Policy.nz for Schools

We’ve worked with teachers and educators to create activity plans that help students learn about the values and policy trade-offs at the heart of the election.

Using Policy.nz as a tool for learning

“This is quite possibly the best website that we used in the last 4 years, it was extremely engaging and all students enjoyed being educated using this website.” — Year 7/8 teacher, Oaklands School, Christchurch

Policy.nz is great for teaching students about election issues: it’s comprehensive, neutral, accessible, and easy to use. We’ve made it even easier for teachers to use Policy.nz as a tool for learning by creating a range of activity plans for adapting for your classrooms.

Policy.nz for Schools activity plans

Policy.nz for Schools activity plans are one-page resources that help teachers guide students through significant electoral issues, focussing on the values, priorities, and impacts that policies have on different groups of people and encouraging students to ask questions and challenge their assumptions.

Each activity plan covers the background of an issue, linking students to reputable and student-friendly sources, and guides students to use the Policy.nz tool to explore and reflect on different election policies. Most plans are aimed at social studies or geography students, but some will be suitable for economics, science, and business studies.

The local government resources include nine activity plans across six topics. You can download the resources by clicking on the links below:

Getting started (onboarding advice and 3 activity plans)

Climate change

Freshwater

Housing

Jobs and economy

Rates and revenue

Transport

Click here to download all resources

Who are the activity plans for?

The activity plans are aimed at curriculum level 5, but are designed to be simplified or advanced to teach students from Year 7 to Year 13.

Our activity plans help students learn about democracy, values, and policy trade-offs, and are designed to strengthen students’ ability to make value-based decisions and to understand why people make decisions that are different to their own.

Who made these activity plans?

The Policy.nz team worked with Michael Moore-Jones and Maria and Kimberley at the Aotearoa Social Studies Educators' Network (ASSEN) to create these activity plans for the 2020 general election, and have updated them for the 2022 local elections. We also thank Mike Taylor of Taita College and Bronwyn Wood and Robin Averill of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington for their comments.

Have comments or feedback?

Want to contribute an activity plan of your own?

We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch at schools@policy.nz

Policy.nz for Schools

We’ve worked with teachers and educators to create activity plans that help students learn about the values and policy trade-offs at the heart of the election.

Using Policy.nz as a tool for learning

“This is quite possibly the best website that we used in the last 4 years, it was extremely engaging and all students enjoyed being educated using this website.” — Year 7/8 teacher, Oaklands School, Christchurch

Policy.nz is great for teaching students about election issues: it’s comprehensive, neutral, accessible, and easy to use. We’ve made it even easier for teachers to use Policy.nz as a tool for learning by creating a range of activity plans for adapting for your classrooms.

Policy.nz for Schools activity plans

Policy.nz for Schools activity plans are one-page resources that help teachers guide students through significant electoral issues, focussing on the values, priorities, and impacts that policies have on different groups of people and encouraging students to ask questions and challenge their assumptions.

Each activity plan covers the background of an issue, linking students to reputable and student-friendly sources, and guides students to use the Policy.nz tool to explore and reflect on different election policies. Most plans are aimed at social studies or geography students, but some will be suitable for economics, science, and business studies.

The local government resources include nine activity plans across six topics. You can download the resources by clicking on the links below:

Getting started (onboarding advice and 3 activity plans)

Climate change

Freshwater

Housing

Jobs and economy

Rates and revenue

Transport

Click here to download all resources

Who are the activity plans for?

The activity plans are aimed at curriculum level 5, but are designed to be simplified or advanced to teach students from Year 7 to Year 13.

Our activity plans help students learn about democracy, values, and policy trade-offs, and are designed to strengthen students’ ability to make value-based decisions and to understand why people make decisions that are different to their own.

Who made these activity plans?

The Policy.nz team worked with Michael Moore-Jones and Maria and Kimberley at the Aotearoa Social Studies Educators' Network (ASSEN) to create these activity plans for the 2020 general election, and have updated them for the 2022 local elections. We also thank Mike Taylor of Taita College and Bronwyn Wood and Robin Averill of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington for their comments.

Have comments or feedback?

Want to contribute an activity plan of your own?

We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch at schools@policy.nz