254710 Ruia taitea: Transforming Education

  In the immediate years following the signing of Te Tiriti, a tidal wave of British settlers arrived, starting a long history of colonisation and dehumanising of Māori. Tawhai (2023) states that “Māori continue to suffer entrenched inequalities” (p. 51). Te Tiriti provisions were not upheld, which has had huge implications for Māori self-determination and positive Māori development and educational outcomes (Tawhai, 2023). Te Tiriti and the Treaty of Waitangi are two distinct texts written in te reo Māori and English. Translation from English to te reo Māori meant some of the terms in English were not comparable with te reo Māori. The English version of The Treaty gave sovereignty to the Crown. Sovereignty was not a concept known to Māori who operated in smaller hapu/iwi groups. At no stage was the notion of sovereignty considered something that could be given away (Hēnare, 2018).   Colonisation created an education system where there is not complete and uninhibited access...

As a primary school teacher for 25 years, I have seen a number of curriculum documents land on staff room tables or be introduced in staff meetings. This week I have looked back at the curriculum documents that have existed in my years of teaching and how they have addressed or upheld Te Tiriti o Waitangi.  In my first year of teaching in 1999, I used the curriculum books that came in all different colours for each curriculum area. There was a NZ Curriculum Framework but this was not gazetted so the majority of teaching was done from individual subject area curriculum documents. These documents have some mention of the Treaty of Waitangi but more in a way of recognising that it exists rather than critically examining it. There are also pages for how to educate Māori, which comes under the overall heading that also includes gender, special needs and ESOL students which does seem to label Māori as a special case rather than tangata whenua. The Social Studies curriculum (MOE, 1997) in...

Week 4 - He Whakaputanga and Te Tiriti Over the years I have heard several different narratives around the Treaty of Waitangi. I purposely use the English name for this context because these dominant narratives serve the dominant culture of Aotearoa - Pākeha. One being that Māori just didn't understand what they were signing and that was essentially a "them" problem. Another being that Māori were desperate for help because they were sick of in-fighting. And another being that Māori were an uneducated savage race that needed colonising. When you actually take the time to listen, read and be truly open to accepting a different truth it is exceptionally evident that pre and post Te Tiriti, Māori have been dehumanised, marginalised and oppressed.  After Māori arrived in Aotearoa they lived in whānau and hapu groups, part of wider iwi groups that linked to the waka their ancestors travelled in across the ocean. Each hapu and iwi governed themselves and had their own unique s...

Last year I attended the New Zealand Association of Maths Teachers national conference and listened to Melinda Webber from the University of Auckland as a keynote speaker. One line of her address had a profound effect on me and has been stuck in my head, reverberating and causing reflection, ever since. When talking about the success and achievement of Māori students, she said “they can’t aspire to be, what they don’t see” (Webber, 2023), in relation to the influence of role models. This sentiment is also relayed in her report about supporting tamariki Māori to be successful in learning and education where she says that tamariki look to their whānau “for inspiration as the people they want to emulate.” (Bright & Webber, 2024, pg. 25.) When I relate this to my own education story, the influence of my close and wider family was immense. My parents were well educated, their parents were well educated and the expectation was that myself, my siblings and my cousins would be well educate...