Best for
Lessons about fairness, power, community decision-making, and how values shape economic choices in Aotearoa.
Unit 4 Economic Justice • Social Studies • Years 9-10
Economic Systems Comparison
Compare how different systems answer the same questions: What is wealth for? Who decides? What matters most when resources are limited? Use the grid below to move from slogans to careful social analysis in an Aotearoa context.
Free classroom starter, premium localisation path
This comparison page is classroom-ready now. If your school wants it localised around housing, freshwater, food resilience, or iwi enterprise examples in your region, Te Wānanga can adapt it around those contexts.
- Add regional case studies or local council/community decisions.
- Generate junior and senior comparison versions from the same frame.
- Save the adapted sequence into My Kete or Creation Studio.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 35-50 minutes.
- Grouping: Pairs or table groups for discussion before writing.
- Prep: Choose one local challenge to anchor the comparison.
- Teaching move: Avoid caricatures. The goal is to compare values and consequences, not reduce systems to cartoons.
Resources already provided
- Comparison table with shared guiding questions
- Local challenge application prompt
- Reflection and justification space
- Teacher-only curriculum companion
This page gives students a structure for comparison without forcing a false “one perfect system” answer.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning how economic systems are shaped by values and power.
- We are learning how different systems respond to the same community challenge.
- We are learning how to justify a position with evidence and reasoning.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can compare at least two systems using the same criteria.
- I can explain how decisions affect communities differently.
- I can justify which response I think is strongest and why.
Curriculum integration / Te Mātaiaho alignment
This resource fits best when students need to compare how formal and informal groups make decisions and what those choices mean for communities.
Why this matters in Aotearoa
Students in Aotearoa encounter debates about housing, public services, whenua, wages, iwi development, and environmental protection all the time. They need practice comparing how different systems would answer those questions.
Kaupapa Māori approaches should not be treated as a frozen “traditional add-on”. They remain living, diverse, and active in contemporary enterprise, collective development, and stewardship shaped by mātauranga Māori, rangatiratanga, and intergenerational responsibility.
Comparison grid
| Question | Market-first approach | Public / common-good approach | Kaupapa Māori approach |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is the main purpose of wealth? | __________________ | __________________ | __________________ |
| Who makes the big decisions? | __________________ | __________________ | __________________ |
| What matters when resources are limited? | __________________ | __________________ | __________________ |
| How is whenua or taiao treated? | __________________ | __________________ | __________________ |
| What counts as success? | __________________ | __________________ | __________________ |
Apply it to a local challenge
Choose one challenge: rising rents, polluted waterways, food insecurity, or youth employment.
Challenge chosen: _________________________________________________
How would a market-first approach respond? ____________________________
How would a public / common-good approach respond? __________________
How would a kaupapa Māori approach respond? ________________________
Whose voice is centred?
Which people gain the most influence in each model? Which people are easiest to overlook?
My judgement
Which approach or blended response do you think best serves communities in Aotearoa? Explain using evidence from the grid and your challenge case.
Support / Core / Stretch
- Support: Compare only two columns first and add the third later.
- Core: Complete the full grid and justify one position.
- Stretch: Design a blended response and explain what tensions it still creates.
Neurodiversity and inclusion note
Offer oral rehearsal, colour-coded comparison, or cut-up cards before students write paragraphs. Keep the task open enough that students can reason through examples rather than memorise definitions.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Investigate social, cultural, environmental, and economic questions; gather and evaluate evidence from diverse sources; communicate findings and reasoning clearly for different audiences and purposes.
English — Communication
Level 3–4: Read, interpret, and evaluate information texts; write clearly and purposefully for specific audiences; apply critical thinking skills to evaluate sources and construct well-reasoned responses.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
This resource sits within a kaupapa that recognises mātauranga Māori as a living knowledge system with its own frameworks, values, and ways of understanding the world. The New Zealand Curriculum calls for learning that reflects the bicultural partnership of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which means every subject area has an obligation to engage authentically with Māori perspectives — not as cultural decoration but as substantive contributions to how we understand our topics. The concepts of manaakitanga (care for others), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), whanaungatanga (relationship and belonging), and tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) provide a values framework applicable across all learning areas, and all are relevant to the work in this handout.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. Related resources from the same unit are linked in the unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to critically examine economic systems — understanding how wealth, power, and resources are distributed in Aotearoa New Zealand, and exploring indigenous and alternative economic frameworks that prioritise collective wellbeing, mana, and tino rangatiratanga over individual accumulation.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can explain how economic inequality is produced and sustained through systems, not just individual choices.
- ✅ Students can describe at least one alternative economic model — including a Māori or indigenous framework — that challenges dominant assumptions about wealth and justice.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide structured comparison frameworks (e.g., two-column tables: "current system vs alternative") for entry-level access. Offer extension tasks asking students to research a specific Māori economic enterprise (e.g., Ngāi Tahu Holdings, Tainui Group Holdings) and evaluate how it balances commercial success with cultural values.
ELL / ESOL: Economic concepts (equity, redistribution, exploitation, surplus value, collective ownership) need concrete grounding — use local NZ examples and visual infographics. Allow oral discussion of economic justice issues before written analysis. Draw connections to students' home countries' economic systems as valid comparative frameworks.
Inclusion: Economic discussions can touch on students' lived experiences of poverty, precarity, or privilege — create a safe, non-judgmental space. Neurodiverse learners benefit from concrete case studies rather than abstract theory. Frame economic justice as a systems problem, not a personal failing — this reframe is both accurate and inclusive.
Mātauranga Māori lens: The Māori economy before colonisation was not "primitive" — it was a sophisticated system of reciprocal exchange (utu), collective resource management (rāhui, kaitiakitanga), redistribution through manaakitanga, and wealth measured in relationships and obligations rather than individual accumulation. Colonisation deliberately disrupted these systems through land confiscation and the introduction of individual title. Contemporary Māori economic development — through iwi corporations, Māori land trusts, and social enterprises — represents a reclamation of rangatiratanga in the economic sphere. The concept of ōhanga Māori (Māori economy) offers a genuinely alternative framework for thinking about justice, sufficiency, and collective flourishing.
Prior knowledge: Students benefit from basic familiarity with how markets and governments work. No specialist economics knowledge required — the unit builds this progressively through accessible case studies.
Curriculum alignment
- The Economic World — Social Studies: Understand how economic decisions affect people, communities, and environments, and how different groups seek to influence economic systems and outcomes.
- Understand — Social Studies: Systems shape how people and groups organise themselves — including economic systems that distribute power, rights, and resources.