By Gerald Piddock

Copyright farmersweekly

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The government’s U-turn on keeping agriculture and horticulture as high school subjects shows that common sense has prevailed, Massey University’s Head of the School of Agriculture and Environment Paul Kenyon says.

The original decision on September 11 – in terms of which agribusiness would not be a curriculum subject in high schools from 2028 – did not give a lot of thought to the pathways for young people going from high school into university education, he said.

“They forgot that students make decisions on high school subjects where they are going to get credits. If the students perceive they are not going to get credits from ag and hort-based courses, they wouldn’t choose them.”

It would have driven young people away from those subject and with New Zealand being primary industry led, it needs its best and brightest going into that sector, he said.

“We don’t want to cut that pathway off.

“Also, having ag and hort in high schools, it exposes a lot of students who otherwise wouldn’t have thought about going into those industries.”

The decision was reversed on September 16, after the Ministry of Education (MoE) reviewed and revised its advice and “acknowledges the strong feedback received from educators, industry and communities”.

“This reflects the subject’s specialist scientific nature and the conclusion that it would not be adequately covered through other science subjects or the primary industries subject. The subject will be developed alongside other science disciplines to maintain curriculum coherence and support progression from Year 11 science,” the MoE said

“We have also confirmed that agribusiness will remain integrated within Business Studies at Years 12 and 13. The Ministry will work closely with subject associations to ensure agribusiness is clearly visible and valued within the subject.”

Kenyon was pleased the decision was reversed so fast. If the MoE had instead decided on a long consultation process, it may have dissuaded some teachers considering becoming a speciality primary sector teacher because of the uncertainty around the original announcement.

It could have meant three years of potential new teachers being lost between now and 2028, he said.

“We need a pipeline of enthusiastic, well-trained teachers so that our high school kids get the appropriate education and are enthused by it and see the opportunities within the primary industry and want to enter the primary industries whether that’s at tertiary level, or straight into the industry.”

The announcement and reversal came just weeks after Kenyon announced the creation of courses for teachers to upskill them so they can teach ag and hort subjects.

There will be eight short teaching courses with the first set running as a pilot in October. They will cover subjects such as soil and environmental science, agronomy, horticulture, animal science and agribusiness.

They are targeting both teachers with little to no background in the primary sector, and those with knowledge gaps.

The courses will meet the huge demand from students wanting to learn about the primary sector, Kenyon said. They were co-developed with the New Zealand Horticulture and Agriculture Teachers Association and funded by the TR Ellett Trust.

Kenyon believes that demand would have been impacted if the original curriculum proposal had gone ahead.

Within the central-lower North Island alone, Kenyon said, he has been told there are more Year 12 and 13 students studying agricultural subjects than in some of the more traditional science subjects.

“There’s clearly growing demand and that’s clearly a combination of young people seeing and hearing how important agriculture and horticulture is for our economy and therefore making that choice.”

Association treasurer Kerry Allen said across the country there are 351 schools that teach ag and horticultural science either as a unit or achievement standard. Out of that, nearly 100,000 students took it in the past eight years and 11,000 last year.