Principles

The New Zealand Curriculum principles embody beliefs about what is important in school curriculum - nationally and locally. They should underpin all school decision making.

Ideas for exploring the curriculum principles

These resources support school leaders and teachers to develop deeper thinking around the NZC principles within a school curriculum.

Principle packages

Support packages are available for all eight curriculum principles. Each support package offers research, tools, stories, and resources to help school leaders and teachers understand, consider, and embed the NZC principles.

• High expectations principle

  

  Support and empower your students to learn and achieve personal excellence, regardless of their individual circumstances. 

• Treaty of Waitangi principle

  

  Acknowledge the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and the bicultural foundations of Aotearoa through your curriculum.

• Cultural diversity principle

  

  Design a curriculum that reflects New Zealand’s cultural diversity and values the histories and traditions of all its people.

• Inclusion principle

  

  Ensure that your students’ identities, languages, abilities, and talents are recognised and affirmed and that their learning needs are addressed. 

• Learning to learn principle

  

  Encourage all students to reflect on their own learning processes and to learn how to learn. 

• Community engagement principle

  

  Design a curriculum that has meaning for your students, connects with their wider lives, and engages the support of their families, whānau, and communities.

• Coherence principle

  

  Offer your students a broad education that makes links within and across learning areas, provides for coherent transitions, and opens up pathways to further learning.

• Future focus principle

  

  Encourage your students to look to the future by exploring such significant future-focused issues as sustainability, citizenship, enterprise, and globalisation. 

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