New curriculum a mammoth task
It’s unlikely the Government has fully understood the scale of the task ahead with the announcement of a compulsory New Zealand history curriculum, a history professor says.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s announcement last Thursday that students from 2022 would no longer see history teachings left up to ‘‘chance’’ has been welcomed.
But a national debate over what to cover over the course of a student’s school career is going to follow, a topic which Massey University history professor Michael Belgrave says has been ignored for generations.
Now it will be crammed into two years, before teachers are expected to roll the information out to the masses. It could be done, but it won’t be easy, Belgrave added.
So, the question on everyone’s lips is ‘‘what will this New Zealand histories curriculum look like?’’
The Government has said it’s too early to say what will be taught at each school level but the overall aim is to cover off: the arrival of Ma¯ ori to Aotearoa; first encounters and early colonial history, the Treaty of Waitangi and its history; colonisation of, and immigration to, Aotearoa; the New Zealand Wars; the evolving national identity of New Zealand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; and the country’s role in the Pacific.
It’s expected that schools will likely be guided to cover a range of issues and topics but be given the ability to adapt those to their local community’s needs.
Known for his work with the Waitangi Tribunal, Belgrave welcomed the aim to ensure pupils learn about the events and stories that have shaped the nation. He said whatever it included, it needed to be robust in its approach and initiate critical thinking in even the youngest of learners when the new curriculum is rolled out to Years 1 to 10.
It’s unacceptable that New Zealanders were behind the rest of the world in learning and understanding their own stories, he said.
During the week he asked a class of 30 students: what date was the Treaty of Waitangi was signed? Just two roughly knew the answer. Compulsion would help to change that, he said.
But the changes will open a ‘‘Pandora’s box’’ as historians, curriculum experts, iwi and mana whenua, Pacific communities, the education sector and school communities are asked to shape what will be in the compulsory curriculum with the Ministry of Education.
Subject matter would include Ma¯ ori history, but Belgrave said other topics – for example, giving women the right to vote, becoming nuclear-free, the flu pandemic, and recent migrations making New Zealand a multicultural community – cannot be forgotten.
‘‘Young people need to see themselves in New Zealand’s history ... so they don’t disengage, or see it as propaganda. It’s about their past.’’
Above all, it needs to be inclusive, interesting and exciting.
The general consensus is that we need to know more and will need the tools to interpret and debate what we know about the past, through evidence.
Te Papa Matauranga Maori head Puawai Cairns said forming a compulsory curriculum was not about empowering students through quality teaching and a plethora of stories. ‘‘You don’t want the telling of history to be a competition, that one is more important than the other.’’
It would take a while for schools to find their feet and they would cry out for resources at first but she hoped the demand for more knowledge would follow the stories of influential people that have gone untold, the lives of Ma¯ ori women and children.
On Thursday the Ministry said initial work would be funded through its 2019/2020 baselines, meaning no additional funding was required at this stage.
‘‘I hope with more people engaged in history, there will be more demand to hear those stories,’’ Cairns said.