Academics: Treaty and Māori Content in History

Academics critical of Treaty and Māori content in history curriculum

The Government is being called on to conduct an immediate inquiry into the history curriculum to fill gaps in the teaching of Māori history in New Zealand schools.

The call comes from the Head of Māori Studies at Victoria University Peter Adds and Dr Richard Manning from the University of Canterbury’s School of Māori, Social and Cultural Studies.

In a joint statement the two academics say that in addition to an inquiry into the design and delivery processes of the history curriculum, Ministry curriculum officials should be required to consult with iwi and Māori organisations such as Te Pouhere Korero (the Māori Historians’ Association), to ensure that Māori perspectives are appropriately represented and embedded in the design and delivery of the history curriculum.

They add that teachers must also be given appropriate resources and professional development opportunities to enhance their abilities to teach about Māori histories.

“This is especially important if the Minister for Education states that this is a ‘bicultural’ curriculum” and the national curriculum document states that it “acknowledges the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi”, they say.

They are critical of a new draft history curriculum that will give greater freedom for teachers to pick and choose topics even if New Zealand contexts can be explored.

“This means Māori historical content will remain vulnerable, particularly if there is a lack of clear direction from the Crown instructing teachers that they ‘must’ address Māori contexts, concepts and perspectives.”

They add that “research suggests history teachers often avoid Māori content because they and their non-Māori students, parents and colleagues feel Māori topics are too controversial.”

Speaking at a public lecture at New Plymouth's Pukeariki Museum late last month, Peter Adds said the lack of Māori perspectives in secondary school history and social studies curriculum was having damaging social effects.

“(It) has a profoundly negative effect on the attitudes and views of New Zealanders on a range of important contemporary issues affecting race relations in our country today," he said. He has since been backed by other prominent academics, including Dr Richard Manning, Coordinator of the Treaty Education Programme at the University of Canterbury College of Education.

In a study of the status of Te Ātiawa and Māori histories in Wellington and Hutt Valley Secondary schools, Dr Manning discovered many schools were neglecting Māori historical content. He compared these results with a 2005 national survey by the New Zealand History Teachers Association (NZHTA).

His research showed that 71% of the 24 schools he surveyed “avoided” the NCEA level 1 topic: Māori and Pākehā (1912-1980); while 77% of 126 schools surveyed by the NZHTA “side-stepped” it. Both surveys also revealed that no schools were teaching three of the four new “Māori history” topics that the Ministry of Education introduced in 2001.

Dr Manning also shared concern about the status of Māori histories at the NCEA level 2. None of the schools surveyed by the NZHTA, or Dr Manning, taught the new Māori history topics introduced by the Ministry in 2002 and most schools in both surveys did not offer the older Nineteenth Century Māori Leadership topic.

Overall, Dr Manning’s survey revealed that 29% of the schools he surveyed did not offer a Māori topic in any of their NCEA levels 1-3 history programmes.

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