Earth & Space Science Educators of New Zealand (ESSENZ) Respond to the Draft Science Curriculum

An Open Letter From Earth and Space Science Educators of New Zealand (ESSENZ) Regarding the Draft Science Curriculum

On behalf of Earth and Space Science Educators New Zealand (ESSENZ), we want to thank the Ministry of Education for the substantial work underway to review and renew the national science curriculum, and our inclusion in this process. This review presents a vital chance to shape science education for future generations in Aotearoa. We are grateful for the opportunity to support the Ministry of Education’s curriculum writers by representing and drawing upon our members’ deep educational expertise and classroom-proven experience. 

This letter summarises the significant and shared concerns raised by the Earth and Space Science executive committee in liaison with our wider subject association. While we acknowledge some positive aspects of the knowledge-rich draft science curriculum, our discussion highlights fundamental issues that, if unaddressed, threaten the quality and teachability of science education in New Zealand.

We urge the Ministry of Education to engage in a more open, transparent and collaborative approach. Currently, our students and educators are suffering as the NZ curriculum and qualification systems are treated as a political football. Changing governments swing us wildly from social constructivism to knowledge-rich curriculum ideology. While both ideologies may have compelling arguments for and against them, hailing either as a panacea for solving New Zealand’s perceived educational “crisis” is overly simplistic. 

We believe effective leadership involves engaging with key stakeholders, especially the people whose job it is to implement the best education for our young people, rather than alienating and antagonising through arbitrary exclusion of individuals and our nominated representatives. Insisting on NDAs and not holding to stated commitments serves to reduce trust in the process and creates frustration and apathy. We all work in this space because we want the best for our young people, who are the future of New Zealand. Working together has a much greater chance of producing the best possible outcome.

Specifically, our concerns with the draft curriculum are outlined below:

• Curriculum Overload and Resourcing:

  The large volume of content is overwhelming and may be considered unteachable for Years 0–8 due to a critical lack of dedicated funding for specialist science teachers at primary level and dedicated classroom time. We are concerned that this may lead to embedding misconceptions about science that will be more difficult to unpick before further progress can be made. The risk of rote learning facts from the dry knowledge presented may diminish students' appreciation for science, causing them to overlook the subject discipline's inherent richness and importance. This approach risks alienating more students from science.

  
  

• Misplacement of Earth and Space Science (ESS):

  Essential ESS content (such as geology, plate tectonics processes, climate, weather variations, and the water cycle) have been inappropriately placed in the Geography curriculum (being the study of how humans interact with their environment) demonstrating a misunderstanding of the nature of the two complementary disciplines. Geography focuses on the processes influencing natural and cultural environments, emphasising variations in scale and time, and human interactions. Earth & Space Science is concerned with the fundamental science concepts and underlying natural laws that govern these processes, demonstrating the principles that serve as the drivers of natural phenomena. ESS focuses on why these phenomena occur.

  
  

• Poor Pedagogical Progression:

  While an ambitious curriculum that challenges students is welcome, we believe that ESS concepts, especially those abstract in nature, are introduced prematurely and are not aligned to cognitive development stages, and critical concepts are not revisited to deepen knowledge.

  
  

  For example: 

  • Big Bang Theory (which involves EM spectrum and red shift, beyond the Yr10 physics requirements)

    • Sun & Earth Moon motion, including Kepler’s Laws

    • convection

    • frontal and relief rainfall

    • matter cycles, especially the rock cycle

      
      

  • Key, engaging and appropriate topics are missing e.g.

• constellations 

• space exploration (solar system probes, SETI and exoplanet discovery)

• planetary science (structure of the solar system and conditions on other Solar System Bodies)

• Nature of Science Progression missing: We are adamant that NOS is key science knowledge that must be understood for a well-rounded science education. While the Learning Narrative outlines general NOS progression, we believe this should also be broken down into a logical progression through the “science practices” of “how science works”. This involves incorporating fundamentals such as observation and inference, modelling, identifying and classifying, accurate measurement and SI units, pattern seeking, managing variables, critically reviewing claims, and the tentative yet robust nature of science. Investigations should go beyond the “fair test” which is only one scientific method of many.

  
  

• Significant basic errors in science knowledge throughout the document: The exclusion of subject expert groups from the drafting process has led to many significant errors that, ironically, a high school student is able to identify, such as confusing units and variables. Releasing a national document, even in draft form with such errors lends nothing to the credibility of the organisation releasing the document. This raises significant questions about who is writing the document, and what quality assurance processes are being implemented

  
  

• Lack of Scientific Context in Cultural Integration: Cultural elements, such as Matariki, are randomly included without being linked to the scientific context or used to demonstrate implicit scientific understanding, like that shown by, for example, Polynesian navigation.

Executive Committee of Earth and Space Science Educators of New Zealand.

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Pōhitokā | Disclaimer

This pānui "Open Letter From Earth and Space Science Educators of New Zealand (ESSENZ) Regarding the Draft Science Curriculum" is a reposting of the original version which is available on the Earth and Space Science Educators of New Zealand (ESSENZ) website. ESSENZ is also gathering the voices of their community through a short survey.