ImpactEd has supported a number of primary and secondary schools to undertake school-wide reviews focused on curriculum coherence and alignment. Many of these schools were navigating recent leadership changes or staff/role growth and wanted to ensure their curriculum reflected their vision, values, and community aspirations—while also bringing clarity and consistency to teaching practice across year levels.
Our Approach
Across these projects, we used our collaborative review process to guide schools through four key phases:
- Engage: We began by meeting with school leadership teams to clarify their focus areas and review existing documentation. Each review was customised to the school’s context and priorities, often incorporating classroom observations, document analysis, and stakeholder engagement.
- Collect: We gathered diverse perspectives through interviews, surveys, learning walks, and hui with teachers, students, whānau, and Boards of Trustees. We also reviewed curriculum documents, planning frameworks, and assessment data to identify patterns and strengths.
- Analyse: Insights were thematically analysed and used to surface areas of strong practice as well as tensions—particularly in curriculum coverage, progression clarity, and assessment alignment. Our team worked alongside school leaders to make sense of the findings and determine implications for practice.
- Act: We presented a detailed review report, complete with key findings and actionable recommendations. Facilitated workshops supported staff to unpack the insights and co-construct next steps—often focused on strengthening shared curriculum language and improving coherence across learning pathways.
Impact
Schools reported several positive outcomes from the review process:
- Staff gained greater clarity around curriculum expectations and learning priorities.
- Leadership teams felt more confident leading curriculum conversations and shaping targeted PLD.
- Many schools co-constructed a “curriculum map” to support consistent planning and progression.
- Boards reported improved visibility of curriculum implementation and clearer links to strategic planning.
"This was more than just a review—it was a chance for us to pause, reflect, and realign as a team. The process gave us clarity and helped spark powerful professional dialogue across the school."
– Principal, participating school
