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New Zealand Curriculum: Te Mātaiaho
New Zealand Curriculum: Te Mātaiaho
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) examples
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) examples
There are many Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (CSP) aspects and opportunities present in the 2025 NZC English Curriculum.
For those who wish to see these explicitly outlined, I have identified examples of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in bold in the text on the next sub-page. This text is taken straight from the NZC Te Mātaiaho and I have then added my own commentary in purple which makes the links back to the braided Māori and Western knowledge streams.
Whilst students may be taught in English medium settings, it is important to observe how the teaching of English skills in oral language, reading and writing (including spelling) can support and enhance equitable opportunities for anyone, including, and possible especially, those with diverse language backgrounds. It is clear that the 2025 NZC has a strong culturally sustaining focus.
Click the blue button for the analysis.
Accelerating progress in literacy – Teacher guidance
Accelerating progress in literacy – Teacher guidance
In order to address equity and to lift achievement of target students, "business as usual" will not be sufficient - acceleration is required. This is sometimes referred to as providing Tier 2 support. The following is taken from Tāhūrangi link
What is acceleration?
What is acceleration?
“The concept of accelerated learning in relation to children’s oral language, reading, writing, and mathematics refers to advancing the learning of children who [need to build prior knowledge] related to content at their current year level.
"Accelerated learning is achieved through specific teaching strategies, learning conditions, or scaffolded supports that enable learners to acquire skills more rapidly than they would under ‘usual teaching conditions’.... [It] relies heavily on continuous monitoring of student progress against benchmarks and progress indicators, ensuring that the learning process remains aligned with year-level expectations.” (Gillon et al., 2024, p. 13)
Gillon, G., Everatt, J., McNeill, B., Clendon, S., LaVenia, M., Evans, T., Smith, J., Gath, M., & Taleni, T. (2024). Accelerating learning in oral language, reading, writing, and mathematics. Child Well-being Research Institute, University of Canterbury. Prepared for the Ministry of Education, New Zealand.
Supporting students guidance
Supporting students guidance
This page link has excellent guidance about the processes for supporting students who require support to make increased or accelerated progress. The second tab on this page has specific guidance on what to do at Years 0-3 levels to accelerate progress.
Oral language
Oral language
Use teacher observations: see the section in tab 2 "Oral language as the foundation". under these areas.
Simple rubrics for assessment are provided.
Articulation
Communicating using vocabulary and register
Understanding instructions and conversations
Reading
Reading
Use the assessment measures described in Tab 2
Click link above
Assess components of reading from a developmental perspective: refer to the chart (see link above)
When assessing emerging readers, begin this progression from the bottom up, adding assessment measures as they become developmentally appropriate.
When assessing older students, start your analysis from the top of the progression with reading comprehension and fluency measures, then work down through the foundational sub-skills as needed.
Plan, monitor and evaluate progress
Plan, monitor and evaluate progress
..then plan instruction, monitor growth, and evaluate progress to plan next steps and adjust teaching strategies if necessary.
Tab 2 as above provides specifics for instruction, but it would be more expedient for teachers to use a scope and sequence from any approach of choice. This would significantly reduce teacher preparation time and cognitive load.
The main points are:
Provide more frequent monitoring - to measure progress and adjust pace of progress through the scope and sequence.
-Adjust the number of exposure or repetitions when explicitly teaching.
Students will need increased opportunities to:
watch teachers model (I do) - much more than other students.
practise together (We do) - much more than other students.
try independent practice (You do) - much more than other students.
Teaching English Language Learners
Teaching English Language Learners
Targeted support should supplement, not replace, whole-class oral language and literacy instruction. Encouraging peer interaction in class and in the playground will also support development.
Focus on explicit teaching of language components.
Find similarities between home language and English:
Any similar sounds? this will help with pronunciation - work out the differences and directly teach these.
Identify "Cognates" – words with similar spelling, sound, and meaning – these help expand vocabulary quickly.
Similar grammatical structures, such as subject-verb-object order, make sentence construction easier.
Provide extra focus on
conversational vocabulary,
morphology,
and oral language comprehension.
Oral language intervention for English language learners has a small effect on their English reading ability. Combine targeted oral language instruction with evidence-based reading strategies, such as word decoding, to strengthen literacy skills.
Key resources
Key resources
The Inclusive Education website guides provide strategies and suggestions for supporting diverse language users.
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