Teaching, learning and curriculum

Charter schools have considerable flexibility around the teaching and learning they offer.

Learn more about the requirements for charter school teachers

Curriculum

Charter schools have flexibility in how they design and deliver results for students.

Charter schools can:

• use the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) or Te Marautanga o Aotearoa
• use a different or specialist curriculum
• design their own curriculum

This allows schools to adapt their offering to meet the needs of their students and community.

Read more about New Zealand’s charter schools 

Teaching approaches

Charter schools can choose how teaching is delivered.

They may:

• tailor learning to each student
• use different classroom models
• connect learning to real-life skills and experiences

School hours and term times

Charter schools can be flexible about how the school day is organised.

This may include:

• different start and finish times
• different term dates
• different ways to structure learning time

Qualifications

Charter schools must show that students are learning and making progress.

Secondary schools must offer nationally or internationally recognised qualifications.

These may include:

• NCEA
• International Baccalaureate (IB)
• Cambridge