Evaluating and adapting social studies resources through guided professional conversations

This article focuses on exploring the development of a succinct resource package to support professional conversations about social studies resources. The package, designed through research conducted by the Aotearoa Social Studies Educators’ Network (ASSEN), is intended as guidance for Aotearoa New Zealand primary-school teachers when selecting, adapting, and using resources to teach social studies in their classrooms. The research was motivated by noticing an increased number of resources of varying quality becoming available in response to the draft 2023 social sciences and Aotearoa histories curriculum, and curiosity both about how primary teachers were choosing resources and the ways in which they used them in the classroom. Through our research, we learnt that primary teachers make adaptations to social studies resources on the basis of knowing ākonga well but need support to make adaptations that are based on their knowledge of the discipline of social studies.