This current government is no different. In its first term, and seeking to distinguish itself, it is making a series of educational reforms that place inordinate and unnecessary pressure on a teaching workforce that is widely understood to be overburdened and under-resourced.
As Minister of Education in the previous government, Chris Hipkins embarked on a similar programme of reform with an unparalleled restructuring of the polytechnic sector, consolidating existing institutions into Te Pūkenga.
The consequences were devastating for the polytech sector and the reforms were undone, with at least as much destructive intent and outcome as they were created.
It was an unholy mess made and unmade for ideological purposes. The same thing is happening now, led by the current Minister of Education, Erica Stanford, but in the compulsory school sector. That is, deliberately to our kids.
Erica Stanford is a confident advocate for her agenda. She advances two principal, but contrary arguments.
First she argues that her proposed changes will improve educational outcomes for Māori students. Second she says that the systematic removal of Māori language, te Tiriti and Māori history from the curriculum is necessary to meet broader educational objectives.
She advances no evidence of the former, and takes no responsibility for the damage caused by the latter. She is imposing an ill-informed, unevidenced ideological position on schools and children. It will be as costly and destructive as the the Hipkins reforms were. If it proceeds.
The Stanford proposals are the subject of an urgent Waitangi Tribunal inquiry. The claim to the tribunal addresses two specific components of Stanford’s reform programme. The first concerns the removal of a statutory obligation requiring school boards to ‘‘give effect’’ to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
The proposed replacement policy reduces the requirement for boards to engage with whānau, hapū, and iwi Māori. This requirement is widely recognised within the education sector as essential for schools to support all students in understanding their roles as citizens.
It is not just beneficial for Māori students and their whānau. It benefits every student to know and engage with the marae, hapū and iwi in their community. It builds great relationships, confidence with mātauranga Māori and Māori processes and improves their understanding of their unique place in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The fact that more than 70% of school boards have pledged to continue giving effect to Te Tiriti regardless of any legislative change indicates that the value of these relationships is already well established within the school community.
The second issue before the tribunal is the revision of the national curriculum. Experts argue that the revision marginalises tikanga, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori history, and te reo Māori.
They characterise the proposals as inaccurate, poorly written and presenting a distorted account of New Zealand’s history. The government argues it is ‘‘knowledge-focused’’ and ‘‘balanced.’’
What an excellent example of government gaslighting.
It seems, but is not, ironic that these education reforms to the curriculum about the history of New Zealand are being heard by the Waitangi Tribunal. The Waitangi Tribunal is New Zealand’s most steadfast holder of the detailed and factual history of Aotearoa New Zealand.
There is no institution in this country that keeps a more accurate and complete history of New Zealand’s formation as a state than they do. On New Zealand’s history they are the unequivocal experts.
It is good then that the Tribunal is inquiring into these reforms. It puts the assessment of the curriculum’s historical accuracy within an institution uniquely qualified to make such an assessment.
There have also been procedural criticisms of the new curriculum’s development. Educators have described the consultation process as opaque and exclusionary, particularly excluding Māori experts in history, te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori.
Some have even characterised the proposals as a recolonisation of the curriculum. This characterisation is really alarming and shows the extent to which ideological considerations rather than pedagogical or historical criteria are driving the reforms.
The underlying historical pattern of ideological political reform leading to educational harm is not inevitable. Educational experts are calling for the right to engage constructively and carefully in any curriculum review, where one is necessary.
That is the best way to build a curriculum that is factual, honest and inclusive and that prepares our kids for the contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand they inherit.
• Associate Prof Metiria Stanton Turei is a law lecturer at the University of Otago and a former Green Party co-leader.
