TKI main navigation
New Zealand Curriculum Online navigation
Board of Trustees and implementing the New Zealand Curriculum
What is expected of boards of trustees?
Aligning the charter to The New Zealand Curriculum
Links to existing board requirements
The existing planning and reporting framework
Working in partnership: what is expected of principals
What is expected of boards of trustees?
The board of trustees is ultimately responsible to the community and the state for the performance of a school. It has a stewardship role; it must be confident that it is meeting its legislative obligations and serving the best interests of student learning and achievement.
Boards’ specific responsibilities in relation to the revised curriculum are set out on page 44 of The New Zealand Curriculum. In line with the National Administration Guidelines (NAGs), the governance/management partnership which is at the heart of school self-management in New Zealand meets these responsibilities:
- teaching and assessment occurs through the principal and staff (NAG1)
- planning, reporting and review occurs with the principal and staff (NAG2).
In a letter to the Chief Review Officer published in the Education Gazette of 4 February 2008, the Minister (in his capacity as the minister Responsible for the Education Review Office) wrote:
During 2008 and 2009, I would expect Boards of Trustees and school principals to be aware of the changes, to review their practice to consider what actions to take to meet the new requirements, and to progress towards fully basing their teaching and learning programmes on The New Zealand Curriculum by February 2010.
By that time, I will be able to advise you about related changes to the National Administration Guidelines, particularly those which refer to The New Zealand Curriculum.
I think it is a huge responsibility - and hard - but if we really want schools to be a partnership then we have to do the work and be part of what we want the curriculum for our children to look like.
Board chair.
Aligning the charter to The New Zealand Curriculum
Boards can look to chief executives, i.e. the principal, for considerable guidance as they review and revise the school charter to align with The New Zealand Curriculum, but they should not expect principals to do everything.
We started by looking at what our school was already doing. Our principal started us discussing this in 2007 and we realise that it is going to take time to work through all the implications.
Board chair.
Aligning the two documents does not mean The New Zealand Curriculum values and vision must replace those in the charter. It means engaging school stakeholders in discussions that help to identify shared values and a strategic vision.
Shared values
- what do the values in The New Zealand Curriculum mean for this community?
- which values in The New Zealand Curriculum are particularly meaningful for our school community?
- which values and beliefs that do have particular significance for our school community are not expressed in the values, or principles, in The New Zealand Curriculum?
- how can we encourage, model and develop The New Zealand Curriculum values and those in our charter in our school?
Strategic vision
- does the vision in our charter describe what we want our students to know, to be and to be able to do by the time they leave our school?
- how does our vision align with The New Zealand Curriculum vision of confident, connected, actively engaged lifelong learners?
I see it as 'revisioning'. The school does not exist in isolation from its community, nor is it owned by the Ministry so it is important any changes build on from our current vision.
Principal
Who needs to be engaged in consultation and dialogue? This may vary from school to school, but in addition to the board and staff, others who have a clear stake in our school's success include:
- parents, caregivers and whānau
- students
- pre-schools, contributing schools and next-step schools our students may attend
- proprietors (important stakeholders for integrated schools).
It's about having everybody walking in the same direction, which is one of the basic principles of Tomorrow's Schools.
Board member
We held a community meeting, but very few parents came. We did a survey but again we didn't get a great resonse. Then board members decided to make phone contact with all of our families to make sure they knew about the curriculum changes. Everyone got a real buzz out of this - it has started lots of discussion.
Board chair
Links to existing board requirements
The introduction of The New Zealand Curriculum is an exciting development in our education history and it is important for boards to remember two key factors:
- It is a revised, not a new curriculum. Preparing our children for a future we cannot begin to fully understand requires rethinking the teaching and learning happening in our schools but it does not mean losing current good practice. Principals and teachers throughout New Zealand are using The New Zealand Curriculum as an opportunity to review and challenge their thinking and also to identify what is currently happening in their school that fits well with The New Zealand Curriculum and can be integrated into new programmes and practices.
- Full implementation of The New Zealand Curriculum will take time. It is a strategic process and one that fits well with existing processes boards have developed for planning and reviewing the strategic direction for their school.
We've also been looking at how we can make our vision connect with Te Marautanga o Aotearoa (the Māori medium curriculum). I would recommend that boards focus on both documents with a view to seeing whether they can be meshed together. We are getting an increasing number of students who are very capable in te reo. A focus on the child first, their identity and then curriculum would be wonderful.
