They made statements after the curriculum, Te Takanga o Te Wā, was launched at Sylvia Park School in the Auckland suburb of Mount Wellington this morning.
Ardern said the teaching of the history curriculum will formally begin in 2023.
"With all of the disruptions of Covid there was a keenness for them to have a bit more time and so that's why the formal enactment begins next year," she said.
Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti says she is excited schools will have the rest of the year to prepare and the government will have time to prepare the resources to back it up.
She says the refresh of the school curriculums is scheduled over the next five years and it will be progressed in stages. The social studies curriculum is now out for review as well.
"Also the vision for young people and this is an exciting part of the curriculum, this is the first time in this country that we've got a vision for young people that is created by young people."
Ardern says it feels like a really important day. Hearing the children speaking with confidence and pride about what they had learned, and the stories and history they had learned, has moved her, she says.
She says the recognition of Tuia 250 was a change to rightly put emphasis on the navigational history of New Zealand.
"Yes, learning about James Cook's journey here, but also learning about the navigation that came with double-hulled waka prior to that. And children and young people learning the skills that it took in order to do that."
The curriculum has taken three years to develop, she says, a long time.
"We took our time because yes some of these conversations did bring out the different views that people had about what parts of our history should there be emphasis on, what should be included.
"For me though, one of the most important things about New Zealand history in schools is it does give us a better understanding of one another, through learning more about Māori, about the migrant history of Pasifika, our Asian communities. Across the board it's all part of who we are and it's all part of this curriculum.
She says there is professional development in support of the curriculum. Tinetti says there are also models of resourcing already available, with models for instance including how libraries can support schools in teaching the new curriculum.
Ardern says not every student has had the same opportunity to learn about New Zealand history in school as she did.
"And more consistently. It would be very rare to find a country that didn't teach its own history so I think this is about New Zealand joining the pack and being proud to teach our kids about where we've come from in all its parts - those stories that are harder for us to learn and hear and those stories we feel proud of too."
