From the start of Term 1, 2024 school boards must ensure their school's teaching and learning programmes meet requirements for structuring teaching time for reading, writing and maths in Years 0 - 8. Specialist schools with students in Years 0 - 8 must ensure this from the start of 2025. Kura with a specified kura board must ensure this from Term 3, 2024.
See Gazette Notice 2023-go5904 and Changes to legislative requirements for school boards on NZC Online.
We've revised the Technology learning area to strengthen the positioning of Digital Technologies in The New Zealand Curriculum. The goal of this change is to ensure that all learners have the opportunity to become digitally capable individuals. This change signals the need for greater focus on our students building their skills so they can be innovative creators of digital solutions, moving beyond solely being users and consumers of digital technologies.
Kaua e rangiruatia te hāpai o te hoe;
e kore tō tātou waka e ū ki uta.
Technology is intervention by design. It uses intellectual and practical resources to create technological outcomes, which expand human possibilities by addressing needs and realising opportunities.
Design is characterised by innovation and adaptation and is at the heart of technological practice. It is informed by critical and creative thinking and specific design processes. Effective and ethical design respects the unique relationship that New Zealanders have with their physical environment and embraces the significance of Māori culture and world views in its practice and innovation.
Technology makes enterprising use of knowledge, skills and practices for exploration and communication, some specific to areas within technology and some from other disciplines. These include digitally-aided design, programming, software development, various forms of technological modelling, and visual literacy – the ability to make sense of images and the ability to make images that make sense.
Students will:
Planning for practice
Outline a general plan to support the development of an outcome, identifying appropriate steps and resources.
Brief development
Describe the outcome they are developing and identify the attributes it should have, taking account of the need or opportunity and the resources available.
Outcome development and evaluation
Investigate a context to communicate potential outcomes. Evaluate these against attributes; select and develop an outcome in keeping with the identified attributes.
Students will:
Technological modelling
Understand that functional models are used to represent reality and test design concepts and that prototypes are used to test technological outcomes.
Technological products
Understand that technological products are made from materials that have performance properties.
Technological systems
Understand that technological systems have inputs, controlled transformations, and outputs.
Students will:
Characteristics of technology
Understand that technology is purposeful intervention through design.
Characteristics of technological outcomes
Understand that technological outcomes are products or systems developed by people and have a physical nature and a functional nature.
Students will:
Planning for practice
Develop a plan that identifies the key stages and the resources required to complete an outcome.
Brief development
Explain the outcome they are developing and describe the attributes it should have, taking account of the need or opportunity and the resources available.
Outcome development and evaluation
Investigate a context to develop ideas for potential outcomes. Evaluate these against the identified attributes; select and develop an outcome. Evaluate the outcome in terms of the need or opportunity.
Students will:
Technological modelling
Understand that functional models are used to explore, test, and evaluate design concepts for potential outcomes and that prototyping is used to test a technological outcome for fitness of purpose.
Technological products
Understand that there is a relationship between a material used and its performance properties in a technological product.
Technological systems
Understand that there are relationships between the inputs, controlled transformations, and outputs occurring within simple technological systems.
Students will:
Characteristics of technology
Understand that technology both reflects and changes society and the environment and increases people’s capability.
Characteristics of technological outcomes
Understand that technological outcomes are developed through technological practice and have related physical and functional natures.
Students will:
Planning for practice
Undertake planning to identify the key stages and resources required to develop an outcome. Revisit planning to include reviews of progress and identify implications for subsequent decision making.
Brief development
Describe the nature of an intended outcome, explaining how it addresses the need or opportunity. Describe the key attributes that enable development and evaluation of an outcome.
Outcome development and evaluation
Investigate a context to develop ideas for potential outcomes. Trial and evaluate these against key attributes to select and develop an outcome to address the need or opportunity. Evaluate this outcome against the key attributes and how it addresses the need or opportunity.
Students will:
Technological modelling
Understand that different forms of functional modelling are used to inform decision making in the development of technological possibilities and that prototypes can be used to evaluate the fitness of technological outcomes for further development.
