Parliament Choices

Overview

Students investigate how political parties’ stated priorities link to how organisations (including governments) manage resources and make decisions. Using the prompt “NZ Act Party for 2026: candidates and what they stand for”, students practise matching claims to evidence and considering stakeholders—skills that support Commerce learning and NCEA-style understanding.

Learning intentions

• Students will describe key candidates for ACT Party for 2026 and summarise what ACT says it stands for.
• Students will link party priorities to potential financial implications for a “nation-as-an-organisation”.
• Students will use a simple financial tool/model to make a reasoned judgement about organisational viability and trade-offs.
• Students will consider pūtake and explain how it shapes views about priorities.

Success criteria

• I can name at least two ACT Party candidates mentioned in the media source and describe their relevance.
• I can summarise ACT’s key “stands for” themes from the provided text in my own words.
• I can identify at least two possible financial implications for a government if those priorities were followed.
• I can use a model (e.g., cost/benefit or cost/volume/profit logic) to support my reasoning and acknowledge pūtake.

Curriculum links

• Business Studies (Commerce): demonstrate understanding of financial viability by describing effects of factors and actions to sustain viability.
• Business Studies (Commerce): use a concept or model to support descriptions and reasoning about organisational behaviour.
• Key competencies: thinking (reasoning with evidence), managing self (participation and accountability), relating to others (stakeholder viewpoints).
• Social Sciences capability: informed decision-making and participation.

Lesson structure (61 minutes)

1. 0–6 min · Starter (Hook). Teacher shows a printed excerpt from the article about Paul Henry standing for ACT and asks: “What changes in an organisation when leadership/public profile changes?” Students do a quick “2–3 sentence write” on how a public-facing candidate might affect trust and decisions.

2. 6–16 min · Direct teach: Candidates & stands for. Teacher models extracting information: candidate name, role/status, and “stands for” themes (freedom, rewarding success, less bureaucracy, lower expectations, debt). Students highlight evidence phrases in the text, then fill a teacher-provided table: Candidate | What we know | Likely audience message.

3. 16–28 min · Group task: stakeholder lens. Teacher explains that governments make financial decisions that affect stakeholders (people who fund/benefit/are affected by policy). Students in 3 groups list stakeholders for “a country’s priorities” and match each stakeholder to a likely impact (e.g., taxpayers, workers, services users, future generations).

4. 28–40 min · Model practice: cost/benefit logic. Teacher introduces a simple model: “If a government prioritises X, what are the benefits and costs in the short and long term?” Students complete a cost/benefit grid for two ACT priority themes taken from the article (e.g., reducing bureaucracy/“bigger government”, emphasis on opportunity and “success”, debt concern). They must include at least one “future generations” idea.

5. 40–52 min · Accountability check: pūtake connection. Teacher prompts students to consider pūtake as the reason behind how they interpret evidence and values (e.g., experience with services, belief about freedom, concerns about debt). Students write a brief paragraph: “My pūtake is… because… It leads me to think ACT’s priorities could…”.

6. 52–59 min · Kahoot review. Teacher runs a Kahoot quiz with questions covering: candidate info from the text, “stands for” themes, and model vocabulary (benefit/cost/trade-off/stakeholder). Students answer individually, then discuss one question they got wrong (why it mattered).

7. 59–61 min · Exit ticket. Teacher asks: “Choose one ACT theme. State one financial effect and one stakeholder impact.” Students submit a 3–4 line response on paper.

Resources

• Printed article excerpt about Paul Henry standing for ACT Party (or a clean class copy)
• Candidate & stands-for table template (1 per student)
• Stakeholder impact worksheet (group)
• Cost/benefit grid worksheet (group)
• Pūtake prompt paragraph scaffold (sentence starters)
• Kahoot quiz prepared (question set + answer key)
• Timer/slide with lesson success criteria

Assessment

• Formative: teacher checks highlighting and the candidate table during the modelling phase.
• Formative: collect cost/benefit grids—look for clear effects, trade-offs, and use of model language.
• Exit ticket: verify each student can state one financial effect and one stakeholder impact using evidence from the text.

Differentiation

• Support: provide sentence starters for “ACT stands for…”, “A benefit could be…”, “A cost could be…”, and “My pūtake is…”.
• Support: offer a partially completed model grid for students who need structure.
• Challenge: ask advanced students to add a second model layer (e.g., “short vs long term”) and justify which stakeholder could be most affected.
• EAL/SEN: allow responses as bullet points; accept summarised paraphrases rather than full paragraphs.