For Whose Benefit? The Politics of Developing A Health Education Curriculum

In May 1995, the Christchurch College of Education won the Ministry of Education's contract to develop a Draft Health and Physical Education Curriculum Statement. I was the principal health education writer, and Ian Culpan was the principal physical education writer. The following section of the paper outlines the processes involved in the development of this Curriculum, along with the key theoretical considerations which informed our thinking and which we attempted to incorporate into the curriculum itself. The paper then describes some central learning and teaching issues, including those specifically related to equity, and the implementation of the curriculum which also informed the writing of this Draft Health and Physical Education Curriculum Statement (1996) (the comparable issues for physical education are analysed in Ian Culpan's paper in this volume).

The first phase of development occurred within the Ministry of Education in 1994, with a commissioned literature review which described and critiqued current research findings in the teaching and learning of health and physical education both in New Zealand and overseas. In addition, submissions were called for from interested educators, health sector workers and community groups as to the structure, content and key issues to be addressed in a new curriculum document.

The then Minister of Education (Dr Lockwood Smith) established a Policy Advisory Group (PAG) comprised of people considered to have expertise in the fields of Health Education and Physical Education. The people selected were from both the health and education sectors. The PAG was chaired by Dr Diana Twigden from the Health Research Council of New Zealand. A representative from the Policy, Learning and Assessment section of the Ministry of Education was present at all meetings. Once the contract for the development of the draft curriculum statement had been let, the curriculum facilitator assigned to the contract by the Ministry of Education was also present at all PAG meetings.

The initial role of the PAG was to produce the specifications for the development of theDraft Health and Physical Education Curriculum Statement(1996). They carried out this task in a series of meetings during 1994, taking into account the commissioned literature review, submissions from the preliminary round of consultations with a wide range of groups, the existing official syllabuses and the guiding principles of The New Zealand Curriculum Framework (1993). These specifications, entitled Policy Specifications for a National Curriculum Statement in Health and Physical Education (Ministry of Education, 1995), became a public policy document in 1995 after the contract for the development of the draft curriculum had been let to the Christchurch College of Education. Once the contract had been let, the role of the PAG was to examine the emerging document submitted by the contractors in each milestone report to ensure that this met the policy specifications. The PAG provided advice to the Minister of Education on the progress of the contract and on completion of the writing process made recommendations to the Minister as to whether the document should be released into schools as the official draft curriculum.

As has been the pattern with all recent curriculum developments, phase two of the development process required the principal writers to establish a team of writers and a consultative network of experts in the field. The team comprised fifteen writers with a balanced representation of health and physical education expertise drawn nationally from primary, secondary and tertiary backgrounds. Of these, one member of the writing team had expertise in Home Economics and two writers were Māori. Within their own region, each writer established a reference group of six to eight teachers considered to be experts in teaching and learning in this curriculum area. As principal writers, the consultative networks established by Ian Culpan and myself drew from a wide range of experts and groups. Over one hundred and fifty groups and individuals were involved in the consultative process including representatives from: the Ministry of Health, Māori and Pacific Island groups, the Hillary Commission, the National Heart Foundation, the Cancer Society, the regional Sexual Health Centres, the New Zealand Water Safety Council, Athletics New Zealand, the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards, New Zealand Family Planning Association, the Catholic Centre for National Curriculum Development, the Alcoholic Liquor Advisory Council, the Mental Health Foundation, and the New Zealand Rationalist Society. Many of these groups consulted widely within their own networks. In addition, the subject associations of Physical Education New Zealand (PENZ), the New Zealand Health Teachers' Association (NZHTA), the Home Economics and Technology Teachers' Association (HETTANZ) and the health and physical education advisers from Education Advisory Services also consulted extensively throughout the education sector.

During the ten months the contract operated, there were five rounds of consultation. The writers would meet for five days to develop material. The principal writers would then organise and refine the draft material before sending it out to all members of the consultative network and to the reference groups. Both the PAG and the Ministry's Review Group (consisting of practitioners from the school sector) would critique the draft material to ensure it was meeting the specifications. It was Ministry of Education policy that there should be no direct communication between the PAG, the Ministry's Review Group and the principal writers. After each evaluation of progress, feedback from these two groups was given to us by the Ministry of Education curriculum facilitator. It was a requirement that this feedback be responded to in the next round of writing, together with feedback from all other consulted groups. This cycle was repeated five times. The final outcome of this extensive process, the Draft Health and Physical Education Curriculum Statement, was presented to the Ministry of Education in late February 1996. It was also sent to all those who had been part of the consultation process. The writers were informed that the PAG had unanimously accepted the material and had recommended to the then Minister of Education (Mr Wyatt Creech) that it be released to schools in the form of a draft document.

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