Ngā aheitanga
Capabilities resource kete
Ngā hua o te mahi tahi | Collective impact 
We invite manutaki, tumuaki, and kaiako to use these resource kete as a place to begin your own journey of inquiry and research. Please contact PLANZ to add resources that you know are relevant and useful for this conversation.
Local curriculum
Local curriculum design tool | Rapua Te Ara Tika
An online toolkit intended to help kāhui ako, schools, and kura design quality local curricula that support ākonga to find and follow coherent educational pathways in their rohe. The tools have four sections: coherent pathways, relationships for learning, rich opportunities for learning, and collaborative inquiry. Many schools, kura, and kāhui ako are using the Māori- and English-medium versions.
- What is a local curriculum?
- How does it relate to national curricula?
- Why is it important?
- How can you use this tool to involve whānau, hapū, iwi and communities in discussions about what is important for ākonga to know and experience?
Strengthening local curriculum
Leading Local Curriculum Guide series, available on New Zealand Curriculum Online, offers a growing collection of resources to help schools design local curricula that give effect to the national curricula. The Leading Local Curriculum Guide series is central to this. The guides have key questions and links to supporting documents.
- What learning do you believe all young people should experience, no matter what school or kura they go to?
- How do you understand, monitor, and report on the progress and expectations associated with this learning?
- What are the learning priorities of people in your community?
Founding documents – shaping New Zealand curriculum design
National Library: He Tohu – Signatures that Shape New Zealand
He Whakaputanga: The Declaration of Independence, 1835
Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The Treaty of Waitangi
The exhibition He Tohu opened at the National Library in 2017. It celebrates three founding documents: He Whakaputanga, The Declaration of Independence (1835), the Treaty of Waitangi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840), and the Women’s Suffrage Petition (1893). The documents are reproduced in accompanying books that include introductions by leading academics and brief biographies of many signatories. The He Tohu website offers educational resources in English and te reo and for both English and Māori-medium schools.
- What were the aspirations of the people who signed these documents?
- How will you use them as part of your local curriculum design?
- What is your part in realising the commitments that were made?
TKI: Treaty of Waitangi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles
New Zealand Curriculum Update: Treaty of Waitangi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The New Zealand Curriculum Treaty of Waitangi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi principle, New Zealand Curriculum Update 16. Learning Media Wellington.
The New Zealand Curriculum online website offers a collection of resources to help users explore and enact the Treaty of Waitangi principle. The collection includes a curriculum update that explores local curriculum through the triple lens of partnership, protection, and participation.
- What were the aspirations of the people who signed these documents?
- What part do these documents take in local curriculum design across pathways?
- What is your part in realising the commitments that were made?
Māori history in local curriculum
Māori History | Hitori Māori
A collection of teaching resources to help people get started on including Māori history in their local curricula. It includes provocative commentary and stories from Māori education experts, iwi historians, and teachers – stories that address the why, what, and how of curriculum, pedagogy, and design.
Wally Penetito says that “history is what you remember”.
- What stories are your students being taught?
- Whose stories are they learning?
- What will they remember?
- What can you learn from these videos about the process of co-constructing a Māori history programme with your tamariki-mokopuna, their whānau, iwi, and community?
- How will this process return tino rangatiratanga to the people of your rohe?
Pūtātara: A call to action
Pūtātara supports schools and teachers to provide their learners with opportunities, via rich inquiry pathways that reflect local contexts, to explore how Expo 2020 Dubai encourages countries to collaborate in tackling issues such as preserving the planet.
- What “calls to action” do you have in your community?
- How can you use Pūtātara to shape rich learning experiences with your community for your ākonga?
Cultural capability – A call to action from mana whenua
Tō reo ki te raki, tō mana ki te whenua
In her keynote speech at the Aotearoa New Zealand CORE Education uLearn Conference, 2018, Dr Hana O'Regan believes that lack of access to our historical narratives means “our children in the education system are confronted with the effect of our history, but not enlightened as to the cause”. Therefore, we must provide content that specifically addresses the inaccuracies and gaps in our history if we are to realise the expectations of our communities. The whakaaro is a thought provoking introduction for educators that offers key insights into the need for this cultural capability in education and a chance to walk in Hana's shoes as she lives her life.
Hana cites the following whakataukī: Tō reo ki te raki, tō mana ki tewhenua | Let your story be heard in the heavens and your mana be restored to the land.
- What is your response to Hana’s experiences?
- What narratives do you think your learners hear about themselves as Māori?
- What are the narratives that you need to change?
Defining the pedagogies for cultural capability
Using evidence for a step up – Learning from Te Kotahitanga: impact, sustainability and ongoing improvement
This section revisits the evidence so that others can learn from and build on the lessons from Te Kotahitanga about impact, sustainability, and ongoing improvement in education.
Te Kotahitanga eBook Collection
Te Kotahitanga was a definitive step in PLD practices over its 12 years of research and development. This project started with the voices of Māori ākonga and their whānau to define the teaching profile that would make a difference to their experiences in education. Progressive iterations or phases of the project built a substantive body of evidence and practices that have been captured in many papers and video stories.
