Research for Public Scholarship, Professional Practice: Educating for Identity via the New Zealand School Curriculum

Abstract

Recognition and affirmation of student identity in New Zealand (an example of a westernised, diverse democracy) primary schools has become a prominent practice. While directives for this practice are found in the current national curriculum, little guidance is given about what this means or how it might look in classroom programmes. This study interviewed teachers in order to discern their beliefs, understandings, and practices as they interpret curriculum directives related to their students’ identities. It found that teachers’ tacit understanding, drawn from their personal experiences about identity, informs their practice thus becoming the enacted curriculum. This paper critically reflects on the findings in order to theorise teachers’ curriculum subject knowledge - and the reliance on doxa rather than epistemic knowledge.