Years 10-13
Strongest teaching range
Primary source analysis
Primary curriculum fit
Teacher-only planning note
Good primary source teaching keeps three questions in play: What is this source saying? How is it
trying to persuade? What can and can’t it tell us on its own? Make the recreated-source status
explicit and, where possible, show students how the classroom version relates to the original
document and to wider historical context.
Strong fit
Interpreting past experiences, decisions, and actions; make informed
ethical judgements about people’s actions in the past, basing them on historical evidence and
taking account of the attitudes and values of the times, the challenges people faced, and the
information available to them.
How this handout aligns
The source set, evidence ladder, and PEEL writing frame support historical reasoning from
evidence and help students evaluate a protest text in its time and in its later significance.
Aotearoa histories
Historical judgement
Source evidence
Best used when students are ready to move beyond event-retelling and into
the structure and purpose of historical argument.
Strong fit
Examining the literary, historical, cultural, and social context of a
text; drawing conclusions about an author’s purpose; and interpreting evidence from a text to
support conclusions about meaning.
How this handout aligns
The PEEL response and source-limits section support English-rich analysis of how language,
evidence, and purpose work together in a protest text.
English analysis
Authorial purpose
Evidence-based writing
Especially helpful for students who can find evidence but need stronger
reasoning about why it matters.
Aotearoa lens
Land-movement sources in Aotearoa should be taught with care for
whenua, whakapapa, and the lived consequences of land loss.
How to teach this well
Resist teaching the Land March as a dramatic symbol only. Keep students reading how the source
links land loss to identity, cultural continuity, and Crown obligation, and use local context
where that can be done well.
Mātauranga Māori
Whenua and whakapapa
Protest history
Strongest in sequences on protest, land, and redress where students later
compare multiple types of public argument.
Puna Kōrero — Sources
Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Learning Media.
Ministry of Education. (2021). Te Mātaiaho: The Refreshed New Zealand Curriculum. Ministry of Education.
Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. (2021). Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners. Teaching Council.