Outdoor education teachers are calling the Government’s secondary school curriculum shake up "short-sighted".
Education Minister Erica Stanford unveiled a range of new subjects yesterday, as part of a refreshed national curriculum.
The topics to be phased in from 2028, did not include outdoor education for year 11, while the course for years 12 and 13, will be vocational only and developed by industry skills boards.
“A vocational pathway suits some learners, but for us, the majority of outdoor education students are looking to pursue academic university pathways,” Wellington East Girls’ College outdoor education lead Hamish Buddle said.
A petition against a proposal, which includes making the subject vocational only, has collected more than 40,000 signatures since its launch.
Education Minister Erica Stanford told 1News she has taken everything into consideration.
“Outdoor education is already currently made up of unit standards and that is not changing. It is staying exactly as it is,” she said.
But Education Outdoors NZ, the professional body which promotes environmental and outdoor education, explained that was not the case.
“Currently outdoor education is assessed using unit standards or achievement standards. Both count towards NCEA, but only achievement standards can also count towards university entrance,” said Education Outdoors NZ chief executive Fiona McDonald.
Stanford also announced a strengthened industry-led subject pathway would be introduced to give students more choice.
“The very exciting thing about young people doing the industry-led standards is that they will likely leave school not only with a secondary qualification but also a tertiary qualification,” she said.
According McDonald, many students wouldn’t take the subject if it was vocational only.
“We’ve seen 120% growth in the number of students taking outdoor education since achievement standards became available.”
“They don’t want to be guides or instructors, they want to be marine biologists and environmental scientists,” said McDonald.
Buddle emphasised the subject wasn’t just "fun" outdoors.
“They’ve got a pāua nursery in Worser Bay in Wellington that they’ve been developing.”
They get to work with web developers and collect the data alongside scientists from NIWA and Victoria University,” said Buddle.
The NCEA proposed changes were open for submissions until September 15.
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