This work explores the use of learning theories in curriculum development and gathers evidence for what good practice in this area looks like. By exploring the academic literature in this area, the authors hope to find information that curriculum documents do not provide. The following research questions were proposed: (1) Is there evidence of…

This paper explores relationships and sexuality education (RSE) in New Zealand secondary schools. After conducting a nationwide survey of teachers and producing a report on the challenges reported by RSE teachers, we began to develop a paper exploring the perennial issues faced by RSE teachers as they enact curriculum policy. Given that these…

As an entitlement to rights, well-being and equity, young children's citizenship lays the foundation for a democratic, just and sustainable world. This article interrogates the discursive constructions of 'citizenship' within recent early childhood curriculum documents in China and Aotearoa New Zealand. Since the 1990s, both nations have released…

Digital citizenship education (DCE) is a concept that looks to develop learners as competent, critical, and active participants in digitally connected societies. "The New Zealand Curriculum" ("NZC") conveys a vision of DCE across subject disciplines, yet digital citizenship is scarcely defined in teaching content or learning…

This article reports on a line of findings that explores how New Zealand secondary teachers teach about inequality as part of the official New Zealand curriculum ("NZC") in their respective teaching subjects. This second phase of the study is part of a wider project about how inequality is positioned within "NZC." In-service…

In this paper, we connect with Martin Thrupp's calls for class-based analysis in education policy by problematising the absence of social class in the refreshed New Zealand curriculum, "Te Mataiaho" (2023). To contextualise this absence, we locate this curriculum policy in a historical perspective and interpret its 'identity turn' as an…

This paper is the fourth in a series exploring the issue of curriculum coherence in the development and implementation of the three iterations of Maori-medium Technology curriculum from the 1990s to the present. For Indigenous schools, curriculum coherence is not just a structural design issue but also involves the place of their Indigenous…

The EU Working Group on Learning for Sustainability (LfS) is currently exploring how policy action can assist in the development and introduction of school curricula and appropriate pedagogies to improve opportunities for learning for sustainability in Europe's schools. This paper brings forward input on how learning for environmental…

A standards-based assessment system provides opportunities to join curriculum intentions to demonstrations of complex learning. In this article we use New Zealand's senior secondary qualifications system--the National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA)--to illustrate how adaptations of existing structures might help to better reflect…

In response to their experiences of heteronormative and cisnormative cultures in school contexts, some young people undertake various forms of action within their schools with the intention of changing practices, school environments, or school policies. This student-led action can be understood as a form of activism but it may also be seen as the…

This article seeks to explain how Aotearoa New Zealand moved from a consensus that the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) should grant a high degree of autonomy to teachers, to an emerging view that it ought to be more prescriptive about content. To do this, it takes an assemblage approach to policy analysis, understanding policies as constantly…

Designing an assessment that is fit for purpose in the initial teacher education (ITE) setting is complex. The assessment must meet the university and New Zealand Teaching Council regulations, mirror educational best practice, support ITE students to learn curricular and pedagogical content as well as be practicable to teach and assess. This…

The revision of Te Whariki, the New Zealand Early Childhood Curriculum Framework, in 2017 offered a unique opportunity to gain understanding of the ways teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand think about and enact curriculum in their daily practice. As researchers we were intrigued as to the ways teachers conceptualised the role of curriculum in…

A global concern in recent years has been the formal incorporation of computing and digital technology subjects into high school curricula. Despite many initiatives to make these subjects accessible to students, significant barriers to uptake remain in many countries. In this study we convened a panel of 32 academic, research, and other experts…

Healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand is changing with the aim of becoming truly universal. Development of a new curriculum model in the education of health professionals can aid this goal through increased focus on community needs and flexibility for multiple health professional registrations. Universal healthcare and disability support are promoted…