TECS435-25YA (C) Full Year A 2025

Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment 3: Contemporary Developments in Secondary Education

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 27 January 2025
End Date: Sunday, 9 November 2025
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 23 February 2025
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 24 August 2025

Description

This course provides a foundation for critical engagement with curriculum, pedagogy and assessment issues for secondary teaching in complex and shifting secondary schooling environments. Students examine curriculum and assessment frameworks, including the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) and the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), different schooling contexts, contemporary pedagogical developments and associated practice challenges. They engage with questions about knowledge and whose knowledge counts in secondary education. There is a particular focus on integrated curriculum, pedagogies that support learning across subjects, assessment for learning, culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy, literacies across the curriculum, future-focused and personalised learning, and integrated design for learning. Students collaborate with peers to explore integrated teaching and learning opportunities.

Learning Outcomes

  • On the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
    1. Apply understanding of curriculum, literacies and pedagogies that support learning for Māori and diverse learners to the collaborative design of an integrated curriculum project.
    2. Explain teacher decision-making in the collaborative design of an integrated curriculum project.
    3. Evaluate an integrated curriculum project, drawing on research relating to curriculum and assessment, and culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy.
    4. Devise a formative assessment activity and materials.
    5. Analyse ākonga assessment results, with a focus on achievement of Māori and diverse learners, and draw implications for teaching practice.
    6. Evaluate a formative assessment activity and draw implications for teaching practice to support Māori and diverse learners.

    Content:
    Common content threads:
  • Te reo Māori, Māori concepts and mātauranga Māori related to curriculum, assessment and pedagogy.
  • Representation of Māori and Pacific values from Tātaiako, Tapasā and Ako Waitaha within the course.
  • Culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy to support learning.
  • Digital literacies for professional learning and practice, including engaging with curriculum, assessment and pedagogy.

    Course specific content:
    Understanding curriculum and assessment – theory, policy and practice
  • Curriculum theory and ways of thinking about and understanding curriculum, including ideas of ‘curriculum discourses’, ‘official’, ‘assessment’, ‘experienced’ and ‘hidden curriculum’, and teachers as curriculum developers
  • Curriculum-assessment relationship
  • Curriculum and assessment policies and frameworks for secondary education, including New Zealand Curriculum (NZC), Te Marautanga o Aotearoa (TMOA), New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF), National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA)
  • Influence of colonisation and globalism on curriculum, with consideration of the background and development of Te Marautanga o Aotearoa
  • Nature and norms of (English-medium) curriculum and assessment, including the nature of knowledge and valuing of different knowledges (disciplinary knowledge, indigenous knowledge) in secondary education
  • ‘Assessment for learning’ and assessment practices to support Māori and diverse learners, focusing on formative assessment

    Literacies to support learning across the curriculum in secondary schools – theory and practice
  • Reading and writing
  • Statistical literacy
  • Information literacy
  • Critical and media literacy
  • Disciplinary and subject literacies

    Contemporary curriculum developments and pedagogical shifts in secondary contexts – theory, policy and practice
  • Contemporary curriculum debates, shifting policy, and practice-related challenges
  • Culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy to support Māori and diverse learners, including place-based learning and pedagogy, collaborative and reciprocal learning, community based learning, and education outside the classroom – with links to Tātaiako
  • Comtemporary developments and the ‘spatial turn’ in schooling, including innovative and modern learning environments (ILEs/MLEs), flexible learning spaces (FLSs), future focused and personalised learning and pedagogy
  • Contemporary issues in relation to secondary curriculum and high stakes NCEA assessment, including achievement patterns for Māori and diverse learners and implications for ākonga and kaiako
  • Research and critiques of contemporary curriculum developments
  • Engaging with contemporary curriculum developments through different theoretical lenses, discourses and perspectives

    Design for learning in contemporary schooling contexts
  • Curriculum integration – theory and practice for integrating curriculum in learning design
  • Curriculum design for project based learning
  • Collaborative curriculum design (working with colleagues in collaborative and respectful relationships in relation to curriculum design – with link to Tapasā: Turu 2)
  • Formative assessment design and analysis of assessment results

    Critical engagement with contemporary issues and debates in secondary curriculum, assessment and pedagogy
  • Theoretical lenses and approaches for engaging with curriculum and curriculum issues
  • Contemporary research and thinking in curriculum, assessment and pedagogy
  • Contemporary research and thinking in relation to culturally responsive and sustaining practice

Restrictions

Course Coordinator

Jane Abbiss

Lecturers

Lynne Connor , Chris North , Jane McChesney and Cheryl Brown

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Integrated Project and Critical Reflection 50%
Formative Assessment and Evaluation 50%


Students must pass all assessment requirements to obtain a final passing grade for this course.  Final grades will be delivered at an examiners meeting and reported using the UC common grading system.

Attendance and Engagement Requirements (Campus students)
Full attendance and participation in campus intensive programmes, Tiriti o Waitangi workshops, and noho marae are compulsory requirements of the programme.

