NZC – The Arts Phases 1–4 (Years 0–10)

Te toi whakairo, ka ihiihi, ka wehiwehi, ka aweawe te ao katoa. Artistic excellence makes the world sit up in wonder.

 

Purpose statement

The Arts learning area equips students with knowledge of artistic disciplines, traditions, and forms of expression. Students are taught how to create and develop their work by applying the elements, techniques, and conventions specific to the disciplines of dance, drama, music, and the visual arts.   

Through the study of the arts, students learn how artforms communicate ideas, emotions, and experiences that connect people across cultures and generations. Students come to understand how the arts can entertain, educate, and tell stories. They develop their personal artistic expression through engaging with historical and contemporary artworks and practices from New Zealand including Toi Māori, the Pacific, and the wider world.   

The Arts learning area provides students with opportunities to gain enjoyment from artistic exploration, develop an appreciation for the arts in their communities and society, and develop their ability to create and interpret art. They make intentional creative choices, bringing imagination, purpose, and personal intention to their artistic processes.  

As students progress through the Arts, they deepen their understanding of discipline-specific knowledge and practices that enable them to take artistic risks and refine their technical control and interpretive skill. Students explore increasingly complex works of art as responses to historical, social, cultural, and political contexts, deepening their understanding of the role art plays in society.  

Learning Area Structure

The year-by-year teaching sequence lays out the knowledge and practices to be taught each year. In The Arts, the teaching sequence is organised into strands.  

In Years 0–8, the teaching sequence is organised into three strands:  

• Performing Arts focuses on teaching students to express and interpret meaning through movement and performance. It develops students’ understanding of how the performing arts can explore identity, emotion, and storytelling and how embodied practices connect communities, preserve traditions, and inspire innovation.  

• Music focuses on teaching students to understand and express meaning through sound. It develops students’ understanding of musical techniques, genre features, and the role of music in shaping a sense of belonging and community. Music elements and notation are developed throughout the years. Students learn through written notation, improvisation, experimentation, and repetition, and engage with music from diverse times and cultures.  

• Visual Arts focuses on teaching students to explore and communicate meaning through visual forms. It develops students’ understanding of creative processes, visual conventions, and how to express ideas with intention. Students refine their work through cycles of experimentation and revision and respond to the artistic choices of others.  

In Years 9–10 the teaching sequence is organised into four strands.  

Students must be taught at least one of these four strands each year.

• Dance focuses on teaching students to explore and create movement with increasing independence. It develops students’ understanding of dance elements, choreographic devices, and cultural and historical influences to support expressive and purposeful performance.  

• Drama focuses on teaching students to create and refine dramatic works. It develops students’ understanding of theatrical forms, techniques, and conventions to shape meaning and engage audiences.  

• Music focuses on teaching students to understand and express meaning through sound. It develops students’ understanding of musical techniques, genre features, and the role of music in shaping a sense of belonging and community. Music technologies are used to compose and perform. Students learn through written notation, improvisation, experimentation, and repetition, and engage with music from diverse times and cultures.  

• Visual Arts focuses on teaching students to explore and communicate meaning through visual forms. It develops students’ understanding of creative processes, visual conventions, and how to express ideas with intention. Students refine their work through cycles of experimentation and revision and respond to the artistic choices of others.  

The year-by-year teaching sequence, organised through strands and sub-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.  

Introduction

Across Years 0–10, the Arts learning area takes students on an increasingly sophisticated journey exploring the rich forms, history, and artistic practices of New Zealand and from around the world. Students participate in experiences of creating, making, observing, listening, and responding.  

In Years 0–3, teachers introduce foundational knowledge across Performing Arts, Music, and Visual Arts. They support students to learn subject-specific terminology and explore how foundational concepts such as line, colour, rhythm, movement, and voice are used to express ideas and construct meaning. Teachers expose students to works from New Zealand, including Māori and Pacific traditions, alongside relevant contemporary and historical global examples. Through guided experiences, students begin to respond and create using basic techniques, developing an early understanding of how artistic elements and forms communicate.  

In Years 4–6, teaching supports students to make deliberate artistic choices and apply foundational techniques with increasing control. Teachers help students apply knowledge of dramatic conventions, choreographic devices, musical structures, and design principles to create and present performances, musical pieces, and visual compositions. They introduce works from New Zealand, the Pacific, and global traditions such as narrative theatre, street dance, pentatonic music, pattern-based practices, and folk art, helping students understand how artistic forms are shaped by cultural and historical contexts. Across these years, teachers advance students’ practice in the arts to represent and express ideas, preparing them to create more complex work.  

In Years 7–8, teachers guide students to refine their creative practice through exploration, rehearsal, iteration, and reflection. They support students to develop performances focusing on character, mood, and thematic intent; compose music using harmony and layering; and create artworks using symbolism, abstraction, and composition. Teaching includes contemporary works from New Zealand, the Pacific, and global contexts, and encourages students to create artworks that represent aspects of their lives and identities. Teachers help students understand how artistic choices convey meaning and reflect disciplinary conventions.  

In Years 9–10, teachers support students to create layered, intentional works that respond to cultural, historical, and social contexts. Depending on the choice of strands students make (Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Arts), teachers guide students to analyse artworks using discipline-specific terminology and make creative decisions using tools, techniques, and technologies. Students develop choreography, compose music, devise drama, and produce visual artworks that reflect complex ideas and stylistic influences. Teaching connects students with artistic practices from New Zealand, Pacific, and global contexts such as political theatre, avant-garde movements, classical fusion, and abstract expressionism, preparing them for advanced disciplinary learning and interpretation.  

The Arts learning area prepares students with the knowledge and practices to access related curriculum subjects in Years 11–13, such as Dance, Drama, Music, and Visual Arts. 

Links to The Arts supports and resources: