From Technology National Curriculum statement through to sustaining classroom practice and enhancing student learning: the New Zealand experience

This paper will introduce four key aspects of the implementation of a national technology curriculum. Firstly, we will discuss how the structure of the New Zealand Technology Curriculum (Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum, Ministry of Education, 1995) attempted to reflect the nature of technology and technological practice. The structure of the curriculum in terms of the broad outcomes and technological areas will be highlighted. The curriculum statement provides a framework within which students can develop an understanding of past technologies as well as those being currently developed in their local community, nationally or internationally. Secondly, a discussion of the need for research of appropriate models of teacher development is presented. Thirdly, an example of a classroom resource that fosters school-enterprise links is discussed. Finally, this paper will examine how developing teachers’ formative assessment practices in technology can both sustain classroom practice in technology as well as enhance student learning. Highlighted is the development of both the teachers and students conceptual and procedural technological knowledge base, both, so that classroom practice in technology was more effective and sustainable. The role of research and development in implementation and the way this has informed classroom practice in the New Zealand context, will be highlighted throughout the paper.