The draft of the year 7-13 The curriculum in English proposes mandatory Shakespeare for high school students.
Photo: RNZ
The draft of the year 7-13 The curriculum in English proposes shakespeare mandatory for high school students and spelling and keyboard lessons for children in intermediate schools.
Published this week, the draft came with a list of “suggested” texts, including the speeches of Winston Churchill World War II and Percy Shelley’s poem Ozymandias.
The document was missing any reference to Te Mātaiahoho, the structure that supported other recently rehabilitated curricula.
The development of the draft was controversial due to the composition of the writing group and early suggestions that the curriculum would be strongly thoughtful in relation to the European male authors.
The association of English teachers last year moved away from the process.
The information published with this week’s draft said that it was structured for Y7-8 students to “establish fundamental skills in reading, writing and oral language, transiting text studies and language studies of the 9-13.”
The draft said that students on Y7-8 should learn to “resist and fluently manuscript, maintaining readability, size, spacing and slope” and typing efficiently and accurately.
They would also learn to spell words, write complex phrases, and use points and semicolons.
By Y9-10, students would know they needed to use grammar and precise score.
The draft said that throughout the year “students should experience historical and contemporary texts that are widely considered as high quality”.
These texts “should include: seminal texts, which are important writings, such as books, stories or poems, which played a significant role in helping people appreciate and understand texts; these texts are valued because they introduce -chave ideas and ways of thinking; young text texts.
In Y12 and Y13, texts must include Shakespeare’s work and a nineteenth -century text.
The suggested text list included the poetry of World War I Poets and Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech to Y9-10 and in Y12 “1984” from George Orwell and the speeches of Winston Churchill’s World War II.
The list of suggested texts also included works from New Zealand.
For Y7-10, they included “Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature of the Sea” by Tania Roxborgh “, annual” by Kate de Goldi and Susan Paris, and selected poems by Hone Tuwahare.
On Y13, they included “Auē” by Becky Manawatu and “Shuriken” by Vincent O’Sullivan.
Becky Manawatu’s “Auē” is one of the suggested texts for the year 13.
Photo: Provided
Association for the teaching of English President Pip Tinning said teachers would like to know why the authors of Shakespeare and the 19th century should be mandatory for senior students.
She said it was likely that there were a number of visualizations about the draft.
“I know there will be teachers who are looking at it and feeling very happy, but I know there will be many teachers who will look at it and question some of the choices,” said Tinning.
She said the draft removed references prior to New Zealand’s literature as a tāonga for young people.
“We need to be very clear that our young people deserve to have a very good understanding of what is so valuable and important in New Zealand’s literature and the writers and thinkers of Aotearoa New Zealand,” she said.
Tinning said other recently reestrated resumes were structured around the idea that students should understand, they know, but the English Y7-13 drafts inclined only to know and do.
The draft was also not referenced to Te mātaiahoho, the structure underlying the entire update of the curriculum and mentioned in other recently written curricula, such as Mathematics Y7-13.
“It seems strange that mathematics has temped still clearly sitting on her in terms of this structure, but this is over from English. It seems really bizarre that understanding, know, the structure that is in mathematics, disappeared or changed dramatically to English. I would love to hear what this philosophy is,” said Tinning.
“All of our curriculum areas, when we look at all the different subjects, still need to be some alignment. You need to have some clarity around which structures we all use and teach and remember … So when one is quite different from another, you have a misalignment on how we teach.”
Some ‘bizarre’ choices – New Zealand Association of English Teachers
Speaking to the point of verification, Tinning said some of the selections for suggested texts were “bizarre.”
“This was an area of discord for us from the beginning.
“One of the great bizarre was Planet EarthThe BBC and David Attenborough series, which is in the 13th, this is a left field.
“Dublinginers “Anything about James Joyce, in terms of students trying to access this, I would say it’s a great connection.”
She said to the point of verification that Shakespeare exposure was “always important,” but being mandatory was a bit “random.”
Tinning said there were not enough writers from New Zealand on the list.
“Absolutely no. We have some amazing writers and some amazing works that come out of Aotearoa New Zealand and have works that reflect the lives of our students, but also open their eyes to other worlds around them and I think this is really important.
“I would hate any final list that would not pay tribute to the legacy of what we can do in this country. We pierced over our weight in our literature, our writers are amazing and, unfortunately, undervalued, so I would really like to see it well and truly centered here, as well as texts that show perspectives from around the world.”
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