Revising the national technology curriculum through action research : practical and political action in New Zealand

Abstract

The national technology curriculum for New Zealand is undergoing redevelopment as part of review and revision of the 1990s national school curriculum framework and contributing subject statements. The technology curriculum was introduced to support New Zealand’s competitiveness in a global market and emphasised technological capability through product development within a soft determinist understanding of technology. Since 2000, the technology education community has been involved in two major projects, the National Exemplars Project developing exemplars of student learning in all curriculum areas and the New Zealand Curriculum Project articulating statements of the ‘essence’ of each curriculum area and redeveloping curricula. In technology,
these projects represent contrasting forms of action research. The former employed schoolbased research for practical action, involving a broad representation of the technology education community and new directions for technology, and the latter pursued policy-led research for political action, involving a subgroup constructed
around the 1990s curriculum developers, and is ongoing. Pre-eminence of research for political action signals entrenchment of technology education for economic growth, in line with Government’s investment in a Growth and Innovation Framework. This is despite the curriculum review’s espousing sustainability related
‘future-focussed themes’. Loss of the opportunity to broaden the scope of technology education signals loss of the technology education community’s commitment to school technology and abnegation of New Zealand’s
responsibilities to a global society, at least for the next decade.