{"id":41688,"date":"2025-11-14T04:09:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T04:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=41688"},"modified":"2025-11-14T04:09:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T04:09:48","slug":"reframes-history-fears-maori-knowledge-diluted-in-plan-to-revise-new-zealand-curriculum-maori","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2025\/11\/14\/reframes-history-fears-maori-knowledge-diluted-in-plan-to-revise-new-zealand-curriculum-maori\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Reframes history\u2019: fears M\u0101ori knowledge diluted in plan to revise New Zealand curriculum | M\u0101ori"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">As cows grazed sleepily in a nearby paddock, then-14-year-old Leah Bell watched as a local M\u0101ori elder cried.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">She was standing at the site of the massacre at Rangiaowhia, where M\u0101ori were deliberately burnt to death by the British crown in 1864. The site was just down the road from her Waikato high school. But she had never heard about it; in history, they\u2019d been learning about the American civil war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">That \u201cshameful\u201d realisation led Bell and her classmates to organise a 13,000 strong petition to parliament in 2015, as part of a groundswell of young people pushed for the teaching of accurate New Zealand history, including the wars over land, in schools. This was made compulsory in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Now, the government wants to rewrite the history curriculum, removing and revising M\u0101ori history content and cutting some M\u0101ori words and references to the country\u2019s foundational document, the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) from the overall syllabus.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"62ec679e-ca81-4b72-8bd0-74bde9f3b065\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-47fhrn\"><gu-island name=\"RichLinkComponent\" priority=\"feature\" deferuntil=\"idle\" props=\"{&quot;richLinkIndex&quot;:4,&quot;element&quot;:{&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement&quot;,&quot;prefix&quot;:&quot;Related: &quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Backlash after New Zealand government scraps rules on incorporating M\u0101ori culture in classrooms&quot;,&quot;elementId&quot;:&quot;62ec679e-ca81-4b72-8bd0-74bde9f3b065&quot;,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;richLink&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2025\/nov\/04\/new-zealand-maori-culture-school-classrooms-government-scraps-rules&quot;},&quot;ajaxUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk&quot;,&quot;format&quot;:{&quot;design&quot;:10,&quot;display&quot;:2,&quot;theme&quot;:0}}\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Teachers, principals and academics are among the critics of the government\u2019s planned reforms, which they say erases M\u0101ori knowledge and re-introduces rigid and outdated education methods.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cIt\u2019s deeply alarming,\u201d says Bell, 26, who is of P\u0101keha (European New Zealand) \u2013<strong> <\/strong>descent and is now a masters student in M\u0101ori and indigenous studies at Waikato University. \u201cWhy are they trying to reframe this history? We need to grapple with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The proposed curriculum covers students in primary to junior high, aged between 5 and 14 years old.<strong> <\/strong>Those who have helped to write or oversee the changes say it\u2019s a long-awaited move to a \u201cdiscipline-driven\u201d approach, which will lift school results and \u201crebalance\u201d the curriculum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Yet many see the changes as politically-driven and part of what they say is a wider attack on M\u0101ori language and culture in schools. It comes as more than 200 schools petition the government to reinstate a rule for school boards to ensure M\u0101ori was included in classrooms, and after M\u0101ori words were scrapped from some early readers.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"eurocentric-focus\" class=\"dcr-12ibh7f\">\u2018Eurocentric\u2019 focus<\/h2>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Work on a new curriculum had begun under former prime minister Jacinda Ardern, and a \u201crefreshed\u201d English and maths curriculum was released late last year. But the release of a final version of these subject areas last month-along with drafts of overarching documents and social sciences, which includes history-has caused distress.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"2b769dce-31ca-4100-9fc5-ccbcf276f5d7\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-173mewl\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-fd61eq\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><svg width=\"18\" height=\"13\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 13\"><path d=\"M18 3.5v8l-1.5 1.5h-15l-1.5-1.5v-8l1.5-1.5h3.5l2-2h4l2 2h3.5l1.5 1.5zm-9 7.5c1.9 0 3.5-1.6 3.5-3.5s-1.6-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5 1.6-3.5 3.5 1.6 3.5 3.5 3.5z\"\/><\/svg><\/span> Photograph: Phil Walter\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">M\u0101ori educators who worked on drafts say it is \u201cunrecognisable,\u201d dropping M\u0101ori themes, words, and references to the country\u2019s foundational document. New Zealand history will still be taught, but has been re-written in a way that\u2019s eurocentric, says Nepia Mahuika, an associate professor in history at Massey University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cIt doesn\u2019t critique nationalism as you would expect in social sciences histories, it removes M\u0101ori content and replaces it with a world focus. We\u2019ve always been skeptical of when you work with the state and what happens to indigenous histories, and you can see why.