Curricula in Flux: Mitigating the Impact with Education Perfect

EP’s Curriculum Leads share their insights

Overview of curriculum changes in New Zealand and Australia

Since 2019, New Zealand has been overhauling its curriculum across both English-medium and Māori-medium schools. This update, the first since 2007, addresses content balance, teaching methods, and the inclusion of new subjects like Aotearoa Histories and Relationships and Sexuality. The process has recently accelerated significantly with the establishment of a ministerial advisory group aiming for full implementation by 2027. The National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) standards is also in the process of being revised.

The Australian curriculum is reviewed regularly and Version 9.0 was released in 2022. Schools are transitioning to their own or prescribed state timelines. Version 8.4 of the curriculum continues to be available until schools have fully transitioned to the new curriculum. Approaches vary by state with schools in Victoria and New South Wales familiarising themselves with the English and Maths curricula with full implementation required by the start of 2025. At the other end of the spectrum, Queensland state schools are using a staged approach until the end of 2027.

The challenge for schools

EP Curriculum Leads Kelly Hollis (Australia) and Justin Paul (New Zealand) acknowledge that the impact of these changes is profound and raises significant challenges for schools, particularly in the current educational climate.

Kelly reports on what she is hearing across Australia: “School leaders are battling to find the time for teachers to prepare for the new curriculum. Department heads, particularly at senior levels with multiple subjects to refresh, are struggling to revise their scope and sequences, and many teachers simply feel overwhelmed. Educators already have an increased workload due to staff shortages and the day-to-day pressures of teaching in today’s society. The pace of curriculum change is adding to their anxiety.”

Justin reflects that in New Zealand there is a mounting sense of uncertainty due to the constant flux and feelings of concern over the revised speed of implementation. “Teachers are worried about the limited opportunity for input following the most recent overhaul. It is creating a highly charged atmosphere which is exacerbating an already stressful work environment. The challenge for schools is reassuring teachers.”

EP’s role: alleviating concerns around resource integration and assessment

Kelly and Justin both agree that robust support systems are required to ensure teachers can effectively implement the new curricula while maintaining high standards of education. They feel strongly that EP can alleviate concerns around the integration of updated resources into new syllabuses.

Justin explains, “A digital learning platform like EP can play a pivotal role in supporting schools through curriculum changes. I field a lot of calls from concerned schools asking “What are you guys doing, when will you be ready?” As a digital platform, we are extremely agile and can respond to any curriculum changes in a matter of days or weeks.”

Kelly expands on EP’s processes, “We work to bring on board experienced teachers to align existing content to the new syllabus and make recommendations on any resources that need adapting. These teachers also identify gaps in our content coverage where new syllabus points may have been added. Contract teachers are then assigned to create new content or adapt existing content as required, and these go through our quality assurance processes. To give schools an idea of how fast we can respond, we fulfilled all the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 requirements by June 2023. These now sit inside the content library for Version 8.4.”

Justin cites the New Zealand experience, “As a large and trusted digital publisher, we are in direct contact with the Ministry of Education and can move faster than most. When the NCEA Level 1 Standards were released in November 2023, we had 120 curriculum-aligned resources available that same day.”

Kelly also encourages teachers to take advantage of EP’s robust assessment tools, saying, “EP offers more support than most digital platforms. Teachers can track student progress, conduct formative and summative assessments, and generate detailed reports, all aligned to the new document points or standards.”

Leveraging EP to navigate curriculum changes

EP’s role goes far beyond resource integration. Kelly and Justin advise school leaders to fully utilise EP’s capabilities to support teachers and enhance student learning whilst they navigate the curriculum changes. They suggest the following strategies:

Collaborate with other educators: EP facilitates collaboration between teachers, allowing them to share resources, lesson plans, and best practices, across states and countries. This collaborative environment can help teachers support each other through curriculum changes.

Implement more efficient and effective processes: EP’s adaptive learning technology can reduce teacher workload and simultaneously improve student outcomes when every hour of teaching time counts. EP uses AI to personalise the learning experience for each student, identifying their strengths and areas for improvement, and providing targeted activities to address their specific needs, all aligned with the new curriculum.

Navigate curriculum changes: EP offers professional development resources and training for teachers to help them effectively use the platform and integrate new curriculum content into their teaching practices.

Engage parents and the community: EP provides tools and resources to keep parents informed and engaged in their children’s learning, giving them the confidence that even with a new curriculum they are not ‘showing them the wrong way’.

For Kelly and Justin, EP allows school leadership teams to support teachers to focus on what they love most: teaching and inspiring students to reach their full potential, whilst steering their way through curriculum updates.