About this resource
This page provides the draft Years 0–10 Social Sciences Learning Area. This is now available for wider feedback and familiarisation. The current Social Sciences curriculum remains in effect until 1 January 2027 and can be found here: The New Zealand Curriculum – Social Sciences.
Unuhia te rito o te harakeke kei whea te kōmako e kō? Remove the heart of the flax bush and where will the kōmako sing? |
Purpose Statement
The Social Sciences learning area equips students with knowledge of societies and of how people interact with each other and environments. Over time they develop knowledge of the differences and similarities of human experiences across time and place. They build understanding that supports informed participation in communities and enables them to consider multiple perspectives.
Through the study of social sciences, students learn how to use disciplinary tools and conventions for gathering and analysing evidence and communicating findings. Learning in the social sciences encourages curiosity about the past and their own world, and broadens students’ understanding through exploring people, places, and ways of life beyond their own experiences.
The Social Sciences learning area equips students with historical, geographical, economic, political, and financial knowledge of New Zealand and the world. Students learn about the diverse communities of New Zealand, including Māori history and contemporary Māori communities. They learn how democracy operates in New Zealand and the practices of civic participation and engagement.
Learning Area Structure
The year-by-year teaching sequence lays out the knowledge and practices to be taught each year. In Social Sciences, teaching is structured around four strands:
- History focuses on interpreting the past through significant events, cultures, and changes over time. It develops student understanding of how historians use evidence and concepts such as causation, significance, and change to explain how societies have developed.
- Civics and Society focuses on how democratic systems work and how people participate in civic life. It develops student understanding of rights, responsibilities, laws, the role of te Tiriti o Waitangi | the Treaty of Waitangi, and how to engage respectfully with diverse perspectives and public issues.
- Geography focuses on how people interact with physical and human environments. It develops student understanding of the nature and distribution of places, and the concept of sustainability. It teaches students how to use spatial tools, graphic organisers, and data to interpret environments, patterns, and perspectives.
- Economic Activity focuses on how financial and economic systems operate. It develops student understanding of personal finance, business and government roles, and New Zealand’s economy in a global context.
The year-by-year teaching sequence, organised by strands, sets out what is to be taught. Its enactment is shaped by teachers, who design learning in response to their learners, adjusting the order and emphasis and adding appropriate contexts and content. For History and Geography, local examples and contexts should be drawn on (where appropriate) to enrich the content in the teaching sequence and enhance the learning experience for students.
Introduction
Across Years 0–10, the Social Sciences take students on a journey to understand how people, places, and systems function and change. Students explore civic, geographic, historical, and economic knowledge to make sense of and participate in their communities and the wider world.
In Years 0–3, teachers introduce students to foundational knowledge about the world, including people and places beyond their own experiences and how to participate in multicultural communities to make future decisions. They begin to understand societies and how people interact with each other and environments, including concepts of chronology, sense of belonging, migration, and exchange. This learning focuses on local and national contexts, with students gradually expanding their horizons. Students are taught to use sources to learn about people, places, and events and to communicate ideas about social sciences contexts.
In Years 4–6, teachers support students to expand their horizons from their local communities to the wider world. Students explore sources that reveal how societies have changed over time and how people interact with places and environments. Through case studies from New Zealand and beyond, teachers support students to investigate societies, political systems, and how geography and financial structures shape communities past and present. Students are taught how to use maps, timelines, and historical narratives to communicate their learning and connect concepts such as migration, democracy, rights, and responsibilities.
In Years 7–8, teachers guide students to deepen their understanding of civic participation, governance, and te Tiriti o Waitangi | the Treaty of Waitangi as foundations of society in New Zealand. Students explore impacts of and responses to environmental, social, and historical challenges across the Pacific and globally and engage with concepts such as identity, power, and change. This learning builds on prior knowledge and introduces more complex ideas and contexts. Students are taught to use sources to examine perspectives, analyse responses to challenges and events, engage in social sciences dialogue, and communicate their understanding.
In Years 9–10, teachers guide students to deepen their understanding of the changing nature of places, and how societies function and change, with a focus on New Zealand’s place in a globalised world. Students explore complex contexts related to political ideologies, governance systems, and human rights frameworks, including the constitutional significance of te Tiriti o Waitangi | the Treaty of Waitangi. Teaching supports students to engage with higher-order concepts, such as sovereignty, inequality, ethics, and power, and develop strong social sciences practices related to analysing data and sources, making decisions, and evaluating significant events and challenges.
The Social Sciences learning area prepares students with the knowledge and practices to access related curriculum subjects for Years 11–13, such as History, Geography, Economics, and Pacific Studies.
Links to Social Sciences supports and resources:
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