Technology Education New Zealand chair Hamish Johnston. Photo: RNZ/John Gerritsen
Technology teachers are worried the government's education reforms will ruin what they say is a world-leading curriculum.
Delegates to this week's Technology Education conference in Wellington told RNZ creativity and problem-solving was a hallmark of the technology curriculum, and they feared it would be replaced by a focus on teaching specific knowledge and skills.
They also warned the plan for a new secondary school qualification that labelled subjects as either vocational or academic would not work well for a field that straddled both paths.
The government is rewriting the curriculum and recently announced a list of senior secondary school subjects to be phased in from 2028 alongside a new qualification to replace NCEA.
The chair of Technology Education New Zealand Hamish Johnston told RNZ the changes were the number one issue for technology teachers.
"There's a lot of change within the curriculum and assessment space, whether it's NCEA, vocational education, academic subjects. But we just don't have enough information to be able to know what is happening," he said.
Johnston said the government's decision to designate some subjects vocational and others academic was problematic because each technology subject could take students in either direction - trades training or university.
Mahurangi College teacher in charge of hospitality Isabel Rangiwananga was worried the government's push for greater consistency between schools in what they taught and how they taught it would stifle schools' ability to meet students.
"We have a curriculum that allows quite a lot of creativity and ability to contextualise the learning. I'm concerned that a new curriculum may become quite specific and we may not have that freedom to make the learning relevant to the students," she said.
Mahurangi College's Isabel Rangiwananga worries that creativity will be overlooked in a new curriculum. Photo: RNZ/John Gerritsen
University of Auckland senior lecturer in technology education Kerry Lee said other countries regarded New Zealand's technology curriculum as a world leader.
"People look at us and say you're so lucky to have this curriculum that is not just skills focused, not just teaching knowledge, it's actually applying it and using it to develop something," she said.
"You're giving a problem and the students can run with it and follow their passions and their dreams."
Lee said the next curriculum needed to build on the current curriculum and not go backwards.
The government designated some technology subjects like, digital design, academic and others like automotive engineering, vocational meaning yet-to-be formed industry boards would develop their curriculum.
Lee said involving industry in the design of vocational subjects had potential, but the vocational label could be negative.
"That's always a hard tension in technology is that status of 'you're good with your hands', which for a lot of people means you're not bright. And that's not the case. A lot of people who are good with their hands, who want to go into the trade are actually, really, really bright and so we've just got to try and break that misunderstanding."
Wellington teacher Nan Walden says the recent NCEA level 1 changes were poorly managed and she fears more of the same in the next round. Photo: RNZ / John Gerritsen
Wellington East Girls High School teacher Nan Walden said the vocational label could be negative.
"I think it'll be looked down upon a little bit by public and parent perception. A lot of parents want their students to go to university, and so any subject that is deemed vocational will the students who are more hands-on and less academic will be steered in that direction, where they might actually do really well at university," she said.
Walden said recent changes to NCEA level 1 were poorly managed and teachers were worried that the next round of changes would be just as bad.
"It's going to be really difficult. It's going to be really, really hard. We've already had a change in Year 11, Level 1, and that wasn't rolled out particularly well and a lot of my colleagues had pretty huge challenges trying to implement that. Now that that's been implemented, a new full change is on the horizon," she said.
Otago Boys' High School science teacher Rachel Chisnall said technology fit well with science and maths subjects, but the government's decision to make students study entire subjects would stop schools mixing and matching content from different fields.
"We've got massive problems in our future that need modern day out-of-the-box thinking. If we're silo-ing our subjects together, we're not going to get well-rounded people that know enough about lots of different little things to be able to come up with creative solutions," she said.
Chisnall was also worried about designating some subjects vocational.
She said the government's U-turn decision to take Agriculture and Horticulture off the vocational list within days of its announcement showed subjects could not be pigeon-holed as academic or vocational.
"I'm really concerned that it's going to be streaming by default, where kids are going to go into vocational pathways and not have those academic choices. I think that's been demonstrated with AgHort already, that was obviously a mistake," she said.
"With the changes that are proposed, I'm concerned that it's only going to fit a certain person or certain people.. and it it's going to be inaccessible for many students."
The Education Ministry said subjects developed by the ministry and industry for year 11-13 would offer students greater choice, consistent pathways, and opportunities to specialise.
"Students will leave school with a credible qualification and a coherent set of knowledge and skills," it said.
"These subjects support the shift to an internationally comparable, knowledge-rich curriculum grounded in the science of learning. Many are already available through NCEA; others are new, like Electronics & Mechatronics, or have been renamed, reorganised, or refocused to ensure they are knowledge-rich and future-focused."
The ministry said each subject's curriculum would clearly outline essential learning to ensure teaching was driven by the curriculum, not the qualification.
"Schools and kura will retain flexibility to teach content through local, national, or international context," it said.
"Subjects reflect current and emerging areas of knowledge and will evolve over time. As part of ongoing curriculum review, subjects may be adjusted or added to meet changing needs."
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