Students are required to attend all scheduled course workshops and lectures. Students are also required to actively engage with course content including readings, online modules and related activities, and any other requirements specified by the course coordinator, in order to meet the learning outcomes of the course.

Students are expected to notify lecturers in writing (e.g. email message) prior to their absence, with an explanation. For extended absences (3 or more days), students should apply to the course coordinator. Extended absences must be accompanied by supporting evidence, e.g. medical certificate. Alternative tasks that demonstrate engagement with course content missed due to absences must be completed to a satisfactory standard if provided.

Attendance issues and/or lack of engagement with course content and activities may impact your ability to pass the course and/or complete the 'Teaching Professional Practice' associated with this course.

Textbooks / Resources

Recommended course reading:
Abbiss, J. (2019). Curriculum Studies. In A. Kamp (Ed.) Education Studies in Aotearoa: Key Disciplines and Emerging Directions (pp. 86-101). Wellington, NZ: NZCER.

Abbiss, J. (2019). Becoming a Teacher. In M. Hill & M. Thrupp (Eds), The Professional Practice of Teaching in New Zealand (6th ed.) (pp. 1-19). Melbourne, Australia: Cengage.

Andrade, H., & Valtcheva, A. (2009). Promoting learning and achievement through self-assessment. Theory Into Practice, 48(1), 12-19.

Arrowsmith, S. & Wood, B. (2015). Curriculum integration in New Zealand secondary schools: Lesson learned from four “early adoptor” schools. Set: Research Information for Teachers, 1, 58-66.

Benade, L. (2019). Flexible learning spaces: Inclusive by design? New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 54(1), 53-68.

Benade, L. (2019). Pedagogy in Flexible Learning Spaces (FLS). In M. Hill & M. Thrupp (Eds), The Professional Practice of Teaching in New Zealand (6th ed.) (pp. 213-235). Melbourne, Australia: Cengage.

Bishop, R., & Berryman, M. (2009). The Te Kotahitanga effective teacher profile. Set: Research Information for Teachers, 2, 27-33.

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the Black Box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2), 139-148.

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future oriented teaching and learning: A New Zealand perspective. Wellington, NZ: Ministry of Education.
Gilbert, J. (2005). Catching the Knowledge Wave: The Knowledge Society and the future of education. Wellington, NZ: NZCER Press.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally responsive pedagogy 2.0: aka the the remix. Harvard Educational Review, 84(1), 74-84.

Luke, A. (2012). Critical literacy: Foundational notes. Theory Into Practice, 51, 4-11.
Macfarlane, A. (2004). Kia hiwa ra! Listen to culture: Māori students’ plea to educators. Wellington, NZ: NZCER.

Mahat, M., Bradbeer, C., Byers, T., & Imms, W. (2018). Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher Change: Defining key concepts. Melbourne, Australia: University of Melbourne.

Mahuika, R., Berryman, M. & Bishop, R. (2011). Issues of culture and assessment in New Zealand education pertaining to Māori students. Assessment Matters, 3, 183-198

McCarty, G., & Lee, T. (2014). Critical culturally sustaining/revitalising pedagogy and indigenous education sovereignty. Harvard Educational Review, 84(1), 101-124.

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2013). Innovative learning environments. Paris: Educational Research and Innovation, OECD.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264203488-en

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2006). 21st century learning environments. New Milford, CT: OECD Publications.

Paris, D (2012). Culturally sustaining pedagogy: A needed change in stance, terminology and practice. Educational Researcher, 41(3), 93-97.

Penetito, W. (2009). Place-based education: Catering for curriculum, culture and community. New Zealand Annual Review of Education, 18, 5-29.

Pinar, W., Reynolds, W., Slattery, P. & Taubman, P. (2004). Understanding Curriculum: An Introduction to the Study of Historical and Contemporary Curriculum Discourses. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

Sandretto, S., & Tilson, J. (2016). Designing curriculum literacies. Set: Research Information for Teachers, 2, 3-11.

Schubert, W. (2008). Curriculum Inquiry. In F. M. Connelly, M. F. He, & J. Phillion (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Curriculum and Instruction (pp. 399-419). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.

Smith, G. (2002). Place-based education: Learning to be where we are. Phi Delta Kappan, 584-594
Stewart, G., Trinick, T., & Dale, H. (2017). Te Marautanga o Aotearoa: History of a national Māori curriculum. Curriculum Matters, 13, 8-20.

Wilson, A., Jesson, R., Rosedale, N., & Cockle, V. (2012). Literacy and Language Pedagogy Within Subject Areas in Years 7-11. Report to the Ministry of Education. Wellington, NZ: Ministry of Education.

Wilson, A. J., McNaughton, S., & Zhu, T. (2017). Subject area literacy instruction in low SES secondary schools in New Zealand. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 40(1), 72-85.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,084.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see School of Teacher Education .

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