The Government has unveiled the new list of secondary school subjects that students will be able to undertake as part of a refresh of the country’s national curriculum.
The new subjects on offer will include civics, politics and philosophy; media, journalism and communications; te mātai i te Ao Māori; Pacific studies; and music technology.
Students will also be able to learn about and use generative artificial intelligence in a range of subjects, with the Government investigating creating a specialist subject on AI for Year 13 students in the future.
Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, which is used in Māori medium schools, will include new subjects like Tātai Arorangi (Māori traditional systems of Earth and sky), and Te Ao Whakairo (Māori carving).
The subjects are expected to be phased in from 2028, with some draft subjects released from the start of next year for schools to provide feedback on and get familiar with them.
Subjects that are intended to be led by industry, like in engineering and building and construction, will be developed in 2026 when the new Industry Skills Boards are established.
This comes alongside the Government’s current proposal to abolish NCEA and replace it with a new qualification from 2028. Implementation of the new subjects will be aligned with any change to that timeline.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the refreshed subjects would provide students “choice, purposeful pathways and opportunities for specialisation that set them up for success”.
“The Years 11-13 curriculum subjects being developed include many which are already available, some exciting brand-new subjects, and others have been named, organised or focused differently to create knowledge rich subjects and clearer pathways.”
She said the set of subjects are designed to create a future-focused curriculum reflecting the growing importance of Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
“Students will be able to specialise in areas such as earth and space science, statistics and data science, and electronics and mechatronics. There will also be a range of new specialist maths subjects, including further maths.”
The new industry-led subjects will reflect “what is expected in the professional world”, which Stanford believes will make staying in school relevant, regardless of what career pathway a child wants to go down.
“This will enable students to leave school with a secondary and a tertiary qualification,” the minister said. “We’re having one integrated system where all subjects, whether ministry-led or industry-led, are equal.”
Stanford said there is rapid development of AI so students will be able to learn about and use generative AI in a range of subjects.
“This may include learning about how digital systems work, machine learning, cybersecurity, and digital ethics. We will also investigate a new Year 13 specialist subject on Generative AI for later development.”
Implementation packages will be provided to schools well in advance of the new subjects coming into effect. Teachers will be supported with professional learning and development, curriculum days, ready-to-use classroom resources, exemplars and other guidance.
Under the current timeline, schools will be required to start using the new curriculum content from 2028 for Year 11, 2029 for Year 12, and 2030 for Year 13.
This was delayed from a previous proposal to begin teaching the new curriculum subjects from 2027.
The Ministry of Education said in August it had received feedback from teachers “that you would like greater phasing of the introduction of senior secondary learning areas”.
“We’ve heard from you that this phasing will support quality implementation by giving teachers and kaiako more time to build confidence with the new content, support resource and assessment alignment and help maintain consistency for students.”
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.