ESS Educators Professional Network

Progress Since Tauranga

One of the useful outcomes from our discussions at the ESSENZ 2025 Conference in Tauranga was hearing directly from tertiary and industry representatives about some of the barriers they see in the current ESS pathway, particularly around student confidence and capability in mathematics.

In response, ESSENZ has been working to address some of these issues:

Mathematics in ESS: Mathematics has now been explicitly embedded within the new senior ESS curriculum, helping to strengthen the mathematical component of the subject and better prepare students for tertiary study.
Geoscience data: We are developing professional learning and resources around the use of geoscience data, including climate-related resources being developed with Shaun Eaves from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
Mathematics in Astronomy: We are also developing resources and professional learning around mathematics in astronomy with Yvette Perrott from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
EarthFest: EarthFest is keen to explore the development of a national roadshow showcasing the geoscience kaupapa, which could provide an excellent way of bringing current science, scientists and career pathways directly into schools.

Curriculum Progress

We have made good inroads in developing an engaging senior subject aligned with the new secondary school qualification. This should be published before the end of October. You may be aware that the science curriculum covering Years 1-10 has recently been released. ESSENZ tried hard to be a part of the writing process but we were denied by the Ministry of Education at every stage. Unfortunately, this has led to ESS being minimised and marginalised somewhat. Some estimates would put ESS at around 10% of teaching time in Years 9 and 10, while Biology is nearer to 50%!

Dr Shaun Eaves

Many thanks to Shaun at Vic uni who has helped ESSENZ to access climate data and produce awesome teaching resources. These take advantage of tools like Climate Reanalyzer and enable students to investigate climate patterns like SAM and ENSO. He has also produced an awesome website.

Dr Yvette Perrot

A big shout out to Yvette also at Vic uni who has been helping us to integrate maths into astronomy and ran a webinar through our network to support teachers in astronomy. She has also help produce some teaching resources that will enable teachers to engage with the new Phase 5 curriculum.

Projects that need your support

International Earth Sciences Olympiad

https://www.ieso2026-to.com/

New Zealand has had recent success in sending students to a range of international olympiads, where our best students compete against other countries. We didn’t manage to get a team to Turin this year, but we are aiming to send a team next year, but we can’t do it alone. We need to:

Establish a leadership committee of about five people
We need Tertiary support to help with tutorials once the team has been selected
Sponsorship to help cover the ~$20,000 travel and entry costs, and make sure that the opportunity is available to all students, not just those who can afford it.

An Earth Science Olympiad team would provide a powerful way of raising the profile of ESS and demonstrating to students that Earth Science is a discipline in which New Zealand can compete internationally. Our key contact for this project is Erin Nolan (erin.nolan@whs.co.nz).

2026 ESSENZ Conference in Canterbury

We are running another Teacher’s conference on 6th to 8th October based at Canterbury University. This will include a “Pathways” section where tertiary/industry representatives can talk directly to our members about opportunities available to students. Please get in touch if you would like to be involved as we would be very keen to hear from you.

This section is being managed by Keith Hartle (khartle28@gmail.com) and will run between 11 am and 1 pm near the Rutherford room. If you are unable to attend in person but have branded merchandise, resources or other material that could be shared with teachers and students, we would also be very happy to put these to good use.

Supporting and Upskilling Teachers

ESSENZ is building the capability and confidence of teachers of ESS. There are relatively few teachers who specialise in Earth and Space Science, and many teachers have limited opportunities to connect with practising scientists, university academics and industry professionals. We therefore want to develop a network, revenue streams and partnerships that can help teachers attend conferences, workshops and professional learning opportunities, while also creating opportunities for them to connect directly with the wider ESS community.

Wherever you are in the country we will be able to put you in touch with schools and teachers. However, these opportunities work best when they are closely aligned with the curriculum, and we can help develop initiatives that work well for both organisations.

Creating a more connected community

More broadly, we are looking at ways to streamline how schools, universities, industry and the subject association connect with one another. There are many people around New Zealand doing excellent work in Earth and Space Science education and outreach, but the connections between us are not always obvious. ESSENZ can provide a centralised point of contact through which universities and industry can connect with teachers and lecturers around the country, and through which schools can access expertise, resources, speakers, career information and opportunities for students.

A whakataukī that captures what we are trying to achieve is:

He waka eke noa – We are all in this together.

I personally believe that the Earth Sciences are some of the most important areas of science for our Akonga to learn about, so we can meet the many environmental challenges facing us. The solution is to increase engagement with ESS, the number of students choosing ESS at school, progressing into tertiary study and ultimately entering the New Zealand workforce. So we need to build the pathway together.

We understand that we all have full time jobs and this is on top of our day-to-day. However, we would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on how your organisation could contribute to this work, whether through expertise, resources, mentoring, professional learning, student opportunities, sponsorship or simply helping us connect the right people.

Please reach out to Justin and Jim to be involved.

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