A group of education researchers has launched a new independent platform aimed at giving parents, whānau and the wider public easier access to research and expert analysis as debate over Aotearoa’s school curriculum intensifies.
The Aotearoa New Zealand Curriculum Forum has been established as an online resource where experienced education researchers will explain curriculum issues in accessible language, covering everything from how curriculum content is selected to the purpose of education and how New Zealand compares internationally.
Spokesperson Terry Locke says the forum has been created amid concerns among its contributors about the direction of current curriculum reform and the difficulty members of the public and researchers can face obtaining clear information about how decisions are being made.
The forum says its contributors have extensive research backgrounds across different curriculum areas and will base their articles on published evidence rather than political or ideological campaigning.
One of its central themes will be the place of mātauranga Māori and other knowledge systems within the national curriculum, with the group arguing education in Aotearoa should extend beyond traditional Western European traditions and prepare young people for the society and world they will inherit.
The launch comes during heightened scrutiny of curriculum reform. The Waitangi Tribunal this month found the Crown breached several Treaty principles in developing its new national curriculum, including through a lack of meaningful engagement and consensus-building with Māori. It also found the Crown proceeded with its knowledge-rich approach without evidence that it would reduce inequities for Māori.
The Tribunal recommended the Crown recommit to partnership with Māori and return to jointly developing a genuinely indigenous Māori-medium and kaupapa Māori curriculum through Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.
For the Curriculum Forum, the aim is to take some of these complex arguments beyond academics, politicians and officials and put understandable information directly in front of parents, grandparents and whānau.
The new platform can be found at curriculum-forum.nz.
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