Board member
The existing planning and reporting framework
NAG2 states that:
Each Board of Trustees with the principal and teaching staff is required to:
- develop a strategic plan which documents how they are giving effect to the National Education Guidelines through their policies, plans and programmes, including those for curriculum, assessment and staff professional development;
- maintain an on-going programme of self-review in relation to the above policies, plans and programmes, including evaluation of information on student achievement;
- report to students and their parents on the achievement of individual students, and to the school's community on the achievement of students as a whole and of groups (identified through NAG1iii) including the achievement of Māori students against the plans and targets referred to in NAG1iv.
The NAGs are part of the National Education Guidelines, as are the National Education Goals (NEGs), the ten goals that establish a common direction for education in New Zealand.
The National Curriculum Statements are the third component of the National Education Guidelines. With The New Zealand Curriculum replacing the current curriculum statements from 2010, it is important that the strategic plan reflects the steps being taken towards its implementation. NAG2 also highlights the need for a programme of self-review to include an evaluation of all aspects of the school's operation. The review outcome (along with other information, such as student achievement data and community input) feeds into the planning process, highlighting priorities for development.
The passing of the Education Standards Act clarified that strategic plans are part of the school's charter, as shown in Figure 1 below.
|
The Education Standards Act (2001): Requirements for charters |
||
|---|---|---|
|
INTRODUCTION |
Who we are mission, values and vision |
Governance: with the principal and staff |
|
STRATEGIC PLAN |
Where we want to be aims, directions goals and priorities |
Governance: with the principal and staff |
|
ANNUAL PLAN |
How we will get there targets, objectives, strategies and actions that promote student achievement |
Governance: through the principal and staff |
Working in partnership: What is expected of principals
The principal plays a critical role in a school's governance/management partnership. As well as being a full board member, the principal is the chief executive with responsibility for achieving the outcomes that the board specifies and regulation requires.
This is a very high priority for me as a principal. My responsibility is to help teachers get their head around these ideas, to make sure they understand what The New Zealand Curriculum means and its impact on classroom teaching. My role is to be a professional leader, for the staff and community - otherwise I'm doing them a total disservice.
Principal
The Principal Professional Standards clarify principals' role in strategic planning. Relevant extracts from the recently updated primary standards appear alongside current secondary standards in Figure 2 below.
|
The Professional Standards for Principals |
|
|---|---|
|
SECONDARY |
PRIMARY |
|
Dimension: Strategic Management |
Dimension: Culture |
|
|
|
Dimension: Systems |
|
|
|
|
Dimension: Partnership & Networks |
|
|
|
Valuing of parents and community is important. Listening as opposed to telling them "this is the way it is". The principal is not afraid to admit she doesn't have all the answers. She asks whether there are other ways of approaching issues. Relationships are important. I can see that the Māori community is responding well to this.
Board member
Governance questions for boards
The Education Review Office is currently assessing schools' readiness for implementing The New Zealand Curriculum. From 2010, it will expect to see evidence of this happening.
In its monitoring role, the board will be required to collect and make available information that shows:
- the legal obligations of The New Zealand Curriculum are being met
- progress towards any undertakings in the school charter that were made in response to hopes and aspirations expressed by the school community.
I think it represents an opportunity and a challenge for trustees to find out more about what is happening in the school.
Board member
From 2010, school information reported to the board should enable trustees to answer the following types of questions about the school's curriculum design and teaching programmes:
- Are the teaching programmes in our school effective? What evidence do we have of this? (NZC, p.34-35)
- In what ways do the principles of The New Zealand Curriculum underpin the school curriculum (NZC, p.9)
- In what ways does our school curriculum encourage, model, and explore the values in The New Zealand Curriculum? Which values? (NZC p.10)
- How does our school curriculum support students to develop the key competencies in The New Zealand Curriculum? (NZC, p.12-13)
- How does the school curriculum contribute to achieving The New Zealand Curriculum's vision of what we want for our young people? (NZC, p.8-9)
- In what ways do our teaching programmes demonstrate that they are based on the learning area statements in The New Zealand Curriculum? In particular, how do they relate to the structure essential to each learning area? (NZC, p.16-33)
- What is the evidence that our teaching programmes are based on The New Zealand Curriculum's achievement objectives for each learning area, and that these objectives have been selected in response to the needs and interests of students?
We are caretakers of 'now' but we also need to prepare for the future. If you are focused on the future, decisions made at BOT level need to be aligned with the future. If we don't do this we sell the children short.
Board member
