Draft English Curriculum — Open for Consultation
We have reached an important milestone in our journey to improve the national curriculum (including The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa) and are now seeking your informed insights and valued feedback on the updated draft learning area for English Years 0-6. This is an important opportunity to jointly progress this content with you so it’s ready to start to be brought to life in every school and kura next year.
About this resource
The draft learning area for English Years 0-6 in the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) is now ready for your feedback.
The final version is due to be released in Term 4 and will become required teaching from the start of 2025.
We have made significant progress so far, thanks to the hard work of many people. Now is the time to seek broader perspectives as we continue to make improvements.
Please use the links below to review this content and to share your thoughts using the survey provided.
Consultation on the updated English learning area
The first draft of the Year 0-6 English learning area is now ready for your review and feedback. As school leaders, classrooms practitioners, and experienced professionals your insights are a valuable part of this process and will help ensure that we have a world-leading curriculum.
So far, this work has been contributed to by teachers, subject-matter experts, school leaders, curriculum design experts, and international reviewers. It has been shared with sector representative groups for initial feedback and independently reviewed by the Education Review Office (ERO) who have drawn on their leadership partners from schools and kura around the country.
This is your first opportunity to provide feedback. There will be another opportunity to do so later in 2025, after you have had a chance to spend time using the new curriculum in your schools and classrooms.
Thank you for taking the time to share your insights on work done to date. Final versions are due to be presented as online resources in Term 4.
The next round of feedback will be open at the end of 2025 once you’ve had the opportunity to embed the content into your classrooms.
As you provide your feedback, please consider how this document will support teachers anywhere in their teaching journey, but especially our beginning teachers as they build confidence and fluency in the curriculum content and sequence.
The draft English learning area for Years 7-13 will be released in Term 4 for consultation and feedback throughout 2025.
We have provided a short video with useful information to help you explore the draft English learning area. This can be found here.
The information you’ll find on this page, along with details of our support approach are also provided as an information sheet at the link below.
English Years 0-6 Consultation Information Sheet
The updated English for Years 0-6 learning area
The updated English learning area will sit within the New Zealand Curriculum Framework (Te Mātaiaho). This framework will continue to be refined alongside the development of all learning areas.
A summary of Te Mātaiaho is included to provide context with the learning areas. However, this is still being refined and is not currently open for consultation.
You will recognise:
- The Understand Know Do (UKD) model
- Phases of learning and progress outcomes
- Previously seen elements of the Common Practice Model (CPM)
What’s new:
- Increased teaching guidance and year-by-year sequences to reduce workload on you, providing clarity on what should be taught and when
- The NZC and CPM completed and combined into one place
Viewing the draft curriculum content
The draft English learning area is currently presented in PDF format for your feedback. This is not yet formatted for online or the final hard copy.
We have focus groups of teachers and principals providing advice on an online format of the curriculum. The final version will be interactive, easy to navigate, and connected to valuable resources that we will continue to add to over time.
We’ve already heard from you through the maths consultation that you have exciting ideas about how the mathematics and statistics learning area is presented. For example, one-page summaries for the progressions. We will be acting on this feedback for all learning areas and we are looking forward to hearing your exciting ideas about the English learning area.
A Glossary is provided to accompany the English Years 0-6 learning area content. This can be found here:
For viewing online
In the English learning area, the tables in the teaching sequences for phases 1 and 2 are spread across two pages. Therefore, on screen, the curriculum is best viewed using the link below so that each double page spread is viewed.
Te Mātaiaho framework and English learning area combined
For printing
If you intend on printing the document print the below versions double sided. Then staple or bulldog clip the left-hand side of the printout, so that as you go through the document, each double spread is visible when you turn the pages
Te Mātaiaho framework and English learning area combined
Your feedback matters
We appreciate the valuable feedback and insights you have shared with us to reach this point, and we encourage you to continue sharing your thoughts and ideas with us through an online survey.
The survey is designed to orientate you through the draft learning area, drawing your attention to the different sections and their purpose.
The questions will provide the opportunity to capture your feedback for further development.
The survey for English will be open until Friday, 20 September 2024.
You can preview a copy of the survey and the questions it contains at the link below.
English Years 0-6 Survey Questions
Your questions answered
The new English and Te Reo Rangatira (0-6) and maths and pāngarau (0-8) curriculum will be required for use from Term 1 2025. But our work to jointly progress the content with you won’t stop there. We know you’ll have important insights and experiences to share with us as you bring the content to life in your classrooms.
The timing of this is that:
- The Minister of Education will issue the Years 0-6 English and Te Reo Rangatira curriculum and Years 0-8 maths and pāngarau curriculum in the New Zealand Gazette at the end of 2024 for required use in 2025.
- The Minister of Education will issue the final full Years 0-13 English, Te Reo Rangatira, maths and pāngarau curriculum at the end of 2025 for required use in 2026. This will incorporate any amendments for Years 0-6 English and Te Reo Rangatira and Years 0-8 maths and pāngarau in response to feedback we receive from you during 2025.
Contact us
If you have any questions or need guidance, please contact us at [email protected]