‘Whitewashing te Tiriti out of education’

Opinion: He moumou wā, he moumou rauemi.
The Treaty Principles bill is a waste of time, resource and a massive distraction in the foreground of our attention right now. Meanwhile, the National-led government has already de-funded te reo Māori and demoted and undermined te Tiriti o Waitangi, disabling tamariki and tāngata whenua in the education system.
National are accountable as the leaders of the coalition for allowing the bill to see the light of day, festering for over a year and for continuing colonial violence on tamariki mokopuna through education.
But while the Treaty Principles Bill wastes time and headline space, Minister of Education Erica Stanford has quietly started the work of downgrading te Tiriti in the English Medium Curriculum framework, Te Mātaiaho, commonly known as the New Zealand Curriculum.
Because 93 percent of ākonga Māori attend mainstream, or as distinguished educationalist Dr Ann Milne calls it, “whitestream schooling”, the content of Te Mātaiaho and how teachers are directed to teach, shapes the public education the vast majority of tamariki Māori receive.
Ko te tuarua (Article 2) of te Tiriti o Waitangi guarantees Māori “the unqualified exercise of their chieftainship over their lands, villages and all their treasures” to which education is central.
Since 2007, Te Tiriti o Waitangi has been central to both the NZ Curriculum and the Māori medium curriculum, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. Labour’s 2023 refreshed draft of Te Mātaiaho went further still.
Minutes before the Treaty Principles bill was read for the first time in the house, Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime asked Minister Stanford,  “What does tino rangatiratanga in article 2 of te Tiriti o Waitangi mean for Māori education?”
Stanford claimed that the Government is putting “young Māori at the heart of everything” they do.
When Prime asked how this can be when she is “whitewashing the curriculum”. Stanford stated, “the assertion that things have been taken out is not true”.
But it is true.
The words “Te Mātaiaho is designed to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and be inclusive of all ākonga” have been removed from the introductory statement. Under the guiding kaupapa, the words “the centrality of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its principles” are insultingly replaced with “based on the science of learning”.
When the draft of Te Mātaiaho was widely consulted on by Labour in 2023, the teaching profession was enthusiastic.
It has now been vastly amended by National and released with new English and Mathematics and Statistics learning areas. The framework was not specifically consulted on in 2024 while the English and Maths content was. This is a disingenuous way to approach a change which will have serious impacts for years to come.
In fact, the word ‘Tiriti’ doesn’t feature in either of the refreshed English and Maths learning areas of the NZ Curriculum.
To be clear, the ‘science of learning’ is not a recognised field of education. In an unprecedented move it is being mandated as the teaching and learning approach for all, ignoring Māori ways of knowing, teaching and learning in education.
National is promoting its curriculum reforms as being ‘knowledge rich’, mandating Eurocentric teaching at the expense of all else. A curriculum emptied of mātauranga Māori is knowledge impoverished.
This is political interference, Ministerial over-reach and a continuation of fundamental assumptions within the ‘whitestream’ system about the purpose of education and the structure of knowledge.
All of this matters a great deal to the ‘young Māori at the heart of everything’ that they do.
The National-led coalition also proposes demoting te Tiriti in section 127 of the Education Act as a stand-alone objective of school boards and to “remove the unnecessary objective” of boards giving effect to the Human Rights Act and the Bill of Rights.
These retrograde moves are guaranteed to adversely impact tamariki Māori and disabled children.
On the morning of the Treaty Principles Bill’s first reading Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said: “We think our approach as the National party is a much better one… we work it through together, and that has been the history of what we have done between the Crown and Māori for 184 years”. 
Contrary to working together, the Crown has actively and persistently sought to limit Māori tino rangatiratanga over their own education, and the systems to which they have been party, for over 184 years.
Professor of indigenous education Linda Tuhiwai-Smith explains that the relationship between education and colonisation is one in which indigenous forms of knowledge and pedagogy are marginalised and suppressed in favour of those of the coloniser. This remains the key form colonial violence takes in Aotearoa’s education system, despite the obligations te Tiriti o Waitangi places upon the Crown.   
Genuine Crown efforts toward consultation, collaboration, and codesign with Māori in education have been witnessed, however this continues to be the exception rather than the rule. This means that, as professor of Māori research and education Leonie Pihama states, “Māori are expected to accept only what the Crown puts on the table.”
In response to Associate Education Minister David Seymour’s attempt to limit school involvement in Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti, Principals Federation president Leanne Otene said he had “seriously underestimated” how committed schools, whānau and communities are to te Tiriti.
Teaching histories is embedded and cherished in classrooms across the motu and teachers are using increasingly more te reo Māori with confidence thanks to Te Ahu o Te Reo Māori. These advances will not be undone.
 Ka ora tonu te reo Māori, ka ora tonu te iwi Māori.