Caleb Anderson: Curriculum Reform - History Should Be Next!

The reason that the New Zealand History Curriculum should be the next cab off the rank

The government is to be lauded for recent changes to the Mathematics and English Curricula, and for additional literacy initiatives. There is already evidence of a lift in teaching practice and of improving standards. These new initiatives have been moved quickly, in some cases there have been speed wobbles, but by and large, given the desperate need to lift achievement quickly, the roll out has gone well. The case for hitting these two curricula first was sound.

Graham Adams: This Govt’s True Legacy

The PM’s tenure as Minister of Education has given NZ school students a racialised and unbalanced curriculum

Even if Chris Hipkins is no longer the Prime Minister after October’s election, his legacy will be locked in for some time.

Chances are it won’t be on account of his role as Prime Minister over the next seven months — or his time as Minister of Police, Minister for Covid-19 Response, Minister for the Public Service, or his brief period as Minister of Health.

Tony Orman: Book Review - ‘New Zealand’s History Curriculum ~ Education or Indoctrination?’

The Ministry of Education’s prejudiced social engineering and indoctrination

Roger Childs has been a teacher of geography, social studies and history for 40 years. In addition he has worked on many social sciences curriculum and examination contracts for the Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs and has been an author and co-author of several school textbooks, including history ones.

He is therefore very well qualified to carry out a critique of the Ministry of Education’s controversial new history curriculum. In this book he works his way through the curriculum and concludes “The final curriculum published in 2022 is a case of deliberate, pre-meditated social engineering. This curriculum is more about Maori studies than New Zealand history.”

Rob Paterson: Book Review - Roger Childs' New Zealand's History Curriculum

BOOK REVIEW: New Zealand’s History Curriculum - Education or Indoctrination? (186 pages)
Author: Roger Childs
Publisher : Tross Publishing (RRP $35)
Rating : Very Good
Target Audience: All concerned New Zealanders
Reviewer: Rob Paterson, Retired Lawyer, Tauranga

I am more than happy to provide this review and it is fair to say that I looked forward to the release of this book on the proposed New Zealand History curriculum. The contents of the book do not disappoint and the author, Roger Childs, is well qualified to address the subject, having spent many years in the education system and particularly as a teacher of history, geography, and social studies for over 40 years.

Tony Simpson: The damned curriculum: a camel with only one leg

A critique of the new history lessons

In the 1980s the Customs Department engaged my services. They were faced with new public service legislation which devolved many powers to them as an agency including some things they had never had to do before. These included a requirement to be aware of the implications of the Treaty of Waitangi and to have a staff sensitive to it in all their activities. After several false starts they asked me to see if I could come up with a solution. This was, in the event, a half-day small group seminar based on five segments which began with pre-European Māori culture and centred on the Treaty, bringing us up to the present day. It was really a crash course in New Zealand history. It set out the reasons why many Māori were very aggrieved at the position in which they found themselves. My seminar was predicated on the assumption that at the end of it Customs staff might not agree with the policy but at least they would be better informed. More than 600 Customs officers attended the courses; I truly believe that they mostly appreciated it.