Curriculum Integration: Matariki – The Māori New Year

Abstract

Curriculum integration is popular but challenging for both the teacher and the student when reflecting on the learning and the process of coming to know. This is the third paper in a series. A case study was selected from within a much larger dataset of teaching artefacts, that had been used in English-medium and Māori-medium teaching contexts for year one to eight students in Aotearoa New Zealand (aged between 5 and 12 years). The selected case study representing ten weeks of learning for composite classes of students was then analysed in relation to the literature on curriculum integration utilising an autoethnographic-inspired lens. The selected case study, entitled Matariki – The Māori New Year, has been repeated annually since 1996, long before this celebration gained popularity on a national level. It is vital with units that repeat frequently, to look for an angle – will the teaching and learning focus on the preservation and storage of food? Or digital storying and re-telling of Matariki stories? What will the culminating event look like and how will whānau and wider community be involved? The planning and classroom delivery of this integrated unit over many iterations is summarised. Then this research builds on emerging principles for effective curriculum integration introduced in the first paper of this series.