account of the history of Māori education policy to illustrate the origins of the current situation. Contemporary policies for Māori education, based on cultural responsiveness, are analysed in terms of their potential to succeed in… Read more

This article reports on the quantitative data from a 2017 survey of secondary-school teachers and librarians in Aotearoa New Zealand. Findings suggest that librarians and library services are not seen by teachers or librarians to be centrally involved in the development of information literacy (IL) skills in students, and that teachers may lack full awareness of what services school libraries offer. There was mixed evidence for the idea that teachers and librarians share a definition of IL,… Read more

This special section of Curriculum Matters provides the opportunity to consider the topic of global citizenship education from diverse perspectives. Global citizenship education (GCED) is one of those terms that can polarise people. Is it a fresh and new approach to engaging children and young people in global issues or is it merely inducting them into a world view captured by neoliberal and global interests?

The idea of global citizenship or world citizenship is the idea that human beings are “citizens of the world” (Dower & Williams, 2002, p. 1). This notion of membership of a wider global, universal, or cosmopolitan citizenship goes back to the Stoics in the time of the ancient world of the Greeks and the Romans (Heater, 1999). In such times, the ideas of virtues, including moderation in the passions and endurance of adversity, was viewed as an ideal—and such people called themselves the “… Read more

Global citizenship education (GCED) is UNESCO’s response to the impact of global warming, poverty, inequality, and human-rights violations that threaten peace and sustainability worldwide. The goal of GCED is to empower learners of all ages to appreciate that these are serious issues and to actively advocate—both locally and globally—for more wholesome, inclusive, safe, accepting, and sustainable societies. It is argued in this discussion paper, however, that before exploring the “how” of… Read more

In this discussion of global citizenship education (GCED) in Aotearoa, I will be drawing upon my experiences teaching in international education, teaching the New Zealand Curriculum, and my research in the field of citizenship-and social-justice education in Aotearoa New Zealand. I advocate approaching GCED as part of a broader educational approach that embraces teaching for and about social justice; a process that enables people (young and not so young) to understand their lives and… Read more