Content structure
The national curriculum now makes clear the expectation that our histories are part of the local curriculum | marau ā-kura in every school and kura.
The Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories content uses the Understand, Know, Do elements and the progressions model.
This structure shows what changes to The New Zealand Curriculum might look like. Find out more about the wider refresh of The New Zealand Curriculum.
The new Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories (ANZH) content is integrated into the refreshed te ao tangata | social sciences learning area in Te Mātaiaho | the refreshed New Zealand curriculum.
The diagrams at the end of this page show how Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories fits within social sciences.
Understand, Know, Do
There are three elements to the Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum content: Understand, Know, and Do. These elements are not separate, and they are not in sequence.
Teachers design learning experiences that weave these elements together so that student learning is deep and meaningful.
The video begins with various exterior shots of Sylvia Park school, basketball courts, kids playing outside, murals, art projects and community gardens. Upbeat music plays.
Sylvia Park is located in Mount Wellington in Auckland. We've got about 540 kids at the moment, it's big but it's not that big that you don't get to know every single family and every learner in the school.
A title screen appears reading: The New Zealand Curriculum, Understand, Know, Do framing and progressions model
Barbara Ala‘alatoa, Principal of Sylvia Park school sits in a classroom and speaks to camera
‘Understand, Know and Do’ is really the framing for the curriculum refresh.
An infographic appears of the Understand, Know, Do model. Three separate strands, Understand the big ideas, Know rich contexts for exploring the big ideas and Do practices that bring rigour to learning, all plait together with the title ‘the learning that matters’
It's quite different from the previous curriculum that we've had. I think one of the things though that it lacked was some structure around the things that are most important and
‘Understand, Know and Do’ provide that structure.
An infographic appears with three boxes, the first reads ‘Understand, the big ideas’
‘Understand’ is about the big, enduring ideas that connect students to their learning, it’s these big ideas, these concepts that help ensure that learning is not just important but relevant and necessary for our learners, and not just for them but for their whānau, their friends, their community and beyond.
On the same infographic, the second box reads ‘Know, Rich contexts for exploring the big ideas’
Knowledge is really important, no enquiry would be valid without our students acquiring knowledge. In a social science context this knowledge might be related to events, stories, people in the local rohe, hapu, iwi, there’ll be local and regional, national stories that are important to learn about and so that learners have an understanding of the things that have shaped the world in which they live.
On the same infographic the final box reads ‘Do, Practices that bring rigour to learning
I’m really excited to see the ‘Do’ part. These are processes by which we ensure that students develop multiple perspectives on a controversial perspective, that they’ve sourced valid and reliable information from a whole range of sources. That they’ve sorted and synthesised ideas, actions or events, that they’ve had to compare and contrast knowledge and ideas, and that they’ve taken action as a result of this rigorous learning that they’ve undertaken.
Much like the first infographic, the three boxes then form three separate strands that plait together under the title ‘the learning that matters
‘Understand, Know and Do’, they really weave together, they’re all equally important and it’s when we get that balance right, we know our students have the best chance of being engaged and being engaged in the things that really matter and that are relevant for them, but also at the same time are developing a sense of themselves, the communities they live in and what has been important and what has shaped those places and spaces.
A title screen appears reading: Progressions model, redefining the current curriculum levels
One of the really exciting things about the curriculum refresh is that we have looked at progression in a much more child-centred way.
A new infographic appears with the title: Progressions model, redefining the current curriculum levels. Under this are different age brackets reading years 1-3, 4-6, 7-10, 11-13
So rather than a kind of year-on-year look at progress throughout a curriculum, it's chunked up now so we look at progression in terms of years one to three, four to six, seven-eight, nine-ten and eleven to thirteen. So we’re matching what we do, that matches their development rather than a kind of year-on-year thing. I think what’s really good about the progressions too is that it will provide for teachers, for people who are in the planning and design part of the curriculum, some clarity about what that will look like, we can’t second guess this stuff anymore. We really need to understand what that looks like at those ages and stages and we need to get expert at doing it so that our children in turn are becoming very expert in it. I think the transparency is hugely important and I think the transparency will be fantastic for not just teachers, for planning and design and implementation around the curriculum. But for whānau, I think you know, our whānau need to be able to walk into a school and say “what does the learning journey look like for my children when they come here?”, if you were coming to this school you’re going to spend eight years here. By the time that they leave in year eight we expect to be able to show you a very sophisticated toolkit that these children have developed as a result of being on a journey about an increasingly sophisticated way of learning.
