Culture Wars in the Antipodes: The Social Studies Curriculum Controversy in New Zealand

Abstract

In New Zealand, recent attempts to produce a national social studies curricula have attracted fierce criticism and intense debate. As as in the United States and elsewhere, for broadly similar reasons, social studies remains a moral and ideological battleground for the major players involved in curriculum reform. All over the world, social studies is hailed as the subject which will create ideal future citizens. The New Zealand controversy, however, has given rise to no less than three attempts to produce an acceptable curriculum statement. Arguably the final document appears to be less controversial than its predecessors simply because it largely confines itself to outlining general aims rather than setting out specific goals. The reform process has clearly demonstrated the considerable difficulties involved in attempting to lay down what the ideal citizen of the future ought to think, know, and value while at the same time giving lip-service to the concept of reflective inquiry.