Did you know World Tsunami Awareness Day is on 5 November? How would you deal with this or other natural disasters? Do you have a plan? Check out the new-look ‘What’s the Plan, Stan?’ resource from the Ministry of Civil Defence.

‘What’s the Plan, Stan?’, a well-known guide for teaching emergency preparedness in primary classroom, has been updated.

As well as expanding the resource to include Years 1–7, there is information for school leaders, fact sheets and interactive quizzes, and suggestions for teaching and learning programmes focusing on emergency events and the impacts they could have on your community.

Meeting the Curriculum’s Vision

‘What’s the Plan, Stan’ aligns with the New Zealand Curriculum’s vision of what we want for young people, particularly regarding them being:

• Confident – resourceful and resilient enough to cope with emergency events;
• Connected – aware of hazards around them, and being responsible members of their communities through helping to reduce the risk of disasters;
• Actively involved – participating and contributing to the well-being of New Zealand by being prepared; and
• Lifelong learners – making informed decisions to keep themselves and others safe from the impacts for emergencies throughout their lives.

“When making decisions about your school’s local curriculum, ‘What’s the Plan, Stan’ is consistent with the NZ Curriculum’s principles of community engagement, coherence and future focus,” said Bridget Cheesman, Public Education Advisor, Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management. “It has meaning for students, connects with their wider lives, and engages the support of their families, wha-nau and communities.

Relevant to Key Competencies

Students need skills to live, learn, work and contribute as active members of their communities. ‘What’s the Plan, Stan’ is relevant is these key competencies:

• Participating and contributing: contributing to class discussion; participating in group tasks, especially those based on preparing for the impacts of emergency events; contributing ideas and problem solving strategies.
• Thinking: exploring new ideas; making connections with prior knowledge; thinking critically about actions and reactions; being a problem solver; being able to analyse real and hypothetical situations.
• Using language, symbols, and texts: recognising symbols or words that warn of hazards, or represent those that help you; Using clear language to describe a problem and its solution; creating texts about emergency preparedness for a target audience.
• Relating to others: showing empathy and care for classmates; working constructively as part of a group; demonstrating how to keep others safe as well as yourself.
• Managing self: acting safely and responsibly around equipment; able to work independently on a task; listening to and following instructions carefully; dealing with a hypothetical emergency situation in the same way you would deal with a real one; showing initiative.

Providing learning areas

And that’s not all. ‘What’s the Plan, Stan?’ also fits well under the following learning areas:

• Health and Physical Education: Safety Management
• Social Studies: Conceptual strands – Identity, Culture and Organisation; and Continuity and Change
• Science: Nature of Science and Planet Earth and Beyond

“Disaster awareness education can be a context for an integrated learning approach, including across other learning areas (English, Mathematics, Technology, The Arts and Learning Languages) and is suitable for use in LEOTC,” added Cheesman.

“The new-look ‘What’s the Plan, Stan’ guide will help teachers, students and schools learn to be even more prepared in the event of an emergency.”  

To access the ‘What’s the Plan, Stan’ resource go to whatstheplanstan.govt.nz. You can also sign up for Stan updates. Email emergency.management@dpmc.govt.nz with the subject ‘Sign me up for Stan’s News’ to receive alerts when new resources are added and when relevant events are coming up.