Each day of August, the Institute will feature one initiative from the TalentNZ Menu of Initiatives. The Menu showcases four integrated work-streams – grow, attract, retain and connect.

Today we are showcasing ‘Grow 2. Build a curriculum fit for the future’. For examples of this initiative, please see the Menu of Initiatives website. If you know of an organisation or initiative that should be included as an example on the website, please email us at [email protected].

Grow 2. Build a curriculum fit for the futuregrow

This is about instruments and what we want young New Zealanders to have learnt when they leave an educational institution – what talents will be delivered and how they might be optimised through a better understanding of character, personality and practise. It is about:

    • Future-proofing young Kiwis by teaching talents that will keep them nimble, flexible and able to deal with failure. For example, repositioning failure as, at worst, an opportunity to learn from mistakes.
    • Undertaking teaching of high-tech skills such as coding, analytics, big data, website design and movie making.
    • Developing creative talents, problem solving skills, analytical capabilities and positive communication.
    • Teaching the importance of character, ethics, effort and teamwork. In particular, good practise in the management of private data and risk management.
    • Promoting good health, providing information and good habits on topics such as:
      1. Exercise (i.e. flexibility, weights [resistance], cardiovascular, and brain function),
      2. Hygiene (e.g. teeth, feet, etc)
      3. Medicine (e.g. allergic reactions, antibiotic overuse)
      4. Communicable diseases (e.g. HIV, polio, measles, TB etc)
      5. Non-communicable diseases (e.g. obesity, diabetes, respiratory and heart and cancer)
      6. Social skills (e.g. mental health)
    • Teaching the arts, science and music; enough to appreciate the talents of others.
    • Teaching young New Zealanders about New Zealand (our history and geography), our rights and our responsibilities to each other (civics) and our environment (ecology).
    • Teaching te reo Māori to harness the uniqueness of New Zealand’s indigenous knowledge and culture.
    • Promoting the languages of Asia and the Pacific; they are part of our future.

About TalentNZ
The Menu of Initiatives is part of our Project TalentNZ and focuses on how best to identify and distribute tools for councils, businesses and communities to design their own unique strategy for creating a talent-based economy. TalentNZ builds on Sir Paul Callaghan’s vision of making New Zealand ‘a place where talent wants to live’. Sir Paul outlined the reasons why his vision is important in a 20-minute video at the Institute’s StrategyNZ workshop in 2020. The focus of the Menu is on the ‘how’ – we are testing Sir Paul’s assumptions and exploring ways New Zealanders might turn this vision into a reality. To learn more about the TalentNZ project see www.talentnz.org.

Connect with TalentNZ
We want to build New Zealand’s talent-based economy. If you want to join us on this journey, please connect with TalentNZ. By connecting you will receive our monthly TalentNZ newsletter, which outlines recent developments, research and resources related to creating a talent-based economy, and which keeps you informed about upcoming TalentNZ events. Please also share this link with anyone you think may be interested.