Educators: make all school children learn Maori history

Hot on the heels of digital technology becoming a compulsory school subject, education groups are now pushing to make Maori history part of the core curriculum too.

Spokesman Pem Bird, who chairs a group of 29 iwi-run schools Nga Kura a Iwi, heads a working group pushing for Maori history which includes the School Trustees Association, the Principals' Federation and the two teacher unions.

"This is our country New Zealand saying yes we are ready for it, we want Maori history as a core subject, in other words it has the same status as English, maths, science and digital technology," he said.

The other groups are all backing the campaign, which will be launched publicly next month, although not all want to make the change compulsory.

"Making things compulsory doesn't make things happen. It has to be about people who have influence within schools saying, 'This is really important, we need to do this'," said Hoana Pearson, president of the Maori Principals' Association Te Akatea.

"Change is in the wind. I think it's a good time. The fact that we have all these cross-sector organisations around the table is amazing."

Education Minister Nikki Kaye issued a draft proposal last month to make digital technology compulsory in Years 1 to 10 in all schools from 2020 - the first change in the school curriculum since 2007.

The Government has also responded to a petition from Otorohanga College students by putting $1 million a year into commemorating the Land Wars, with the first annual Commemoration Day due on October 28 this year.

The curriculum already says schools must teach social sciences in Years 1 to 10 and includes objectives such as understanding the Treaty of Waitangi and, at senior level, understanding "events of significance to New Zealanders".

The Ministry of Education published guidelines in 2015 encouraging teachers to teach the local Maori history of their districts, Te Takanga o te Wa (The Passage of Time). But NZ Principals Federation president Whetu Cormick said no resources had been provided to teach most teachers about it.

"Last year I didn't even know that this resource existed. Nobody told me," he said.

Cherie Taylor-Patel of West Auckland's Flanshaw Rd School said her school developed its own links with local iwi Te Kawerau a Maki to create a carved pou (pole) depicting the guardians of the area.

Lara Hearn, who was the national co-ordinator of social sciences professional development until the position was abolished at the end of last year, said the ministry funded teachers in 2014-16 to develop local Maori history units in three districts: Rotorua, Whanganui and Murihiku (Southland).

She said six Southland schools developed resources about local events such as the Battle of Tuturau in 1836, the last battle in the "Musket Wars".

In Rotorua, John Paul College head of social sciences Simon Baker has worked with the education arm of the local iwi Ngati Whakaue to develop a unit on another incident in the Musket Wars - a raid by Ngapuhi chief Hongi Hika on Mokoia Island in Lake Rotorua in 1823.

Baker said the unit included traditional waiata which helped make "a real connection" for many Maori students.

"I got a lot of personal feedback from the Maori students about the connections that their families had to it, that the waiata were their families' waiata, that was the first waiata that they were taught as a child," he said.

He taught the unit for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) for the first time last year and achieved a high pass rate.

"There are pressures in schools for teachers to use material that is successful in exams," he said. "That's why it's really good that with the work we did on Mokoia Island, they passed."

Baker and Pat Johnstone, the head of social sciences at Whanganui City College who developed a unit on the Battle of Moutoa, both stressed the need to talk to local iwi before teaching their history.

In Whanganui, Johnstone and another teacher sat in on interviews which their local iwi was recording with kaumatua to record their own history, and later shared their research with the iwi.

"That was probably the biggest thing to come out of it - they trusted us to teach their stories," he said.

Ministry of Education acting deputy secretary Karl le Quesne said the ministry encouraged all schools "to weave Maori history into their teaching".