Source: Radio New Zealand
RNZ
A former Education Ministry employee says development of the new school curriculum was heavily politicised, causing extensive rewrites and sidelining subject experts.
Claire Coleman made the allegations during a submission to Parliament’s Education and Workforce Select Committee on the government’s Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill.
She told the committee the bill would politicise the education system by giving the government more direct control over the curriculum and over teachers’ professional standards.
“I know from my recent experience at the Ministry of Education the dangers of allowing a public service to be politicised,” she said.
“As a curriculum writer, I was asked to disregard the evidence, the research, and decades of my own experience.
“I watched colleagues run back and forth to the Beehive for approval, watched academics and sector experts be removed from writing teams in favour of corporate resource creators, and saw curriculum documents change radically over a matter of hours in response to the latest red-pen notes from ministers.
“Public servants and their expertise were routinely disregarded, bullied, and removed for not aligning with a predetermined outcome.”
There has been widespread criticism of curriculum development, including leaked emails showing concern within the ministry that some curriculum writers were not being appointed on merit.
The Education Ministry told RNZ ministerial approval of curriculums was normal.
“The ministry is responsible for writing the curriculum and has taken advice and worked with a wide range of local education experts, teachers and other stakeholders over a long period, to produce a knowledge-rich curriculum grounded in the science of learning,” it said.
“The curriculum-writing process is rigorous and includes multiple cycles of review and refinement. It combines evidence, insights, and experiences over the last 20 years with formal feedback and input from a wide range of groups from across the education sector.”
“Ministers have always been responsible for the curriculum sign-off as part of the process.”
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