A title screen appears reading: Understand, Know, Do framing in practice, examples from Sylvia Park School
Something that we did when we looked at ‘Understand, Know and Do’ as a staff was to look at what we currently did and we made links between what we currently did and what ‘Understand, Know and Do’ and what was really surprising and really helpful for everybody was to say, ‘oh, we're actually doing quite a bit of it already’. So I think it's really important to start with doing, you know, it's kind of a stock take and a review of what you do and then thinking about what is this truly asking us to do and finding those links and then seeing, so what are the opportunities and the bits that may not be quite there. We did an enquiry that was about, we knew that the centenary of World War I was coming up, so we knew it was going to be a big deal in the communities, we knew there was going to be celebrations everywhere and we also knew that if we said to our kids “we’re going to do World War I centenary, it was a hundred years ago” that most of them would go, “that’s got nothing to do with me”. So the big idea was how would we make that relevant to our children knowing that was going to be relevant in our community, relevant to quite a few people in our community actually. So what we did is we came up with a question, so an enquiring question that children could investigate. So it was ‘keep calm and carry on, how do we deal with conflict?’ And then if you think about the ‘do’ part of it, one of the things that we did because it was a social science enquiry was designing how do you get children to engage in and develop their learning in the context of an enquiry around conflict. So, the idea of coming up with things like a human timeline helps them to develop a set of skills to be able to tell the story but also, it brings them into it and they get to dress up and they get to stand in the shoes of those people and tell the story. But it doesn’t begin and end there, it also goes on, it provides them the platform to talk about, so what do I learn from what I’ve learnt about my own response to conflict, about what happened in World War I? What can I do now in terms of the way in which I act differently because of what I’ve learnt. They use the platform to be able to say how I will be, somebody who mitigates or supports people through conflict and so they end up taking action as a result of their learning because they’ve engaged in it, and they’ve been down in the trenches.
Visuals of Sylvia Park School’s values are shown, each value is written on a mural with photos of the students. The values include Ignite, Explore, Sort/Synthesis, Create and Celebrate
That ‘Understand, Know, Do’, when you put it all together when you make it as big and as exciting as it can possibly be, it will shape your existence, it will create the culture of your school and it will create a culture that is about children, about a community and about what they can do and will do in the future. If we get the ‘Understand, Know and Do’ part right I really think that our kids will be able to, not just survive in the world but to be able to thrive because they're wise, because they're knowledgeable, because they know how to act on the things that are important to them.
The video ends with a title screen reading: Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga, Ministry of Education
The video begins with various exterior shots of Sylvia Park school, basketball courts, kids playing outside, murals, art projects and community gardens. Upbeat music plays.
Sylvia Park is located in Mount Wellington in Auckland. We've got about 540 kids at the moment, it's big but it's not that big that you don't get to know every single family and every learner in the school.
A title screen appears reading: The New Zealand Curriculum, Understand, Know, Do framing and progressions model
Barbara Ala‘alatoa, Principal of Sylvia Park school sits in a classroom and speaks to camera
‘Understand, Know and Do’ is really the framing for the curriculum refresh.
An infographic appears of the Understand, Know, Do model. Three separate strands, Understand the big ideas, Know rich contexts for exploring the big ideas and Do practices that bring rigour to learning, all plait together with the title ‘the learning that matters’
It's quite different from the previous curriculum that we've had. I think one of the things though that it lacked was some structure around the things that are most important and
‘Understand, Know and Do’ provide that structure.
An infographic appears with three boxes, the first reads ‘Understand, the big ideas’
‘Understand’ is about the big, enduring ideas that connect students to their learning, it’s these big ideas, these concepts that help ensure that learning is not just important but relevant and necessary for our learners, and not just for them but for their whānau, their friends, their community and beyond.
On the same infographic, the second box reads ‘Know, Rich contexts for exploring the big ideas’
Knowledge is really important, no enquiry would be valid without our students acquiring knowledge. In a social science context this knowledge might be related to events, stories, people in the local rohe, hapu, iwi, there’ll be local and regional, national stories that are important to learn about and so that learners have an understanding of the things that have shaped the world in which they live.
On the same infographic the final box reads ‘Do, Practices that bring rigour to learning
I’m really excited to see the ‘Do’ part. These are processes by which we ensure that students develop multiple perspectives on a controversial perspective, that they’ve sourced valid and reliable information from a whole range of sources. That they’ve sorted and synthesised ideas, actions or events, that they’ve had to compare and contrast knowledge and ideas, and that they’ve taken action as a result of this rigorous learning that they’ve undertaken.
Much like the first infographic, the three boxes then form three separate strands that plait together under the title ‘the learning that matters
‘Understand, Know and Do’, they really weave together, they’re all equally important and it’s when we get that balance right, we know our students have the best chance of being engaged and being engaged in the things that really matter and that are relevant for them, but also at the same time are developing a sense of themselves, the communities they live in and what has been important and what has shaped those places and spaces.
A title screen appears reading: Progressions model, redefining the current curriculum levels
One of the really exciting things about the curriculum refresh is that we have looked at progression in a much more child-centred way.
