Technology Education in New Zealand Schools
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From the abstract:
This paper provides an overview of the development of technology education in New Zealand from the early 1980s, when a few teachers, particularly those with strong science interests, were experimenting with including technology in the curriculum, up until late 2008 before the change of government. From the outset technology was seen as something distinct from technical education, eg. workshop craft and home economics. Now technology is established as a learning area in The New Zealand Curriculum which sets the direction for learning for all students from years 1 -13 and is compulsory up to year 10.
The paper begins by identifying the range of technology education projects from the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the development of technology education discussion papers and the policy papers that led the then Minister of Education, Dr Lockwood Smith, to decide to include technology as a compulsory learning area in the curriculum.
A draft technology curriculum was developed in 1993, founded on research undertaken at the Centre for Science and Mathematics Education Research (CSMER) at the University of Waikato. Based on further research and feedback, the 1995 Technology Curriculum Statement was developed. The three strands were: Technological Knowledge and Understanding; Technological Capability; and Technology and Society. The curriculum was not implemented until 1999, allowing time for teacher professional development and the development of a range of supporting resources, which included the Know How video series (also shown on national television).
The paper then outlines the various technology education research and development projects in the period 1999-2003 leading up to the curriculum stocktake in 2001-2003. Following the stocktake, the New Zealand Curriculum Marautanga Project (NZCMP) was established to revise the New Zealand curriculum. As part of the NZCMP writing groups were established for each of the curriculum learning areas. A technology writing group worked to develop a revised framework for the technology curriculum based on information from the stocktake and from various technology education research projects. They made the decision to retain the aim of developing technological literacy but to restructure technology around three new strands: Technological Practice, the nature of technology; and technological knowledge.
The New Zealand Curriculum Draft was distributed to schools in 2006, and based on feedback The New Zealand Curriculum was developed and issued to schools late in 2007. It is scheduled for full implementation from February 2010.
The involvement of interested groups such as the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ) and Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) is discussed and the support of related technology teacher associations (TENZ, NZGTTA and HETTANZ)1 is commented on.
The second to last section of the paper outlines the current vision for technology education and suggests possible future developments if this vision is to be realised. The most important of these is further extensive teacher professional development.
The final section of the paper discusses a range of issues, both historical and current, that have arisen over the 20 years of the development. They include principals' and senior managers' understandings of technology and support, the accommodating of technology into the school curriculum, retraining of manual and technical teachers, school facilities, salary negotiations and the G3+ issue, recruitment of teachers, and the theory versus skills debate.
1: TENZ Technology Education New Zealand, NZGTTA New Zealand Graphics & Technology Teachers Assn, Inc., HETTANZ Home Economics and Technology Teachers' Association.
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