Children will learn about money management and the origins of Moriori but not about climate change in their first 10 years at school thanks to newly-published curriculums.

The year 0-10 Science and Social Sciences curriculums were published this week and contained less content than draft versions widely-criticised for being over-stuffed with things to learn.

Both curriculums dropped all mention of climate change, despite it being in the earlier drafts, meaning students would not study the topic in any depth until the senior secondary school.

A document summarising submitters’ comments said some argued climate change should not be covered in year 5 geography because it was too complex and noted that the curriculum it would replace left the topic till year 11.

University of Waikato education professor Chris Eames said the change was a massive omission and it was no consolation that the topic was included in the draft years 11-13 geography and science curriculums.

“Climate change is a subject that people do find a bit challenging in some of the younger years of schooling. However, to leave it out completely up to the age of 14 seems an incredible and bewildering step to take,” he said.

“I could imagine there would be students turning up to class when the latest flood has happened in their community, asking questions about how do we stop this from happening, why has this happened and a teacher who has the best of intentions, has perhaps a limited understanding of climate change and how these things have occurred, will be struggling to provide the answers.

“It just does not seem right that the the Ministry of Education can put our young people into this position. They have to address this issue.”

Eames said the word “climate” did not appear once in the science curriculum.

“Now, that seems incredible. Climate is a key part of the atmospheric systems that we’re operating in… it does beg the question who has made that decision,” he said.

Intermediate school science teacher John Marsh told RNZ primary teachers would cover climate change because they could not avoid it when teaching about topics like habitats and the water cycle.

“By and large, New Zealand teachers have a pretty good understanding of what climate change is all about and they will talk about it,” he said.

Marsh said the final science curriculum was a big improvement on the draft.

“It’s obvious they’ve listened and there’s some local content. They’ve removed some stuff which I thought was not age appropriate and it looks very clear, very simple and quite a nice way of kind of setting it up,” he said.

However, Marsh said the final document was still too light on teaching children the process of science such as interpreting data.

“It’s very content-heavy. I suppose that’s the nature of science in some ways but it’d be nice to have a a bit more about that process front and centre,” he said.

Marsh said the new curriculum would not change his teaching much, but he worried regular primary teachers would struggle if they did not get good training and support.

He said they would be heavily reliant on the science kits the government was funding to support science lessons.

Principals Federation president Jason Miles said the two new curriculums had less in them than the drafts, but there was still more than schools could cover in a 40-week year.

“In science and social sciences we have an hour a week in the primary environment to teach the the curriculum, and there are up to 50 or 60 goals that are listed per year,” he said.

He said that could not be done, especially in classrooms that had more than one year group.

“We have 93% of our schools across Aotearoa have composite classes, which means there’s more than one year level in each class… How the teachers are to teach those goals to two different year levels is very complicated and untenable,” he said.

The New Zealand History Teachers Association said in a statement it welcomed changes that had been made to the Social Sciences curriculum, including a reduction in the amount of content that had been in the draft.

“We are also pleased to see significant Aotearoa New Zealand histories explicitly included, such as the New Zealand Wars/Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa at Year 9,” it said.

But the association said there was still too much content and too much prescription of what must be taught.

It also warned that schools had little time to prepare to start teaching the curriculum from next year.

“This is especially important for primary and intermediate teachers teaching complex contexts such as He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi,” it said.

A ministry report on feedback to the social sciences draft curriculum said 578 of 637 email submissions concerned the holocaust, resulting in greater coverage of it within an optional history topic about Nazi Germany.

It said submitters supported the shift to more explicit content, but warned the draft had tried to cover too much.

“Overall, feedback showed support for a clearer and more explicit social sciences learning area, particularly the separation into distinct strands, year-level expectations, and the potential for greater consistency across schools. Submitters also valued specific inclusions such as civics, democracy, financial education, volunteering, environmental issues, Moriori history, and holocaust education,” it said.

“However, feedback also identified substantial concerns that the draft learning area placed too much emphasis on prescribed content and coverage, and not enough on inquiry, skills, critical thinking, local contexts, and student agency. Many questioned whether the volume and complexity of content could be taught well within the available time, especially in primary settings and composite classrooms.”

The ministry said in a statement feedback from consultation and subject matter experts showed climate change was best taught in ways that matched students’ age and stage of learning.

“While the term climate change may not appear in the curriculum content, the science that underpins it is taught throughout the science learning area,” it said.

“Students learn how climate systems work and why climate change happens. They also learn about climate change impacts through social sciences. This includes topics such as sea level rise in Pacific Islands and New Zealand’s coastal environment, the links between rainfall and flooding, and the effects of tropical rainforest deforestation on climate.”