A new infographic appears with the title: Progressions model, redefining the current curriculum levels. Under this are different age brackets reading years 1-3, 4-6, 7-10, 11-13
So rather than a kind of year-on-year look at progress throughout a curriculum, it's chunked up now so we look at progression in terms of years one to three, four to six, seven-eight, nine-ten and eleven to thirteen. So we’re matching what we do, that matches their development rather than a kind of year-on-year thing. I think what’s really good about the progressions too is that it will provide for teachers, for people who are in the planning and design part of the curriculum, some clarity about what that will look like, we can’t second guess this stuff anymore. We really need to understand what that looks like at those ages and stages and we need to get expert at doing it so that our children in turn are becoming very expert in it. I think the transparency is hugely important and I think the transparency will be fantastic for not just teachers, for planning and design and implementation around the curriculum. But for whānau, I think you know, our whānau need to be able to walk into a school and say “what does the learning journey look like for my children when they come here?”, if you were coming to this school you’re going to spend eight years here. By the time that they leave in year eight we expect to be able to show you a very sophisticated toolkit that these children have developed as a result of being on a journey about an increasingly sophisticated way of learning.
A title screen appears reading: Understand, Know, Do framing in practice, examples from Sylvia Park School
Something that we did when we looked at ‘Understand, Know and Do’ as a staff was to look at what we currently did and we made links between what we currently did and what ‘Understand, Know and Do’ and what was really surprising and really helpful for everybody was to say, ‘oh, we're actually doing quite a bit of it already’. So I think it's really important to start with doing, you know, it's kind of a stock take and a review of what you do and then thinking about what is this truly asking us to do and finding those links and then seeing, so what are the opportunities and the bits that may not be quite there. We did an enquiry that was about, we knew that the centenary of World War I was coming up, so we knew it was going to be a big deal in the communities, we knew there was going to be celebrations everywhere and we also knew that if we said to our kids “we’re going to do World War I centenary, it was a hundred years ago” that most of them would go, “that’s got nothing to do with me”. So the big idea was how would we make that relevant to our children knowing that was going to be relevant in our community, relevant to quite a few people in our community actually. So what we did is we came up with a question, so an enquiring question that children could investigate. So it was ‘keep calm and carry on, how do we deal with conflict?’ And then if you think about the ‘do’ part of it, one of the things that we did because it was a social science enquiry was designing how do you get children to engage in and develop their learning in the context of an enquiry around conflict. So, the idea of coming up with things like a human timeline helps them to develop a set of skills to be able to tell the story but also, it brings them into it and they get to dress up and they get to stand in the shoes of those people and tell the story. But it doesn’t begin and end there, it also goes on, it provides them the platform to talk about, so what do I learn from what I’ve learnt about my own response to conflict, about what happened in World War I? What can I do now in terms of the way in which I act differently because of what I’ve learnt. They use the platform to be able to say how I will be, somebody who mitigates or supports people through conflict and so they end up taking action as a result of their learning because they’ve engaged in it, and they’ve been down in the trenches.
Visuals of Sylvia Park School’s values are shown, each value is written on a mural with photos of the students. The values include Ignite, Explore, Sort/Synthesis, Create and Celebrate
That ‘Understand, Know, Do’, when you put it all together when you make it as big and as exciting as it can possibly be, it will shape your existence, it will create the culture of your school and it will create a culture that is about children, about a community and about what they can do and will do in the future. If we get the ‘Understand, Know and Do’ part right I really think that our kids will be able to, not just survive in the world but to be able to thrive because they're wise, because they're knowledgeable, because they know how to act on the things that are important to them.
The video ends with a title screen reading: Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga, Ministry of Education
Progressions model
We have redefined the current curriculum levels as phases of learning in a progressions model, and progress outcomes have replaced Achievement Objectives in the Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories content.
This progressions model gives clarity about the direction of learning and the key outcomes that matter across the phases, enabling teachers and kaiako, ākonga, and whānau to know what is important and how learning develops. It ‘chunks’ the learning so that the progress described in The New Zealand Curriculum is easily seen.
The model covers five phases of learning throughout schooling: years 1–3, years 4–6, years 7–8, years 9–10, and years 11–13. The content for Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories covers the first four phases of learning – until year 10.
The Understand, Know, and Do elements come together as progress outcomes for each phase of learning. The progress outcomes describe the depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding required for ākonga, and the sophistication of their use of practices.
There are resources available to support each phase of learning in the teaching resources section.
Social sciences and Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories
Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories is integrated into the refreshed te ao tangata | social sciences learning area.
There is a requirement for schools and kura to implement the ANZH content at the beginning of 2023. However, the requirement for implementation of the rest of the refreshed curriculum is the beginning of 2027. This means the social sciences content is available for you to explore in the meantime.
Together, Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories within the refreshed social sciences learning area encourage ākonga to be critical citizens – learning about the past to understand the present and prepare for the future.
Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories and social sciences 2007
The diagram below helps you understand, embed, and sustain Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories, alongside the existing social sciences national curriculum statement.
