Expanded Curriculum for Disabled and Neurodivergent Students w/ The University of Auckland's Dr Jude MacArthur: 14 November, 2025

Recently, a lot of conversation has been had about the curriculum, with the government planning to roll out yet another new and expanded curriculum. This expanded curriculum, beginning in term one of next year, will seek to provide the tools for teachers to educate and assist students with ‘high and complex needs,’ who were otherwise ignored in the existing curriculum, or so the government claims. This comes against the background of this government’s push for effective teaching and learning, based in ‘science’.

However, concerns remain about this curriculum. For starters, this curriculum exists separately from the rest of Aotearoa’s student body; we seem to be getting one curriculum for those with complex needs, and one for those without, dividing our youth. This has led to questions about the role of inclusion in our education, and what it means that the government has not attempted to create one curriculum that can work for all students.

Monday Wire Producer Alex spoke to Senior Lecturer in Critical Studies in Education at the University of Auckland, Dr Jude MacArthur, about this separate curriculum, what it means for these students, and how it might affect their learning and inclusion.