A teenager working on maths problems on a worksheet. Photo: Unsplash/ Joshua Hoehne
The government has released the full draft of the curriculum for year 0-10 students with the Education Minister Erica Stanford calling it another significant step toward delivering a world-leading system for every learner.
But there has been growing criticism of the changes.
In a series of open letters on Tuesday, maths education experts expresssed "deep concern", dance, drama, music, and visual arts teachers said they had been "dealt a significant blow", and PE teachers asked to pause the release of their draft curriculum.
The draft is now open for six months of consultation for feedback from principals, teachers, and educators.
Erica Stanford said the curriculum has been written by Kiwis for Kiwi kids and been benchmarked internationally against those from high-performing education systems around the world.
"It is engaging, rigorous, and rooted in the science of how children learn, while celebrating who we are as a nation.
"Many teachers are already doing great work... however, we know what is taught varies from school to school and not all young people have the same opportunity to engage with the foundational learning they need. These changes provide a nationally consistent framework that sets out the essential knowledge every student deserves to be taught."
Highlights
Social Sciences: history covers New Zealand and global history, exploring how people, places, and ideas connect and evolve over time. Students will learn about early explorers, settlers, and migration stories, the Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and key civilisations and figures that have shaped societies and decision-making. New strands include civics and society and economic activity (which introduces financial education to build practical money and economic skills). Geography remains central, deepening an understanding of people and place.
Science: spans the natural world and physical world so that students can explore, investigate and explain the world around them. It includes learning that celebrates prominent scientists, including New Zealanders, who have made influential discoveries or advances, relevant to the content being taught.
Health & Physical Education: develops movement skills, teamwork, and wellbeing through sport, choreography, and the relationships and sexuality strand. A key change is compulsory consent education, ensuring every student can build safe, respectful relationships.
The Arts: provides a structured pathway for creativity and expression, with a strong focus on indigenous art forms unique to New Zealand. A highlight is the new music technology strand, preparing students to create and produce sound across digital platforms. The curriculum provides opportunities for composition, design and creation across multiple art forms.
Technology: focuses on design, innovation, and creation, helping students to solve problems and become capable creators and informed consumers. Learning includes circuits, coding, food technology, design ethics, and sustainable practices, with opportunities to work in both digital and "unplugged" environments.
Learning Languages: offers structured progressions across thirteen languages in five groups, Pacific, Asian, European, te reo Māori, and NZ Sign Language, providing a clear pathway from novice to expert and allowing schools to tailor learning to their communities.
Implementation
The timeline for implementation was rephased following feedback from the education sector and now has three stages over 2026, 2027 and 2028:
Years 0-10 English and Mathematics will be required for use from the start of 2026 for all state and state-integrated schools
Years 0-8 content for science, social sciences, health & physical education will need to be used from term 1, 2027.
Years 0-8 content for the arts, technology and learning languages will need to be used from term 1, 2028.
All learning areas will need to be used for years 9-10 students from term 1, 2027.
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