New teachers respond to curriculum policy in a Master of Teaching and Learning Programme: A collection of working papers

Abstract

How do new teachers in a Master of Teaching and Learning [MTchgLn] programme read, make sense of, and reflect on The New Zealand Curriculum [NZC] as policy intent, implementation and outcomes? (Ministry of Education (MoE), 2007). Why is scrutiny of educational policy an essential dimension of pedagogy in teacher education? And, what can new teachers’ analyses and responses to the NZC teach us in light of the profession’s powerful discourse of experience? This collection of working papers is shared by a group of Waikato University MTchgLn (2017) new teachers of primary and secondary curriculum. The writing evolved from an assignment to a publication opportunity. When we discussed the group’s professional identity as writers for the journal, it was agreed that the identity of ‘new teachers’ felt like a comfortable naming of initial teacher positioning and role. My involvement in introducing this collection of papers is grounded in the co-ordination and design of an MTchgLn curriculum paper, and my professional identities as teacher, assessor, researcher, mentor, professional colleague and advocate (Alsup, 2006; Britzman, 2003; Danielewicz, 2001; Hunter, 2013; Kincheloe, 2003). My work in teacher education in the fields of history, social sciences, and curriculum studies is shaped by a critical pedagogy stance (Apple, 1982, 1990; Giroux, 1988, 1996; Kincheloe, 2003, 2004). I am interested in problematising pedagogy and asking questions of why we do the things we do as teachers (Hunter, 2013).