Revise Essential Skills and Attitudes and Values

Recommendation (4): revision of the essential skills/Ngä Tino Pükenga and attitudes and values/Ngä Waiaro Me Ngä Uara in the New Zealand Curriculum Framework and Te Anga Marautanga O Aotearoa

The essential skills/ngä tino pükenga should be modified from the current organisation of fifty-seven essential skills/ngä tino pükenga in eight groupings to five groups of essential skills and attitudes to be consistent with Te Whäriki.

Incorporation of values should be more explicit in the frameworks and support materials, but values should not be presented as an exclusive list.

It should be obligatory that the essential skills, attitudes and values of The New Zealand Curriculum Framework and Te Anga Marautanga o Aotearoa are reflected in programmes of learning in all New Zealand schools.

Teams of cross-disciplinary specialists and different members of the community should determine the nature of the values in the revised frameworks. The revised values should link to the purposes, essential skills and attitudes and higher order thinking in the essential learning areas of the New Zealand curriculum and ngä Marautanga o Aotearoa.

There needs to be further consultation within the Ministry on the titles of five groupings of skills, but:

• the essential skills/ngä tino pükenga need to include attitudes;
• there should be three dimensions of these skills and attitudes - the capability to use skills, discernment in use, and willingness to use skills; and
• the groups should relate to creative and innovative thinking, participation and contribution in communities, relating to others, reflecting on learning, and developing self-knowledge, and making meaning from information.

Rationale

Reducing of the number of essential skills/ngä tino pükenga ako may give a clearer sense of priorities.

The skills stated as needed for participation in a knowledge society, life long learning and by employers fall into the following categories: critical thinking[1] and creative thinking skills[2];

local and global citizenship skills; interpersonal skills and intrapersonal skills; and

literacy.

A common argument in current literature is that skills should be embedded in domain specific knowledge and not taught in isolation.

Literature also suggests that skills require: students to use a skill; be discerning about how and when to use a skill; and willing to use the skill and apply a skill in a variety of contexts.

Many of the existing essential skills/ngä tino pükenga ako could be incorporated within these groupings. While other skills can be incorporated into school curricula, these skills and attitudes could be the priorities for all New Zealand students.

There are similarities between these skills and the strands of Te Whäriki -mana atua/wellbeing, mana whenua/belonging, mana tangata/contribution, mana reo/communication and mana aotüroa/exploration.

Attitudes and values/ngä waiaro me ngä uara have the potential to aid the effectiveness of the curriculum by strengthening social cohesion, developing a stronger sense of civics, citizenship and more enterprising attitudes, and fostering a culture of innovation, respect for others and critical thinking.

Sector feedback has criticised the curriculum statements (except for Health and Physical Education) for giving insufficient attention to values and not providing clear expectations of what schools should do to promote and support community values.

PISA (2000) data indicates that changes to the psychosocial environment of classrooms are likely to affect student achievement in New Zealand.

Literature on the education of gifted and talented students highlights the importance of values and affective components in differentiated curricula for these students.

Current international thinking favours an eclectic approach to values education.

Webster (2001) found differences in the values between different ethnic groups in New Zealand.