The New Zealand Curriculum

Purpose and scope

The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) is a statement of official policy relating to teaching and learning in New Zealand schools. Its main function is to set the direction for student learning and to provide guidance for schools as they design and review their curriculum. This document starts with the vision of young people who will develop the competencies they need for study, work, and lifelong learning and go on to realise their potential. This document will also help Mangonui School give effect to the partnership that is at the core of our nation’s founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi / the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Vision – ‘What we want for our young people’

Confident
Positive in their own identity
Motivated and reliable
Resourceful
Enterprising and entrepreneurial
Resilient
Connected
Able to relate well to others
Effective users of communication tools
Connected to the land and environment
Members of communities
International citizens
Actively involved
Participants in a range of life contexts
Contributors to the well-being of New Zealand – social, cultural, economic, and environmental
Lifelong learners
Literate and numerate
Critical and creative thinkers
Active seekers, users, and creators of knowledge
Informed decision makers

When constructing the Mangonui School Curriculum we need to consider how the ‘Vision’ is reflected in the design of it.

Using the information from the Community Consultation meeting , the staff have worked with Lesley Parton (Team Solutions) to develop a vision statement. This statement is still only in draft form and will be presented to you in the next newsletter. At the meeting with Lesley we also identified what Values will support our Mangonui School based Curriculum. They are:

Innovation, Inquiry and Curiosity

  • Respect for yourself, others and your environment
  • Participation and Community
  • Honestly
  • Excellence

The specific ways in which these values find expression in an individual school will be guided by dialogue between the school and its community. They should be evident in the school’s philosophy, structures, curriculum, classrooms, and relationships. When the school community has developed strongly held and clearly articulated values, those values are likely to be expressed in everyday actions and interactions within the school.

Through their learning experiences, students will learn about:

  • their own values and those of others
  • different kinds of values, such as moral, social, cultural, aesthetic, and economic values
  • the values on which New Zealand’s cultural and institutional traditions are based
  • the values of other groups and cultures.

Through their learning experiences, students will develop their ability to:

  • express their own values
  • explore, with empathy, the values of others
  • critically analyse values and actions based on them
  • discuss disagreements that arise from differences in values and negotiate solutions
  • make ethical decisions and act on them.