Home
Blog
Have your say on the draft Aotearoa NZ histories curriculum

Have your say on the draft Aotearoa NZ histories curriculum

March 2nd, 2021 By Erena Williamson

Teachers, librarians, parents, interested groups or individuals — read and have your say on the draft Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum content by 31 May 2021.

The Ministry of Education has released two consultation documents on the curriculum for teaching Aotearoa New Zealand's histories in schools and kura from 2022:

Aotearoa New Zealand’s Histories in the New Zealand Curriculum
Te Marautanga o Aotearoa Draft Curriculum Content for Te Takanga o Te Wā.

Drawing of an early NZ scene showing a Māori with a spear stalking birds in amongst NZ fauna with mountains in the backdrop. — Image from page 6 'Te Ika a Maui, or, New Zealand and its Inhabitants'. British Library on Flickr. No known copyright.

Me mātai whakamuri, kia anga whakamua.
To shape New Zealand’s future, let’s start with the past.
— Whakataukī from Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories in our national curriculum

Have your say!

The curriculum consultation documents are open for feedback from educators and the community.

Spread the word and have your say by completing a survey by the closing date of 31 May 2021.

Read the consultation documents, summaries, and useful information about incorporating Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories content into the national curriculum. You'll find videos in English, te reo Māori, and New Zealand Sign Language designed to help you explore why it's so important to teach our own unique histories.

Complete the New Zealand histories survey in English

Complete the New Zealand histories survey in te reo Māori

The survey is also available in eight other languages, including Pasifika languages, Hindu, Chinese, and Korean.

National Library has lots of resources to support teachers

The National Library has resources to support the new curriculum for both kaiako and ākonga.

Teaching and learning resources

We offer a selection of curated teaching and learning resources:

Topic Explorer — quality resources on a wide range of social science-related topics that include websites, videos, images, and much more.
Resources for teaching NZ history topics — a curation of resources around topics such as the arrival and settlement of Māori, first encounters, and early colonial history.
New Zealand Wars | Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa — information on campaigns, personalities, battles, and the impact of the wars on tangata whenua.
Many Answers — student-friendly resources for independent inquiry on a wide range of topics.
Curiosity cards — a downloadable teaching resource designed to spark inquiry around social science topics.
Papers Past — access to digitised newspapers, magazines and journals, letters and diaries, and parliamentary papers.

We are also working on a range of resources to support the new curriculums and will introduce those via blogs and social media channels as they become available.

He Tohu

About He Tohu — find an engaging range of resources about our taonga:

1835 He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni — Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand
1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi — Treaty of Waitangi
1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition — Te Petihana Whakamana Pōti Wahine.

Resources include engaging stories and animated videos in English and te reo Māori.

He Tohu kōrero — be inspired, challenged, and encouraged by discussions about He Whakaputanga, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the Women's Suffrage Petition by well-known New Zealanders.

He Tohu learning activities — activities to inspire and inform students as they explore concepts related to all three documents.

Blogs

We have a treasure trove of blogs created by experts across the National Library. Here's just a sample of relevant posts:

5 to 10 minutes is all it takes!

Our histories are important to us all because they have shaped our present day lives. Understanding the past will help to shape the way we move forward into the future.
— Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories in our national curriculum

So take 5 to 10mins to have your say and help shape and inform this exciting and much-needed change to our national curriculum.

Pasifika, families and whānau, inclusion and diversity, Māori, community, curriculum learning areas, digital resources, Services to Schools

By Erena Williamson

Erena (Ngāpuhi, Ngare Raumati) is an Online Librarian with National Library Services to Schools. Her teaching experience includes being an Associate Principal, syndicate leader, mātauranga Māori leader, kapa haka kaiako, and a Kāhui Ako WSL.