- What are the key elements of effective kaiako for Māori and all learners?
- What does whanaungatanga look and sound like in the classroom?
Tātaiako – Cultural competencies for teachers of Māori learners
Tātaiako provides a guide for tumuaki, kaiako, and manutaki to think about what it takes to successfully teach Māori learners. It is a starting point for schools and early childhood education services to develop cultural competence. Tātaiako is most effective when whānau, hapū, and iwi work together with schools and services to determine the cultural competencies that are particular to their communities. During their journey towards demonstrating cultural competence, a culturally responsive kaiako will recognise that it is important to see themselves as learners alongside whānau and that all decisions are made in partnership. This framework highlights five competencies that are essential values for Māori learners, and also includes reflections on identity and on how Te Tiriti o Waitangi provides a foundation for reciprocal engagement.
- Refer to the questions and professional learning ideas within the kete of resources from the Teaching Council.
Tapasā – cultural competency framework for teachers of Pacific learners
Tapasā is a tool that can be used to increase the capability of all teachers of Pacific learners. It was developed by the Ministry of Education through consultation with Pacific teachers, academics, experts, families and communities as part of the Pasifika Education Plan's intention to realise the full potential of Pacific learners. The Teaching Council led the implementation of Tapasā and created resources for teachers' professional learning, including webinars and videos.
- Refer to the questions and professional learning ideas within the kete of resources from the Teaching Council.
Revitalisation and normalisation te reo Māori
Te Ahu o te Reo Māori – Fostering education in te Reo Māori
We know that language, culture, and identity are deeply entwined. Te Ahu o te Reo Māori offers a pathway to ensuring te reo Māori is normalised across the education sector.
- What are your personal goals for improvement in te reo Māori?
- How do you currently use te reo in your practice?
- What is likely to look, sound, and feel different to somebody observing you in the future?
Cultural intelligence
Cultural intelligence – the CQ model
This Australian website argues that cultural intelligence is an essential capability for inclusive leaders and building successful relationships. It sets out a model with four dimensions that contribute to our ability to construct cultural intelligence.
- Monique Toohey states “culture eats individuality for breakfast”. Do you agree or disagree, and why?
Aromatawai | Assessment for learning
Clarity about learning
Understanding what kaiako are saying or requesting is often masked by too many instructions, generalised feedback or too many questions. Learners benefit from clear guidance about what is expected and how they might get there. This is fundamental to assessment for learning.
Clarity in the classroom: Using formative assessment – Building learner focused relationships
In this book Michael Absolum outlines six high-impact practices for teachers and students within an “Archway of Capabilities: learning-focused relationships, clarity about what is to be learnt, assessment literacy, effective feedback, reflection on the learning, next learning steps”.
The six high impact practices are evidence-based and familiar to kaiako, but how can you ensure clarity in sites of learning that are linguistically and culturally diverse? Think about:
- student agency
- involvement of whānau
- who is assessing
- relevance and identity
- links to other areas of learning across curriculum.
Leading Local Curriculum Guide series: Assessment for learning
New Zealand Curriculum Online offers a growing collection of resources to help schools design local curricula that give effect to the national curriculum. The Leading Local Curriculum Guide series is central to this.
- Activities and questions to help you unpack this guide.
What are we assessing
Assessing key competencies: Why would we? How could we?
Rose Hipkins poses a number of questions about assessing the key competencies that support the approach that the new PLD priorities have taken – that we limit our understanding of learners if we focus only on curriculum areas. The key competencies in the NZC are preparing ākonga to be connected, lifelong learners with adaptive skill sets, caring and relating to others.
- As you begin to develop your local curriculum, how will you consider the key competencies and their place in assessment?
- Consider who will devise and assess the activities that support knowledge of te ao Māori or Pacific ways of being and doing?
Trends in assessment
Trends in assessment: An overview of themes in the literature
Rose Hipkins and Marie Cameron examined five areas in their 2018 review of assessment practices to support teaching and learning in New Zealand: shifts in the ways educators are using assessment for learning; the system conditions necessary to support effective assessment for learning practices; the extent to which key competencies/skills for global citizenship are being assessed and how they are being assessed; the extent to which digital technologies are being used to personalise learning and give students, teachers, parents and whānau rich information about learning; and the use of effective strategies that engage parents and whānau and the wider community about different approaches to assessing and credentialing achievement.
- How does thinking about equity inform assessment for learning approaches in your school?
Learning from aromatawai
Rukuhia Rarangahia
Aromatawai Ministry of Education Position Paper
Rukuhia Rarangahia explores the essence and elements of aromatawai to help guide our decision making about learning and teaching for ākonga Māori in Māori-medium contexts. It positions aromatawai as an integral part of ako, prioritising learning and taking a broad view of what constitutes valid and appropriate evidence of progress.
- What might people working within English-medium contexts learn from Rukuhia Rarangahia?
- What support would be required for this learning to be culturally appropriate and valid?