Technological products
Understand the relationship between the materials used and their performance properties in technological products.
Technological systems
Understand that technological systems are represented by symbolic language tools and understand the role played by the “black box” in technological systems.
Students will:
Characteristics of technology
Understand how society and environments impact on and are influenced by technology in historical and contemporary contexts and that technological knowledge is validated by successful function.
Characteristics of technological outcomes
Understand that technological outcomes are recognisable as fit for purpose by the relationship between their physical and functional natures.
Students will:
Planning for practice
Undertake planning that includes reviewing the effectiveness of past actions and resourcing, exploring implications for future actions and accessing of resources, and consideration of stakeholder feedback, to enable the development of an outcome.
Brief development
Justify the nature of an intended outcome in relation to the need or opportunity. Describe the key attributes identified in stakeholder feedback, which will inform the development of an outcome and its evaluation.
Outcome development and evaluation
Investigate a context to develop ideas for feasible outcomes. Undertake functional modelling that takes account of stakeholder feedback in order to select and develop the outcome that best addresses the key attributes. Incorporating stakeholder feedback, evaluate the outcome’s fitness for purpose in terms of how well it addresses the need or opportunity.
Students will:
Technological modelling
Understand how different forms of functional modelling are used to explore possibilities and to justify decision making and how prototyping can be used to justify refinement of technological outcomes.
Technological products
Understand that materials can be formed, manipulated, and/or transformed to enhance the fitness for purpose of a technological product.
Technological systems
Understand how technological systems employ control to allow for the transformation of inputs to outputs.
Students will:
Characteristics of technology
Understand how technological development expands human possibilities and how technology draws on knowledge from a wide range of disciplines.
Characteristics of technological outcomes
Understand that technological outcomes can be interpreted in terms of how they might be used and by whom and that each has a proper function as well as possible alternative functions.
Students will:
Planning for practice
Analyse their own and others’ planning practices to inform the selection and use of planning tools. Use these to support and justify planning decisions (including those relating to the management of resources) that will see the development of an outcome through to completion.
Brief development
Justify the nature of an intended outcome in relation to the need or opportunity. Describe specifications that reflect key stakeholder feedback and that will inform the development of an outcome and its evaluation.
Outcome development and evaluation
Analyse their own and others’ outcomes to inform the development of ideas for feasible outcomes. Undertake ongoing functional modelling and evaluation that takes account of key stakeholder feedback and trialling in the physical and social environments. Use the information gained to select and develop the outcome that best addresses the specifications. Evaluate the final outcome’s fitness for purpose against the brief.
Students will:
Technological modelling
Understand how evidence, reasoning, and decision making in functional modelling contribute to the development of design concepts and how prototyping can be used to justify ongoing refinement of outcomes.
Technological products
Understand how materials are selected, based on desired performance criteria.
Technological systems
Understand the properties of subsystems within technological systems.
Students will:
Characteristics of technology
Understand how people’s perceptions and acceptance of technology impact on technological developments and how and why technological knowledge becomes codified.
Characteristics of technological outcomes
Understand that technological outcomes are fit for purpose in terms of time and context. Understand the concept of malfunction and how “failure” can inform future outcomes.
Students will:
Planning for practice
Critically analyse their own and others’ past and current planning practices in order to make informed selection and effective use of planning tools. Use these to support and justify ongoing planning that will see the development of an outcome through to completion.
Brief development
Justify the nature of an intended outcome in relation to the need or opportunity and justify specifications in terms of key stakeholder feedback and wider community considerations.
Outcome development and evaluation
Critically analyse their own and others’ outcomes to inform the development of ideas for feasible outcomes. Undertake ongoing experimentation and functional modelling, taking account of stakeholder feedback and trialling in the physical and social environments. Use the information gained to select, justify, and develop a final outcome. Evaluate this outcome’s fitness for purpose against the brief and justify the evaluation, using feedback from stakeholders.
