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Effective 20 April 2026, the numbering of the curriculum criteria has changed. There have been no changes to the curriculum criteria wording or associated guidance.
Criterion C301#
The service curriculum is consistent with any prescribed curriculum framework that applies to the service.
Curriculum criteria documentation required
Guidance#
The curriculum framework is the Principles | Kaupapa whakahaere and Strands | Taumata whakahirahira of Te Whāriki. More information about the curriculum framework can be found on the Tāhūrangi website.
Te Whāriki continues to provide the basis for consistent high quality curriculum delivery in the diverse range of early childhood services in Aotearoa New Zealand. As such it is the best guidance to meet this criterion. In this document curriculum is described as “the sum total of the experiences, activities, and events, whether direct or indirect, which occur within an environment designed to foster children’s learning and development.” (page 10).
The ways in which each early childhood education service works with the curriculum framework will vary. Each service will continue to develop its own curriculum and programmes that reflect the things that are important to the children, their families, the staff, the community and the philosophy of the specific setting. It is important for services to be able to identify how everything we do in an early childhood setting works towards meeting the curriculum framework for the children and families that attend.
Other guidance, like Kei Tua o te Pae, builds from Te Whāriki to provide more detail about ways to do this.
