Writer: Stephen Beckett.
Learning Area: Social Sciences
Unit Title: New Zealand Society: the Seventies
Time Frame: Approximately fifteen lessons plus up to two weeks for an inquiry assignment
Released June 2008
Download the complete Unit
Context and Curriculum Links
This unit relates to Social Studies at Level Five of the curriculum and is specifically linked to the Revised New Zealand Curriculum 2007 (to be fully implemented in schools 2010)
This unit relates to the structure of the Social Sciences Curriculum in terms of:
- Identity, Culture and Organisation
- Place and environment
- Continuity and Change
The unit has also been written with attention to the New Zealand Curriculum in terms of the Principles upon
which all learning must take place, specifically:
- High Expectations: wherever possible there are open ended questions which allow for higher level thinking, creativity
and discussion.
- Learning to Learn: as the students are guided through lessons, they are encouraged to reflect upon their learning.
They are also given the opportunity to carry out two significant inquiry tasks. During these they work through the inquiry
process with a view to undertaking further effective inquiry in the future.
- Community Engagement: Students are encouraged to consider the impact of past events on their own lives and their
communities and make judgements about the nature of change.
- Treaty of Waitangi: particularly during the section on Bastion Point and the Land March in Part Two, students are
encouraged to think about the reasons for grievances which Maori have had due to crown breaches in the Treaty of Waitangi.
- Cultural Diversity: This unit considers the growing cultural diversity and many international influences within New
Zealand during and since the 1970s.
- Inclusion: This unit seeks to fairly include the perspectives and histories of all people covered. Where there have
been clear breaches of the rights of a group the issues are drawn to students’ attention.
- Coherence: This unit covers a wide range of learning areas and relates to other subjects including History, Geography,
Economics, Media Studies and English.
- Future Focus: Students are encouraged to relate past trends, fashions and issues to the present and to consider how
ideas will continue to change. The unit also covers the idea of cyclical history with the reoccurrence of fashion and culture
from the 1970s in today’s world and how such trends are likely to continue in the future.
Values:
The values of excellence, innovation, inquiry and curiosity have been encouraged through the use of open ended and sometimes controversial questions. The inquiry activities have been written with a view toward extending the most able and ambitious students with optional aspects. There are two significant inquiry components to the unit and students are given scope to pursue their own areas of interest within both. Values of diversity, community and participation and ecological sustainability are covered, particularly in Part Two where issues relating directly to all of these values are studied in a manner which encourages students to reflect on different perspectives and come up with their own valid viewpoint.
Key Competencies:
Students are encouraged to use a wide range of thinking skills. In particular they are encouraged to thinking creatively about the past in a way which is relevant to the present. The idea of intellectual curiosity is encouraged throughout the unit both within the inquiry sections and in the points for discussion and frequent comparison of the past to students’ own experiences. The inquiry process encourages the idea of managing self and there is extensive use of group work which encourages the students to relate to others. The last major inquiry section can be used as the starting point for students to participate and contribute within a specific area such as sustainable ecology.
Outline
Part One:
New Zealand Society (Lessons 1-15) covers Mass Media Sport, Leisure and Lifestyle and Politics and the Economy and is largely made up of discreet, self contained lessons.
Part Two:
(Lessons 16 onwards) begins with a detailed study of the Vietnam footage and then allows for a more flexible approach where students choose an inquiry from all or a selection of the material on Environment, Maori, Immigration, Feminism and/or Erebus)
Achievement Criteria/Assessment
The Achievement Criteria from the New Zealnd Curriculum to which this unit relates is as follows:
How cultural interaction impacts on cultures and societies
That people move between places and how this has consequences for the people and the places
How people’s management of resources impacts on environmental and social sustainability
How the ideas and actions of people in the past have had a significant impact on people’s lives
Specific success criteria for each lesson or lesson sequence have been included within each lesson or lesson sequence. Lessons Seven – Nine including Resource Four and the Issues and Events Inquiry Lessons including Resource Ten give the opportunity to assess students’ understanding of the above Achievement Criteria and the Key Competencies within the New Zealand Curriculum
Resources
ON DISK titles:
New Zealand Society: The Seventies. Part One
New Zealand Society: The Seventies. Part Two
Additional and optional use may be made of the ON DISK title New Zealand Society: The Fifties. Part One.
Other links to support lessons include:
www.youtube.com
Film Archive Feature Filmography: Sleeping Dogs
Teachers' Notes
This unit is rich in resources showing political, cultural and social aspects of change during and since the 1970s. Although there are some links between lessons it is possible to use individual lessons in isolation. The unit has been written keeping in mind the intentions of the New Zealand curriculum both in terms of the Social Studies learning area and the Principles, Values and Key Competencies contained within it.
The 1970s are of particular interest to young people who will be familiar with cultural aspects through the appropriation of many elements of this time within contemporary fashion and music. They were also a time which laid the foundations for New Zealand society as we know it in terms of political activism, social change and a growing awareness of environmental issues.
The inquiry aspect of this assignment has been left deliberately flexible in its scope, while requiring students to research at least one socially significant area of change. Students are required to define their own specific area of study and will require assistance from the teacher in order to do this successfully.