\u201d Teachers and unions say the draft, out for consultation for six months, contains too much prescriptive content, with higher academic expectations at younger year levels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Education minister Erica Stanford told the Guardian she \u201cabsolutely rejected\u201d assertions it was sidelining M\u0101ori.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cSocial science needs to include New Zealand history, world history, geography, civics and financial literacy. It\u2019s quite a big learning area \u2026 what we found was that the previous government\u2019s history curriculum was so encompassing that there was no time to do anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Overall the curriculum was too vague, lacked consistency, and was not \u201cknowledge-rich,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">New Zealand pupils had \u201ctanked\u201d in OECD education rankings over the last 20 years, and this was designed to lift attainment, she said. M\u0101ori knowledge remained throughout, improved results showed her structured literacy approach was already working.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe core tenet of the treaty is that we raise M\u0101ori achievement, and nobody has been able to do that. That is my responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">But part of the coalition government\u2019s agreement with the libertarian ACT party included a policy to \u201crebalance\u201d the curriculum. In a statement on social media, ACT leader David Seymour applauded the changes, saying the curriculum had been \u201cfixed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThe Marxist \u2018big ideas\u2019 such as \u2018M\u0101ori history is the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa New Zealand\u2019 and \u2018The course of Aotearoa New Zealand\u2019s histories has been shaped by the use of power\u2019 are GONE. In their place is a new and balanced History Curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Paul Moon, a professor of history at Auckland\u2019s University of Technology, agreed the re-write was more holistic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cThere was a monolithic view of what colonisation is, which was P\u0101keha coming here and taking over the political institutions of the country and dominating pretty much everything. The very broad brushstroke good v bad view of things is not helpful, because it\u2019s not real. It\u2019s not as simple as it was made out.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"2d81a911-b275-4002-9830-806e08069baa\" data-spacefinder-role=\"showcase\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-5h0uf4\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-9ktzqp\"><span class=\"dcr-1inf02i\"><svg width=\"18\" height=\"13\" viewbox=\"0 0 18 13\"><path d=\"M18 3.5v8l-1.5 1.5h-15l-1.5-1.5v-8l1.5-1.5h3.5l2-2h4l2 2h3.5l1.5 1.5zm-9 7.5c1.9 0 3.5-1.6 3.5-3.5s-1.6-3.5-3.5-3.5-3.5 1.6-3.5 3.5 1.6 3.5 3.5 3.5z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">Mt Cook School principal Adrianne McAllister with early reader At the Marae. Wellington, New Zealand, November 2025<\/span> Photograph: Michelle Duff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"going-back-to-the-past\" class=\"dcr-12ibh7f\">\u2018Going back to the past\u2019<\/h2>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">For many on the frontline, still negotiating pay and conditions and now tasked with introducing a new curriculum next year, there is disillusionment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">At Mt Cook School in Wellington, principal Adrianne McAllister, of Te Aitanga o Mahaki descent, said it felt as if they were battling a barrage of change that amounted to an erasure of M\u0101ori. She was worried about students at her school, who she said learned best when they saw themselves reflected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWhose knowledge is this? We want kids to be critical thinkers, to dissect information. We know this one-size fits all approach doesn\u2019t work. It\u2019s like going back to the past, and it didn\u2019t work then. It\u2019s just draining, and it breaks my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Others see this as a deliberate step backwards, one that has happened before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cWe were finally breaking the cycle of historical amnesia about our country\u2019s past,\u201d pre-eminent historian Vincent O\u2019Malley said. \u201cAnd now we\u2019re putting it all at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Reframes #history #fears #M\u0101ori #knowledge #diluted #plan #revise #Zealand #curriculum #M\u0101ori<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As cows grazed sleepily in a nearby paddock, then-14-year-old Leah Bell watched as a local M\u0101ori elder cried. She was&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41689,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41688\/revisions\/41689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}