"If they do nothing other than teach our children read and write and do maths and be good socialised NZ people then they've done a really good job"

So said the Minister of Education of New Zealand's primary school teachers, shortly before extra Professional Development support was ring-fenced to help support schools implement the National Standards. Further, the Minister says there will be no extra support for teaching arts, science and physical education in primary schools.

Yay! That means the other 'core' primary curriculum area of social studies must be getting a shed load of extra PD developement. No, really! That's why Social Studies wasn't mentioned, right? As well as reading and writing the aspiration is for "good socialised New Zealand people" (not to be confused with good socialist NZ people).

By that, I assume the Minister is very aware of the need for values education, children being able to make informed social decisions, thinking critically about sources of information and participating in their communities.

The Minister would not wish for the North Carolinan experience in which primary teachers "emphatically noted how the culture of the elemenatry school campus has shifted from a greenhouse that nurtures lifelong learning and facilitates growth and exploration in a myriad of subjects, including social studies, science, and fine arts, to a sterile envrironment...[for] implementing a limited curriculum in hopes pf achieving "success" as measured by NCLB" Burroughs, Groce & Webeck (2005). Social Studies Education in the Age of Testing and Accountability.

While standards are clearly not testing, the NZ approach would be dangerous if the end result was the same here as widely reported across the U.S. This leaves the way open for further social studies professional development support. I look forward to the forthcoming announcement.

UPDATE: Read longtime Social Studies advocate Kelvin Smyth's commentary on the open letter to the Minister regarding standards from some well respected NZ academics