Author | Lightnews

Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 6h

In a world where facts are immediately available do we want people who can only parrot a bunch of names and dates, or do we want people who can make meaning, synthesise, evaluate?

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 6h

The Social Studies curriculum was conceptual not only because it let teachers select contexts that were relevant to their students, but also because getting kids to understand concepts is hard! They have to think hard!

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 6h

100% this. Getting kids to spout a whole bunch of facts is not ambitious. Simple recall is not cognitively demanding.

RNZ News Feeds @rnzrss.bsky.social · 7h

History teachers label government's draft curriculum 'unrealistic', 'unmanageable'

The government's plan will water down the teaching of New Zealand history in schools with topics including Ancient Egypt and the French Revolution, they say.

www.rnz.co.nz

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 9h

Hard agree

RNZ News Feeds @rnzrss.bsky.social · 9h

Soldier who tried to spy on New Zealand should be in prison Crown says

A soldier with links to far-right groups is having his sentence re-examined at the Court Martial Appeal Court in Wellington.

www.rnz.co.nz

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 1d

We need to make giant shows where you look at cool stuff a thing again

Stephen Clarke @stephenclarkenz.bsky.social · 1d

20 sleeps until the centenary of the self-proclaimed "The Greatest Spectacle Ever Held in the Dominion!" This was no hype with 3.2 million visitors it remains the largest public event ever held in Aotearoa New Zealand. #TheBigShow 💯 #Dunedin #history

Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

Note the Superman look for extra protection

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

Periodic reminder that if you think history is too bleak you are allowed to do things like the history of togs

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

Contrast this with Bolger and Doug Graham - hardly socialists - pushing through Treaty settlements because they thought what happened to Maori was unjust.

What happened to those people on the right?

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

All of it, apparently

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

Think colonisation was a net positive for Maori? Cool. But we also get to discuss those who think it wasn't

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

If they had any historical awareness they would also know that history is all about interpretation. You get to discuss how and why people come to different understandings of the past

Vincent O'Malley @vomalley.bsky.social · 2d

Don't see the new Aotearoa NZ histories curriculum online yet. But Act are already crowing about having gutted it.

community.scoop.co.nz/2025/10/new-...

Community Scoop » New Curriculum Takes Politics Out Of History

community.scoop.co.nz

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

Like... there were wars! Multiple wars! None of the other immigrant groups to NZ had a war! They are not all the same!

Vincent O'Malley @vomalley.bsky.social · 2d

Don't see the new Aotearoa NZ histories curriculum online yet. But Act are already crowing about having gutted it.

community.scoop.co.nz/2025/10/new-...

Community Scoop » New Curriculum Takes Politics Out Of History

community.scoop.co.nz

1

Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

Look at Seymour's Treaty rewrite attempts and you see the same themes - trying to make it about 'all NZers' and denying that Maori have a unique relationship with the Crown through the Treaty and history of colonial injustice.

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

Looks to me like a cynical exercise in trying to undermine support for Maori and Treaty claims, trying to assert (by omission) that colonisation was good, and minimising the place of Maori by reducing teaching focus.
Taking the politics out of history... 😒

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

Facing the legacy of a colonial past takes courage.
As with so many other hard decisions (eg climate change) this government have chosen the easy wrong

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

One of the things I find worst about this is that it paints the existing curriculum as some kind of politically-slanted brainwashing exercise. But I know the man who drove the new curriculum - he just wanted NZ kids to know their own history

Vincent O'Malley @vomalley.bsky.social · 2d

Don't see the new Aotearoa NZ histories curriculum online yet. But Act are already crowing about having gutted it.

community.scoop.co.nz/2025/10/new-...

Community Scoop » New Curriculum Takes Politics Out Of History

community.scoop.co.nz

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Raquel Blackburn @queenofcobden.bsky.social · 2d

100%
And it's not like the Coalition is taking compromise positions as a means to appease the left

J from 3 Minute board games @3mbg.bsky.social · 2d

So just do the big thing.

Your opponents are gonna throw their toys regardless. Pre-negotiating yourself into a compromised position from the outset helps no one. And having a strong decision position might actually help you.

Labor won 50% of the vote in NZ the one time they acted decisively.