Students will:
Technological modelling
Understand the role and nature of evidence and reasoning when managing risk through technological modelling.
Technological products
Understand how materials are formed, manipulated, and transformed in different ways, depending on their properties, and understand the role of material evaluation in determining suitability for use in product development.
Technological systems
Understand the implications of subsystems for the design, development, and maintenance of technological systems.
Students will:
Characteristics of technology
Understand the interdisciplinary nature of technology and the implications of this for maximising possibilities through collaborative practice.
Characteristics of technological outcomes
Understand that some technological outcomes can be perceived as both product and system. Understand how these outcomes impact on other outcomes and practices and on people’s views of themselves and possible futures.
Students will:
Planning for practice
Critically analyse their own and others’ past and current planning and management practices in order to develop and employ project management practices that will ensure the effective development of an outcome to completion.
Brief development
Justify the nature of an intended outcome in relation to the issue to be resolved and justify specifications in terms of key stakeholder feedback and wider community considerations.
Outcome development and evaluation
Critically analyse their own and others’ outcomes and evaluative practices to inform the development of ideas for feasible outcomes. Undertake a critical evaluation that is informed by ongoing experimentation and functional modelling, stakeholder feedback, and trialling in the physical and social environments. Use the information gained to select, justify, and develop an outcome. Evaluate this outcome’s fitness for purpose against the brief. Justify the evaluation, using feedback from stakeholders and demonstrating a critical understanding of the issue.
Students will:
Technological modelling
Understand how the “should” and “could” decisions in technological modelling rely on an understanding of how evidence can change in value across contexts and how different tools are used to ascertain and mitigate risk.
Technological products
Understand the concepts and processes employed in materials evaluation and the implications of these for design, development, maintenance, and disposal of technological products.
Technological systems
Understand the concepts of redundancy and reliability and their implications for the design, development, and maintenance of technological systems.
Students will:
Characteristics of technology
Understand the implications of ongoing contestation and competing priorities for complex and innovative decision making in technological development.
Characteristics of technological outcomes
Understand that technological outcomes are a resolution of form and function priorities and that malfunction affects how people view and accept outcomes.
Students will:
Planning for practice
Critically analyse their own and others’ past and current planning and management practices in order to develop and employ project management practices that will ensure the efficient development of an outcome to completion.
Brief development
Justify the nature of an intended outcome in relation to the context and the issue to be resolved. Justify specifications in terms of key stakeholder feedback and wider community considerations.
Outcome development and evaluation
Critically analyse their own and others’ outcomes and fitness-for-purpose determinations in order to inform the development of ideas for feasible outcomes. Undertake a critical evaluation that is informed by ongoing experimentation and functional modelling, stakeholder feedback, trialling in the physical and social environments, and an understanding of the issue as it relates to the wider context. Use the information gained to select, justify, and develop an outcome. Evaluate this outcome’s fitness for purpose against the brief. Justify the evaluation, using feedback from stakeholders and demonstrating a critical understanding of the issue that takes account of all contextual dimensions.
Students will:
Technological modelling
Understand the role of technological modelling as a key part of technological development, justifying its importance on moral, ethical, sustainable, cultural, political, economic, and historical grounds.
Technological products
Understand the concepts and processes employed in materials development and evaluation and the implications of these for design, development, maintenance, and disposal of technological products.
Technological systems
Understand operational parameters and their role in the design, development, and maintenance of technological systems.
Students will:
Characteristics of technology
Understand the implications of technology as intervention by design and how interventions have consequences, known and unknown, intended and unintended.
Characteristics of technological outcomes
Understand how technological outcomes can be interpreted and justified as fit for purpose in their historical, cultural, social, and geographical locations.
Updated on: 12 Mar 2018
Technology Online
A site dedicated to all those with an interest in technology education in New Zealand, with examples of contemporary teaching and learning and curriculum support materials.
Digital technologies support offers a range of information, professional learning opportunities, resources, case studies, and innovative ideas for you to access and use.
