Draft curriculum for Senior Biology (Years 12 and 13)

Draft Curriculum for Senior Biology (Years 12 and 13)

Kia Ora

The draft curriculum for Senior Biology (Years 12 and 13) should be released  today for sector wide consultation. Feedback will only be open for approximately one month.

BEANZ would like to assure members that the mahi behind this work has not been outsourced to overseas writers or generated by AI. The draft has been developed by experienced and practising secondary biology teachers from a range of schools across Aotearoa, and has also been reviewed and critiqued by an independent group of current secondary teachers.

Constructive feedback from the sector will be important in ensuring the draft is fit for purpose as a knowledge rich curriculum that is coherent, practical, and supports high quality teaching and learning in Biology.

BEANZ strongly encourages all Biology teachers to engage with the consultation process. This is an important opportunity for the profession to help shape the future direction of senior Biology education in Aotearoa.

Please take the time to read the draft carefully, reflect on the document as a whole first before disseminating it, and discuss it within your departments, colleagues and regional representatives. 

As a quick reminder, I will borrow this from my colleague, Ian Torrie at SCENZ

• It may be useful to highlight what the purpose of the curriculum document is and what it isn’t: As a knowledge rich curriculum, its major purpose is to identify and mandate the knowledge and practices that all of our learners should have the opportunity to be taught. 

• This information is presented in a potential order of teaching based on best practice, but there is no mandate to teach it in this order.  

• The material is presented in a silo fashion based on familiar groupings of knowledge, but again there is no reason why a school cannot organise their teaching program completely differently e.g. around themes where knowledge is integrated from different components of the curriculum.  

• The curriculum does provide guidance on the scope and depth expected, but only a limited number of contexts are provided, as each school knows the most appropriate contexts that best meets the needs of their learners. If contexts were included in the curriculum, then every school would have to use them despite being fantastic for one school but inappropriate for another.  

• The curriculum is designed for an average learner and it is the responsibility of the Ministry to ensure that schools are provided with the necessary support and resources to make sure that all students with very divergent attributes, backgrounds and capabilities have the opportunity to experience the teaching defined in the curriculum. 

Kia pai tō rā

Kenneth Loh 

BEANZ President