New English curriculum 'system racism' by omission says Auckland head teacher

RNZ News

28-04-2025

Northcote College Head of English David Taylor says he won't teach the new English curriculum, which includes movies like Spirited Away.
Photo:
Studio Ghibli / Archives du 7eme Art / Photo12 via AFP
Auckland's Northcote College Head of English David Taylor says he will not teach the proposed new English curriculum and is urging others to boycott it too.
The curriculum features a list of suggested texts including Arthur Miller's play
The Crucible
, Edgar Allan Poe's
The Raven
,1984 by George Orwell and
Dubliners
by James Joyce, along with writing from Kiwi authors including Becky Manawatu, Oscar Kightley and Witi Ihimaera.
The document makes no mention of Te Mataiaho, a framework grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Taylor, who wrote an opinion piece on why he will refuse to teach the curriculum, told
Checkpoint's
Lisa Owen he had three main concerns.
"The first would be lack of flexibility that this document offers for us to meet the diverse needs of our students and our communities, that's both in the texts that they'll study but also opportunities to express themselves," Taylor said.
"A second big concern is that it really doesn't seem like a document that's been written with an understanding of the needs of young people in Aotearoa, at the moment, or the realities of teaching them.
"And I think ultimately that leads to a third concern; this curriculum would take us backwards."
That was because New Zealand had been making "really great progress" with trying to create a more "level playing field" in education, he said.
"And this is going to be greatly undermined because it reduces that flexibility that we have to meet the different diverse student needs that we have in our communities."
Taylor said the curriculum was very prescriptive in terms of the types and numbers of texts that had to be studied at each year level.
"At the moment there is much greater autonomy and teacher and student choice around that. This is very heavy on detailing what needs to be taught."
In Year 12 and 13 it would be compulsory to teach Shakespeare and a 19th Century novel, he said.
When asked what he would like to see instead, Taylor said New Zealand had very diverse communities with students who had different requirements.
"Really good English teachers understand that and are able to work out what the right text is for each student for them to be able to do the learning they need to do.
"We're not in a homogeneous situation where we are able to just say these texts are going to best for everyone."
He said while he personally loved Shakespeare and 19th Century literature, it was not going to be right for all students.
"We need the ability to be able to know our learners, know our students, know what learning they need and actually pick the right texts for them."
Taylor pointed out Shakespeare and a 19th Century novel were compulsory and would take up a large chunk of the year.
Northcote College in Auckland. Head of English David Taylor says the new English curriculum enables systemic racism.
Photo:
RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Taylor said in his
opinion piece on The Spinoff
, that the proposed new curriculum enabled "systemic racism".
He said such racism could be subtle.
"A big part of that here is what's been taken away."
When compared to previous versions of the curriculum he said there was a loss of explicit reference to Māori authors, or to the stories of tangata whenua or Te Tiriti itself.
"The loss of opportunities for students to tell their own stories. There's a real lack of respect for Māori history and storytellers by not including them.
"And instead what you get is the privileging of these non-Māori texts... by making them compulsory it's at the exclusion of something else.
"You call out what you privilege. So by calling out those texts you are marginalising texts and authors who in previous versions have been far more in the spotlight."
Asked if the government was putting international authors ahead of New Zealand writers, Taylor said that was "very clear".
Taylor said although the
Treaty Principles Bill
had been voted down, "this is kind of it happening by stealth really and I think anybody who objected to the underlying problems with that bill should take a strong interest and make a submission on this as well".
"It's not just something for English teachers. I think it's something for anyone who's interested in education."
He lambasted current and previous governments and the Ministry of Education for "institutional incompetence" and creating an education system which was "lurching from one chaotic mess to another".
He loved his job but said it was incredibly tiring.
The proposed curriculum was currently out for consultation.