Making learning visible
In Conversation: Know Thy Impact; Teaching, Learning and Leading
Teaching, learning and leading
Professor John Hattie has influenced New Zealand’s approach to assessment for learning by defining the impact of the practices we use to teach and assess our curriculum. He also defines the eight mindsets that will ensure that assessment makes a difference for our learners.
John Hattie says that visible learning and teaching occurs when teachers see learning through the eyes of students, and help them to become their own teachers.
- Use each of Hattie’s eight mindsets to review your practices.
- How does equity and cultural capability influence these mindsets?
Assessment for learning in practice
Assessment Online: Assessment for learning in practice
The TKI assessment for learning kete is a one-stop shop for assessment for learning practices. It covers all aspects of designing and using assessments, moderation, and reporting. The video gallery provides useful illustrations of practices.
- Select two or three videos from the gallery with your kaiako and ask them to use te Tiriti, kaupapa Māori, critical consciousness, and inclusion to think about what to unlearn and relearn about assessment.
Digital fluency
Enabling eLearning: Digital fluency
This page from the Enabling eLearning website provides an overview of how digital fluency encompasses capabilities, principles, and literacies. It explores how teachers can develop digital fluency in themselves and their ākonga.
- How have you developed your own digital fluency in the past?
- What are you already doing to support others to develop their digital fluency?
- What aspects could be built on or improved?
Leading local curriculum design
Leading Local Curriculum Guide – Revised technology learning area (PDF, 5mb)
New Zealand Curriculum Online offers a growing collection of resources to help schools design local curricula that give effect to the national curriculum. The Leading Local Curriculum Guide series is central to this.
- What conversations can you have to make the revised technology learning area a meaningful part of your local curriculum?
Technology Online: Digital technologies hangarau matihiko curriculum content
Technology Online: Ruapehu College Tech Hub – Partnering with local iwi and sharing expectations
Technology Online: Strengthening engagement with kura and whānau – a consultative approach
These video stories demonstrate different approaches to developing a digital technologies programme of learning while strengthening engagement between kaiako, ākonga, whānau, and iwi. While set in Māori-medium contexts, they offer messages for everyone.
- What is consistent in the approaches used to engage with the Māori community?
- What is different?
- What could you take away?
Manaiakalani
Manaiakalani is a cluster of schools who share a pedagogy they call “Learn, Create, Share”, and ongoing evaluation (for over a decade) shows sustained improvements in student outcomes, with progress consistently tracking at rates significantly greater than would be expected nationally. Technical provision and digital citizenship are key to their drive to “retool school” but they stress “pedagogical change imperative must drive all the other necessary retooling developments otherwise we will just be introducing toys and tools.”
- How can learning from Manaiakalani be transferred to other schools and kura?
Netsafe Schools
From literacy to fluency to citizenship: Digital citizenship in education
Netsafe Learn Guide Protect Framework
Digital citizenship and cybersafety
Netsafe Schools is a free programme designed to help New Zealand schools and kura establish, develop, and promote online safety, citizenship, and wellbeing in their school community.
- What is your conception of digital fluency?
- Digital agency
- Digital citizenship
- Can you and those you partner with create common definitions?
- Now, what are your joint aspirations, and how will you get there?
CORE digital technology
What is digital fluency?
Recognising authentic context in digital technologies
In “What is digital fluency” – CORE’s Derek Wenmoth considers where digital fluency sits in the set of competences necessary for learning in the 21st century. “Recognising authentic context in digital technologies” prompts kaiako to take advantage of the revised technology learning area to give learners the time and space to find their own authentic contexts for learning.
- What makes digital fluency so important for the "21st century learner"?
- What does it require of the teacher?
Michael Fullan
In these articles, Fullan, Donnelly, & Langworthy explore the promise of digital technology and the reasons that promise has tended not to be realised.
Alive in the Swamp. Assessing Digital Innovations in Education
A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning
Fullan et al. argue for an approach that facilitates deep learning through connecting technological innovation to pedagogy and to system changes that support collaboration and effective interaction. A series of videos from practice help show what this can look like.
- Fullan and his colleagues argue that “deep learning” develops the learning, creating, and "doing" dispositions that youth need to thrive now and in their futures. To what extent is digital fluency required to enable this?
NZ Curriculum Online School Snapshot: St John Bosco School – Learner agency
This snapshot tells the story of the work being done by teachers at St John Bosco School to foster learning agency across the school through setting up systems to “get out of the way” of students using digital technology as the accelerator. A video shows students’ perspectives on the impact this has had.
This spotlight cites Michael Fullan: “Pedagogy is the driver, technology the accelerator, culture is the runway.”
- How is this evidenced in this story?
- What are the takeaways for your learning context?
Towards digital enablement: A literature review
This literature review by Charles Newton for the Ministry of Education looks at digital technology and the role this plays in education. It outlines the impact of using digital technologies and the conditions needed for successful learning.
- How could you gauge the impact of developing digital fluency of ākonga in your community?
