95bFM New curriculum prompts mixed reactions across the education sector
6 November, 2025
Interviews by Joel Armstrong and Sanat Singh, adapted by Sara Mckoy
Amidst criticism and uncertainty, the University of Auckland’s Lisa Darragh, and AUT’s Georgina Tuari Stewart, share their perspectives on the curriculum changes in mathematics and science education.
On Tuesday, the government released the final elements of a new draft curriculum for years 0-10 which covers eight areas of study: English and te reo Māori, mathematics, science, social science, health and physical education, the arts, technology, and learning languages.
Education Minister Erica Stanford says the new curriculum will lift national achievement standards and support New Zealand stepping towards a world-leading education system for students.
However, the announced changes have faced criticism across the education sector, including around the length of time provided for implementation and the sidelining of Indigenous knowledge.
In an open letter from 44 maths educators, the changes were described as appearing “more political than educational”.
Lisa Darragh, a Senior Curriculum and Pedagogy Researcher at the University of Auckland told 95bFM’s The Wire that recent structural changes have been a “huge shock”, following the previous curriculum mandates which took place back in 2007.
“We don't typically have new curriculum regularly.
“It was substantially different from the one that the teachers have been using all year.”
Darragh says that curriculum changes are important to address widening gaps in achievement among students but expresses concern about the expectation that teachers must be prepared to implement the curriculum in Term One 2026.
“What we actually need is the chance to embed the curriculum and the chance for teachers to get used to the new curriculum and develop their programmes around that new curriculum.
“And it does take quite a bit of time before you really see any difference being made. The government claims this new curriculum is only an update…
“[That] is not accurate at all.”
AUT Professor and Science Education Researcher Georgina Stewart told 95bFM’s The Wire that curriculum changes are something of a ‘political hot potato’, despite the importance of developing a thorough curriculum that involves a wide range of stakeholders.
“I believe personally that, in this country, we've made the mistake of expecting the curriculum to try and do too much and solve things like social problems, things like economic inequity, that a curriculum simply can't do.”
Speaking in particular to the science curriculum, Stewart says she is happy with the new structure and content, but recognises that there have been negative reactions, including towards the lack of transparency of the curriculum development.
Darragh believes the changes fail to consider the practical demands placed on educators as they navigate and teach more content with less preparation.
“What I suspect will happen is that, in order for students to be able to memorise all the sort of list of content and procedures that this new curriculum has, it means they'll lose out on other really important aspects that we used to have in our curriculum…
“So our students won't get a rich mathematics learning experience, they'll just have to memorise things.”
Despite the Budget 2025 investment of nearly $100 million into improving maths education for students from years 0 to 8, Darragh says it will be difficult to measure the success of the curriculum without long-term data.
“The first curriculum didn't even get a chance to be taught, and the second curriculum that we're currently having is only nine months old in schooling and there is no evidence that has yet been collected to show whether that has made a difference.
“So we've got to face that challenge again and certainly we will not see improvements immediately.”
Without available data, Stewart is optimistic that improving science education at the earlier levels will have a flow-on effect for future success in STEM qualifications.
“Everyone wants more kids to learn more science; everyone wants New Zealand to grow our own Kiwi scientists…
“But if we're not even teaching science well in primary science classrooms, then we're nowhere.”
