March 2025: Two Senior English Curricula

Just think, English teachers of Aotearoa New Zealand: there was a March 2025 version of the rewritten senior English curriculum that didn’t fully embrace Rata’s determination to “end decolonisation’s success”.

That version instructed you to help students explore Aotearoa New Zealand perspectives, and said you must include Māori and Pacific authors in your teaching programme.

But that version is not the one we saw.

We were asked to consult on a version where the stipulation to include Māori and Pacific authors was erased, as was the word perspectives: instead, students are to understand Aotearoa New Zealand, not Aotearoa New Zealand perspectives.

In their place, you were told you must teach Shakespeare and 19th century texts.

Someone made these changes just before it went out for consultation. Who was it, and how aware was the Minister?

What we do know is Elizabeth Rata was involved in writing the curriculum, and was so pleased with the final document that she wrote to the Minister in April to congratulate her. The senior English curriculum “is the knowledge-rich curriculum you promised … Your leadership in driving this herculean task deserves to be recognised”.