95bFM Government’s expanded curriculum for disabled students ‘has not been written with every child in mind’
25 November, 2025
Interview by Alex Fox, adapted by Gabriel Timpson-Neill
The University of Auckland’s Dr Jude MacArthur says the new curriculum could do more harm than good for disabled students, and encourages the government to focus on creating more inclusive environments for learners.
The government plans to roll out a new curriculum next year, aiming to assist educators in teaching students with disabilities. The government says that under the current curriculum, these students are often left out.
Education Minister Erica Stanford says the curriculum will cover 12,000 students with “high and complex needs” across the country, with the range of students being restricted to those enrolled in schools for disabled students.
However, there are concerns that this new curriculum will essentially segregate disabled students from the general student body.
Dr Jude MacArthur, a Senior Lecturer in Critical Studies in Education at the University of Auckland, told 95bFM’s The Wire that the new curriculum is a step backwards from the 2007 school curriculum, “which was written for everybody”.
“The expanded curriculum, for me, suggests this is confirmation that the ‘refreshed’ New Zealand curriculum has not been written with every child in mind.”
MacArthur says that while the new curriculum mentions inclusion in a few places, it prioritises a “knowledge-rich curriculum and the science of learning”. She argues this could be detrimental to the education of disabled students.
“How will disabled children’s learning be recognised when the focus is on a narrow form of knowledge [and] a narrow form of teaching, where teachers have been told ‘you will teach this form of knowledge, and you will do it in this particular way?’”
Alternative curricula for disabled students have been proposed several times since the implementation of the 2007 school system, but these proposals are mostly focused on learning below Level 1.
MacArthur says such a “deficit-oriented” view of disabled children’s learning is immediately harmful to their education, as it shows a low expectation of their abilities and will ultimately give fewer opportunities for children to build their strengths and interests.
“We know that the best place for a teacher to start is to assume that child is capable, to learn about that child, to know that child well, to know their whānau, to gather information about that child’s strengths and their interests, and that becomes the starting point for teaching and learning.”
She adds that research has consistently shown children with complex needs who are educated in their local communities, in well-funded schools with a focus on inclusion into the general student body, will have better outcomes than segregated students.
“Obviously, children will learn best when they’re in a place where they are seen as capable learners, as having strengths and interests, where they’re alongside their peers [and] their brothers and sisters… that will serve them well now, and in the future.”
MacArthur argues that concepts like the “science of learning” encourage a linear view of education, where teachers must teach in one way, and students only learn in a set way, which counters the complex task of educating disabled students.
“Teachers need to understand the individual disabilities of the children, what barriers the disabilities will create, how to create a better classroom environment, how to use support for disabled students, and to work with experts.”
Ultimately, she sees the expanded curriculum as falling short of actually helping disabled students and creating inclusive learning environments.
“My suggestion is that we go back to [Te Mātaiaho], and that we recognise that the document that replaced it is inadequate, it’s full of oxymorons [and] ideas that don’t work together.
“You can’t say, on one hand, that all students learn one way, and that all teachers must teach this way, and also that the curriculum is inclusive.”
