Labour’s Chris Hipkins says the Government’s decision to remove a requirement for school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a “victory for Hobson’s Pledge”, a right-wing lobby group.
As revealed by the Herald this morning, legislation currently before the House will be amended to remove the clause, but it will still require boards to seek to achieve equitable outcomes for Māori students.
The move comes after a review of Treaty clauses within different legislation questioned whether it “appropriate for school boards to be held accountable for meeting the Crown’s obligations under the Treaty”, Education Minister Erica Stanford said.
“The Government does not believe it’s fair and reasonable to pass this duty on to parents and volunteers,” she said. “The Crown, not parent volunteers, must be accountable for it.”
In June, Stanford was subject to what she called “complete, utter garbage [and] lies” amid an attack campaign from Hobson’s Pledge over the clause. The group wanted it removed.
At the time, she said there were “legitimate questions” to be asked about whether that clause was necessary, but said it would be included as part of the Government’s wider review of Treaty clauses.
Speaking to Herald NOW in reaction to Tuesday’s news, Hipkins said it was a “victory for Hobson’s Pledge”, which earlier this year put pressure on Stanford to remove the clause.
“It’s a step backwards for our education system,” he said.
“Māori kids don’t do as well in our education system as non-Māori kids do.
“I do think school boards have a responsibility to lead a change to ensure that we fix that. I don’t think there’s anything threatening about that.”
Stanford’s new legislation will still have obligations for school boards to focus on achieving equitable outcomes for Māori students.
Boards will have to “take all reasonable steps to provide for teaching and learning in te reo Māori to students whose parents and caregivers request it” and “ensure that the policies and practices for its school reflect New Zealand’s cultural diversity”.
One of Stanford’s arguments for removing the Treaty clause is that it has made “no difference to raising the achievement of tamariki Māori”. The current legislation came into effect in 2020.
Hipkins, however, said children are in the education system for 13 years and “immediate changes” shouldn’t be expected.
“What we have to look at is long-term sustainable changes. I’d hate to see our school curriculum, our school assessment practices, becoming a political football in the way that they seem to be at the moment.
“I think we owe it to the next generation of New Zealanders to try and take as much of the politics out of this as possible. That’s what I tried to do as Minister of Education, and I’d encourage the current government to do the same.”
He later told reporters at Parliament the Treaty clause was a “bit of a red herring of a debate”.
“Rather than the Government focusing their energy on this at the moment, they need to be focusing their energy on making sure that we’re providing schools with the resources that they need to lift kids’ achievement.”
Hipkins said board members receive “extensive guidance on their role as governors of schools” and make significant decisions on behalf of the Crown, including spending taxpayer money.
Speaking to Newstalk ZB, Stanford said she anticipated some pushback from the “usual suspects”.
“The unions will have a go. But actually I’m just out here fighting for kids and what is the best for them, and I’m interested in outcomes and not what the unions have to say.”
She believed the change would result in a stronger focus by boards on raising achievement and getting children to attend school.
“We still want schools to make sure that they are being culturally relevant and that they are offering te reo Māori for those children who want it, and that they are raising Māori achievement. But we’re being very clear about those things.”
She also told reporters at Parliament that she does not listen to Hobson’s Pledge and “never will”.
Hobson’s Pledge emailed supporters saying: “We won”.
“Even Chris Hipkins is crediting Hobson’s Pledge with forcing this change. Though he, of course, means it as an insult.
“He is right though, after months of pressure from Hobson’s Pledge supporters like you, and direct attacks on our group by Education Minister Erica Stanford, the very clause we warned about, the one Minister Stanford said we were ‘lying’ about, is being scrapped.”
As predicted by Stanford, the NZEI union came out against the decision, calling it “ideologically-driven” and the “latest in a series of racist, dogmatic attacks on our education system”.
“Minister Stanford has rightly stated that school boards play an important role in raising achievement; and then she’s gone and removed a clause that is part of helping ākonga Māori succeed at school,” said president Ripeka Lessels.
“For ākonga Māori, schools having strategies that give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi is critical to engagement, attendance and achievement.”
The Mātauranga Iwi Leaders Group also expressed concern.
“Mātauranga ILG has consistently advised the Government against taking the very action it has announced. It is clear that advice has fallen on deaf ears,” said co-chair Rahui Papa.
“For the past year, the Government has been seeking feedback on proposals to demote the requirement to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi to a secondary objective of school boards, which we have consistently opposed.
“However, rather than seeing how fundamentally flawed its proposal is, they have doubled down, and are now proposing to remove this requirement entirely. In doing so, the Government has decided to give school boards an easy way out to ignore the needs of tamariki Māori.”
The Act Party in June said it wanted the clause removed immediately, but acknowledged it would be part of the wider review.
Leader David Seymour today said the Government’s decision was a “major step forward for education in New Zealand”.
“I’ve heard from parents exasperated that their child’s education has turned into an eternal marae visit with karakia before every class and Māori words littered through their maths questions.
“It is possible to respect and value the place of the Māori language and culture without artificially inserting it into every part of life.
“Taxpayers don’t fund Education to further the political projects of adults. Education should equip children to navigate the world on their own terms, not shoehorn them in to a particular view of New Zealand by legislating goals that are political, not academic.”
He said school boards will still have “choice to teach as much tikanga, mātauranga Māori, and te reo Māori as they like”.
“However, the law won’t force them to, and that’s the difference. Self-determination should be for all New Zealanders.”
Stanford has legislation going through the House that makes multiple changes to how the education system is governed. Within this bill, there are amendments to Section 127, which outlines the objectives of school boards.
The current law already contains objectives, including the one to ensure “the school gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi”.
Stanford’s legislation initially continued to include this, but it will be removed. The change will be made at the Committee of the Whole House stage of the legislative process.
Her legislation also says the “paramount objective” for a school board is to “ensure that every student at the school is able to attain their highest possible standard in educational achievement”.
There are several “supporting objectives” in Stanford’s bill to assist with this. Many of these are already in the current law but are referred to as the boards’ “primary objectives”.
They include ensuring a school is “physically and emotionally safe for all students and staff”, “inclusive of and caters for students with differing needs” and acts to “eliminate racism, stigma, bullying and any other forms of discrimination”.
The new legislation also makes explicitly clear a school must “take all reasonable steps to ensure that the school’s students attend the school when it is open”.
It also includes the obligations for school boards to focus on achieving equitable outcomes for Māori students.
Jamie Ensor is a senior political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist this year for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.