As a member of a Dunedin high school Board of Trustees, our staff spent a teachers--only day yesterday at Ōtākou Marae, mainly in the spirit of whakawhanaungatanga, but also deepening staff understanding of te ao Māori, our shared history and life on the Otago Peninsula.
Over the course of the day, we held workshops on Mau Rākau, toi Māori, tikanga and more.
One of the key discussions was reflecting on how we could lift attendance for Māori and Pasiifika akonga. There were many ideas, but fundamentally teachers agreed those kids want connection.
Not connection with school or teachers or, hell, even learning necessarily. They need connection with themselves. They need to see a place for themselves, connect to strong support systems and connect to pathways to larger community and family places that reflect a Māori identity and history.
What do we see instead? A government committed to control, isolation, narrow conformity and homogeneity. That means what we teach, what we test and who we include and represent in that pedagogy. Erica Stanford asserting it's the government's job to give effect to te tiriti is pure smokescreen.
Taking everything that makes up te ao Māori and discarding, sidelining and criminalising it, then bemoaning school attendance rates is stupid, cynical, cruel and recolonising. It disenfranchises a whole generation all over again.
Let's talk about the NZ history curriculum. Who reading this post knows about the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tohunga_Suppression_Act_1907
No? Not too surprised. The NZ government made it illegal to practice Māori customs and healthcare, but the impact was much, much bigger.
Tohunga Suppression Act 1907 - Wikipedia
Phil