Activist groups complain about lack of Treaty in science curriculum etc!
Radio NZ reports:
Teachers specialising in music, physical education, science, technology and history have slammed draft curriculums covering their subjects.
The groups in these areas tend to be dominated by activists who have a very ideological view of education.
A submission from Bay of Plenty science teachers said the curriculum’s “guiding kaupapa of ‘excellent equitable outcomes, reflecting the Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi’ is not evident anywhere in the science draft”.
And they think this is a bad thing!
Physical Education New Zealand managing director Heemi McDonald told RNZ the draft would take physical education back to the 1950s and 1960s, when the subject was focused on sport.
“It drives physical education back down to a skills-and-drills kind of approach,” he said. “If we look back in our past, like maybe in the 50s and the 60s, the PE curriculum was very much sports skills and drills, and the discipline has moved significantly from that time along with the world.”
McDonald said the subject had moved on significantly, and the draft failed to recognise the importance of learning about movement, identity and relationships through physical education.
For example, he said five-year-olds needed to understand how they moved, how to work with other people and skills to move through the world.
“At its most basic level, that’s what our curriculum should reflect – this idea that our bodies are moving, we move in the world with others, we move in different environments and we all have a different experience,” he said.
Sorry but sounds like gobblygook. Teaching identity through physical education to five year olds. Five year olds just need to run around!
Johnston said many schools allowed about three hours a week for each of the eight learning areas, but the new curriculums set aside more time for English and maths, and less for other subjects.
Again, this is a good thing. Our PISA scores have been declining for decades in English and maths.