Education for Sustainability Removed from Senior Subject List

Republished from the New Zealand Association for Environmental Education Facebook page, with permission. See the original public post here.

Image source: New Zealand Association of Environmental Educators.

We are sorry to share this news after the announcement earlier today by the Minister, confirming the curriculum subjects for Yrs 11 - 13.

Education for Sustainability (EfS) / Environment and Societies will NOT be a standalone subject, with the timeline indicating that the new curriculum at Yr 12 will be implemented in 2029 and Yr 13 in 2030. We have been advised that the “knowledge” from EfS will be integrated into other subjects and that draft senior curriculum documents will be released for feedback in Term One, 2026.

Therefore our timeframe for submitting feedback includes the rest of this year and through to Term One. NZAEE is currently talking with key organisations and educators within our sector to gather feedback and questions and we will engage with you more over the next months to hear your thoughts. Please note that we will also update our NCEA submission (due on Monday 15th) to reflect this new information about our senior subject. We will share our final submission on our website (with the link shared here) by the end of Friday 12th 2025.

Secondary Educators: We’re here to support you and value your expertise, dedication and passion for supporting your students with meaningful learning and actions within your schools and communities. You can continue to use the current EfS standards within your courses until 2028, according to the timeline provided, but we understand this announcement will have a big impact on your planning.

If you have any questions, concerns and feedback then please get in touch with Becky:

becky@nzaee.org.nz