40106 (2024). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Minister of Education

40106 (2024). Hon Jan Tinetti to the Minister of Education: How, if at all, will creativity be nurtured within the refreshed curriculum?

Hon Erica Stanford: I am advised by the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) that the five key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) (2007) have been woven within the ‘Understand, Know, Do’ structure of each refreshed learning area. Creative thinking is an aspect of the key competency ‘thinking.’ As described in NZC (2007), the ‘thinking’ key competency is about using creative, critical, and metacognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas. These processes can be applied to purposes such as developing understanding, making decisions, shaping actions, or constructing knowledge. Intellectual curiosity is at the heart of this competency. Students who are competent thinkers and problem solvers actively seek, use, and create knowledge. They reflect on their own learning, draw on personal knowledge and intuitions, ask questions, and challenge the basis of assumptions and perceptions.