THE NEW ZEALAND CURRICULUM

The New Zealand Curriculum 2007-2011 was launched on November 6th by the new Minister of Education Chris Carter. It is the culmination of several years work with input from a wide range of education sector groups, and has the potential to change the face of education for the 21st century.

Central to the Curriculum are values, enterprise, sustainable environments, key competencies, international languages, core literacy and numeracy, and the use of new technologies. It still addresses subject disciplines but moves towards these being delivered through inquiry-based processes. It also reinserts the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Chris Carter has promised teachers they will be given a full day’s release time to familiarise themselves with the Curriculum and prepare for its implementation.

NZEI welcomes that move but says one day is only a start to the process, and the two year implementation timeframe may be difficult to achieve.

It also says the Curriculum will only be effective if teachers and principals are given the time and resources to implement it properly.

Information on the New Zealand Curriculum

Interview and articles on the Curriculum

Primary teachers- resource for meeting with your Board

Download here

Council Releases Graduating Teacher Standards

The Graduating Teacher Standards aim to ensure that teacher graduates in New Zealand are of a consistent quality.

The New Zealand Teachers Council developed the standards in response to a call from the teaching profession for more certainty in the quality of all graduates from all teacher education programmes. The teaching profession has the right and responsibility to determine who will enter and remain in the profession.

The Council developed the standards in cooperation with, and with the support of, a wide range of representatives from the education community. Download a poster of the standards here.

Teachers Council

Teacher registration is strongly supported by NZEI as registration assures schools, centres, parents, whanau, and the community that a teacher is a competent and qualified professional.

Read NZEI advice on teacher registration, including step-by-step advice on the actions needed by the teacher and the employer to ensure that employment remains legal.

Visit www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz for the latest news from the Council.

Want to get involved in the future of your Collective Agreement?

Term Dates for 2007

2007 term dates for Primary and Intermediate Schools are:

Term 1: Wednesday 7 February to Thursday 5 April (84 half days).

Term 2: Monday 23 April to Friday 29 June (96 half days).

Term 3: Monday 16 July to Friday 21 September (100 half days).

Term 4: Monday 8 October to Thursday 20 December (106 half days)

Food in Schools

Is it a school's job to feed hungry children? NZEI National Vice President Frances Nelson gave her view in an opinion piece in the NZ Herald. "As a primary school principal, I am constantly reminded of the role of each school and its staff in promoting healthy and safe "everything", including food choices and consumption. Schools don't deny that they should and do have an educative role to play, but there is an ever increasing "creep" of responsibility being passed on to schools to solve all the ills of society. Read more

Secondary Futures

Secondary Futures - Hoenga Auaha Taiohi is a project set up to encourage discussion and debate about the role and purpose of secondary education in New Zealand, twenty years from now - creating a mandate for change.Learn more about it at www.secondaryfutures.co.nz

Guidelines on Physical Contact with Children

NZEI has released its new guidelines on physical contact with children, to assist its members who work as teachers and support staff in schools and early childhood education centres. You can read our media release or download a PDF of the Guidelines.

Initial teacher education research

The New Zealand Teachers Council and the Ministry of Education started work in 2004 on a joint research project on initial teacher education. Four reports have just been released with findings. Read more here.