There are big changes in education at the moment - if you have been watching the news you may be pretty aware of some of the issues at play.

The curriculum refresh was started under the Labour government and continues under the National government. There are some really great things about the refresh, along with lots of challenges. Here's a bit of a summary of the main changes.

• Understand, Know, Do: The refreshed curriculum is structured around the "Understand, Know, and Do" framework. This framework aims to clearly outline the big ideas, contexts, and practices for each learning area.

• Phases of Learning: A move from achievement levels to phases of learning. For example, Phase 1 covers Years 1-3, Phase 2 covers Years 4-6 and Phase 3 covers Years 7-8.

• Knowledge-Rich: The refreshed curriculum aims to be knowledge-rich.

• Structured Literacy: Structured literacy is entrenched in the early phases.

• Curriculum Refresh Timeline: The Ministry of Education expects all refreshed curriculum areas to be finalised in 2027.

In essence, the curriculum refresh is designed to provide a clearer structure, greater detail and a stronger focus on knowledge progression within the New Zealand Curriculum.

Pros:

• Clarity and Structure: The "Understand, Know, Do" framework provides a more explicit structure for teaching and learning, which can help teachers in their planning and delivery.

• Deeper Learning: The emphasis on understanding and knowledge progression aims to promote deeper learning and better retention of information.

• Focus on Foundational Skills: The explicit inclusion of structured literacy in the early years addresses a crucial need for strong foundational skills in reading and writing.

Cons:

• Implementation Challenges: Changes to curriculum and assessment always present implementation challenges for schools, including the need for significant professional development. The current changes have been rushed through with a sense of urgency - at times this means information has been shared with schools at the last minute. School leaders have questions that often can't be answered by the Ministry of Education as decisions have been made before proper planning has taken place.

• Debates about Knowledge: There are ongoing debates about what knowledge is most valuable and some concerns have been raised about the balance between different knowledge systems.

• Debates about Effective Pedagogy: There is a push for whole class teaching. This is easier for teachers but many educators worry this does a disservice to those students working above and below their year level. There is research that suggested that a structured literacy approach in the senior year levels has no noticeable impact on student achievement and actually puts students off reading.

Challenges for Schools:

• Professional Development: Schools will need to invest in extensive professional development for teachers to ensure they understand the changes and can effectively implement the refreshed curriculum.

• Change management: Big changes are better managed when there is one focus - this ensures changes are embedded and sustainable. Making major shifts in both mathematics and English has definitely caused us some challenges.

• Resource Development: Teachers may need to develop new resources and adapt existing ones to align with the new curriculum framework.

• Assessment and Reporting: Schools will need to modify their assessment practices and reporting systems to reflect the shift to phases of learning. We don't yet have much information about what the new assessments are.

What are we doing at Titirangi School?

• Our mid year and end of year reports in 2025 will still report against curriculum levels. We will report against year levels in 2026. The MOE has not provided enough information in a timely manner for us to confidently use the phases to report on.

• We have two Teacher Only Days in term 3 and Term 4 this year focusing on the changes in the maths curriculum.

• Year 1-3 teachers have participated in structured literacy professional development with the University of Canterbury.

• Year 4-6 teachers will participate in structured literacy professional development in 2025 and 2026.

Important Considerations for Parents/Caregivers:

• When we change to reporting against year levels, some students may look like they are going backwards - they are not. Some of the expectations will be harder - eg things that students were expected to master in Year 4, they now need to master in Year 3.

We will continue to communicate with you about the changes happening with the curriculum refresh as much (or as little) as you want. Please ask us questions - if we don't know the answers we will endeavour to find the answers.

Please also rest assured that we will be putting students first in our decision-making. We will continue to extend students that need this and to support students needing extra help with mastering skills.

We will also make sure classroom activities are fun and engaging - in order to learn, students need to want to learn. We also need to make sure that our learners understand that achievement and success is not just about reading writing and maths - we value visual arts, mental and physical heath, performance, te ao Māori, leadership and collaborative skills and most importantly - creativity and innovation.

Whāia te mātauranga hei oranga mō koutou  / Seek after learning for the sake of your wellbeing. This whakatauki refers to the importance of learning for it is key to your wellbeing. If you follow the path of learning, the world will be your oyster.