The nature of the flexible curriculum
Schools are expected to consult their communities about the languages they offer and to accommodate local needs. Teachers need to plan language learning programmes for students with diverse needs (such as those with varying degrees of sight or hearing impairment). Teachers need to cater for students with very different experiences, aptitudes, and abilities.
Languages are taught at primary and intermediate school level as well as in secondary schools and tertiary institutions; they may also be learnt in the context of distance education. With te reo Māori, there is added complexity. In addition to Māori language programmes in English-medium schools, there is an established Māori-medium sector. Some students transfer from Māori-medium contexts to English-medium schools and bring with them more advanced proficiency in te reo Māori than that of their peers. These curriculum guidelines, therefore, need to be flexible and adaptable if they are to be useful to such a range of teachers and students.
In the context of the seamless curriculum, Te Reo Māori in the New Zealand Curriculum: Draft provides teachers with an indication of what they can expect students to have achieved at each curriculum level. This information will help teachers to assess students in order to plan for their needs.
In responding to the needs and interests of their own students, teachers may need to introduce particular achievement objectives much earlier or later than indicated in the curriculum. For example, some teachers may think that their students, or some of them, would benefit from being introduced to simple ways of referring to past and future events, even in the very early stages of learning. So long as the students progress in their learning, there is no reason why such decisions should not be taken.