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Te Reo Māori in the New Zealand Curriculum: Draft

Programme planning

At the core of the curriculum are the achievement objectives, or key outcomes for students to achieve (such as, for example, 2.1 “communicate about relationships between people”). These achievement objectives have important implications for the core language content at each curriculum level. In planning language programmes, teachers will need to think carefully about language progression in relation to the achievement objectives; that is, about which particular aspects of language (vocabulary, structures, pronunciation, and so on) students will be encouraged to focus on at different stages of their learning. They may start with a fairly clear idea about what can be achieved. Even so, they will need to make adjustments as they learn more about the needs, interests, and prior learning of their students.

The core of the language curriculum (the achievement objectives) is by no means the only aspect of the curriculum that matters. Spiralling round the core are other aspects of the language curriculum, including the suggested sociocultural themes, topics, and text types which, if teachers select from the lists carefully, can make a very important contribution to teaching and learning.

When teachers, learners, and communities understand the nature of an outcomes-based curriculum, they can enter into an effective, focused learning partnership. For example, a member of a student’s whānau might contribute to a lesson based on achievement objective 3.1 (“communicate, including comparing and contrasting, about habits and routines”) by showing students how to carry out a routine task at the marae, such as setting up the wharenui (meeting house) for manuhiri (visitors) or ordering the food for a hui. Likewise, teachers of Māori and teachers of history may decide to work together to plan a series of lessons around a common theme, such as habits and routines in New Zealand schools and communities in the 1940s (see achievement objective 5.3 “communicate about past habits and routines”).

A suggested programme planning cycle

To create successful Māori language programmes, teachers should use a planning cycle made up of a series of logical steps.

A suggested programme planning cycle.
View large version of programming planning cycle.
Text equivalent of programming planning cycle.

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