Primary Problems and the New Zealand Curriculum

Abstract

Selected features of the New Zealand curriculum framework are examined and their relevance to, and potential impact upon, primary schools considered. Because every school is a medium through which the implementation of curriculum policy must pass, these features are examined within the context of primary school culture. The argument is made that despite attempts to make the framework appropriate to primary school teaching methods and values, there are contradictions in the framework that inevitably favour secondary schooling and, by extension, the labour market. As a result, the framework has the potential to jeopardise many valuable aspects of primary school.