Rushed and Eurocentric: Schools face curriculum crisis

The new draft years 0-10 curriculum is Eurocentric and the rushed rollout will create chaos in schools, education union NZEI Te Riu Roa says. 

The curriculum contains six new areas for teachers and school leaders, and the history curriculum fails to mention ‘Aotearoa’ even once, says Stephanie Madden, Chair of NZEI Te Riu Roa’s Principals' Council. 

“The new curriculum has blindsided teachers and school leaders, especially after hours of professional learning and development went into helping them to get their heads around the last one,” she says.  

“We thought we’d seen the final English and maths curriculum in January this year. Last week, during the busiest school term, a new final curriculum for English and maths was released, and a further six learning areas have been released overnight. Schools have eight weeks to get their head around changes to the English and maths curriculum before implementing and teaching them in January 2026. That’s unworkable.” 

Ms Madden says the timeframe won’t work for educators or tamariki, and schools were headed for a curriculum crisis. 

Ms Madden says she's disappointed te reo Māori has no more weighting than any other languages, which are optional to teach.

The curriculum has also shifted from a hapū and iwi-led approach to history to a prescriptive model, where teachers are being told to teach a version of history that doesn’t acknowledge different stories and experiences. 

“Whose version of history are we being asked to teach? The previous histories curriculum rightly considered histories as something which were shaped by colonial power and decision-making. Omitting this discourages kids from learning the full history of Aotearoa, so they won't be equipped to see the effects of colonisation today or to understand the ‘why’ behind our histories”. 

“It looks to me like aspects of the Treaty Principles Bill have made their way into this curriculum. For example, there’s reference to everyone being treated equally under the law.”