New Zealand history will be taught in all schools by 2022, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, “We have listened carefully to the growing calls from New Zealanders to know more about our own history and identity.
"With this in mind, it makes sense for the National Curriculum to make clear the expectation that our history is part of the local curriculum and marau ā kura in every school and kura,” The move is likely to be received positively within Maori communities, who pushed the last National Government to make this step.
“The National Curriculum currently enables schools and kura to decide how New Zealand history is covered, but variation in delivery means too much is left to chance in the teaching and learning of New Zealand history,” Jacinda Ardern said.
However, the Ministry of Education has raised concerns around compulsion in the past. In 2015 the then Secretary of Education Peter Hughes stated in a written submission to a petition to have the land wars included in the national curriculum, that it was "unnecessary" and "likely to result in significant, negative systemic consequences".
More details to come.