Your school curriculum will have a clear statement about what your school community deems to be important for your students and will set out detail on how you are intending to achieve this. It will also reflect the intent of the New Zealand Curriculum.
A school curriculum can be thought of in the following two ways; in one sense as the documentation outlining a plan for learning and teaching and in another important sense a curriculum is about what actually happens in classrooms and other teaching - learning settings.
Sometimes what actually happens in classrooms and other teaching-learning settings will clearly reflect what is formally described in your curriculum document. At other times these connections may be less obvious, yet justifiable.
The practised curriculum will be guided by the school's:
Curriculum design and review area provides more information
Schools currently have a variety of documents they use to assist with setting and monitoring goals, the day-to-day running of the school and an overview of future plans.
The format and detail of documents vary from school to school, but all have the common purpose of identifying student's learning needs, detail on how these will be met, and information on how the school will monitor their success in meeting these.
Schools are required to submit a school charter to the Ministry.
When designing a school curriculum it is a good opportunity to revisit school documentation with the following three questions in mind:
The important understanding is that what actually impacts on student learning amounts to curriculum in practice. It is desirable that there is a good fit between the documented curriculum and the practised curriculum. The quality of curriculum as seen in action will be the true measure of the documented version.
Lester Flockton
All New Zealand students, regardless of where they are situated, should experience a rich and balanced education that embraces the intent of the national curriculum.
Some schools have found this chart helpful when they are thinking about what makes up a school curriculum.
Components of a school curriculum (Word 2007, 507 KB)
This area provides links to some school web pages with examples and information on their school curriculum.
Published on: 24 May 2009
