Education leaders unite against Government's moves to downgrade place of Te Tiriti in education

National education leaders say they are committed to continuing to improve the education system to realise the promises of Te Tiriti.

In a joint statement, Te Akatea, NZEI Te Riu Roa, New Zealand Principals' Federation, PPTA Te Wehengarua, Secondary Principals' Council, Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand, Montessori Aotearoa New Zealand and NZAIMS say they reject the Treaty Principles Bill, which is based on a fundamental misinterpretation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and is deliberately misleading.

The groups say they will oppose the Goverernment's proposals, announced last week, to downgrade Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the Education and Training Act.

Teachers, school leaders and school boards have worked hard over many years to understand and enact practices that give life to Te Tiriti, say the groups. They have put an enormous effort into learning and change processes to meet this obligation  and to therefore ensure that schools better meet the needs of akonga Māori.

"As a group of national organisations, we are united in our opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill and to downgrading the place of Te Tiriti in the primary objectives of school boards.

"As education sector leaders, we will work together to oppose the downgrading of Te Tiriti in the Education and Training Act and will support our members to engage and take action to uphold Te Tiriti in our schools," Te Akatea President Tracy Fraser says.

The Government is proposing to demote the place of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the Education and Training Act by removing it as one of the four current primary objectives for boards in their governing of schools and subsuming it under one primary objective.

It also wants to scrap requirements for statements of National Education and Learning Priorities for early childhood and schooling which includes 'instilling in each child and young person an appreciationof the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and te reo Māori'.

The groups say they are concerned that the learning of children and young people, and particularly ākonga Māori, will be negatively impacted if these changes are to progress.

"The current objectives in Section 127 (d) of the Education and Training Act are part of a broader, well-evidenced response by the education system to reverse the equity gap in New Zealand education and address the historic and current institutional racism within schooling that has led to Māori being under-served by our education system.

"We urge the Government to ditch the Treaty Principles Bill now, to re-consider proposals to amend Section 127, and to instead focus on how investment in the education system can better meet the needs of ākonga Māori.

"We encourage the wider community to raise this issue with National MPs and their own political representatives and to stop any change to Section 127 that would weaken schools' obligations to give effect to Te Tiriti."

Editor notes

The Government is proposing to remove 'give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi' as one of the primary objectives for boards in their governing of schools, by amending Section 127 of the Education and Training Act. The Government proposes to replace the current four objectives with one primary objective, 'educational achievement'. with the other current objectives placed underneath as necessary for the achievement of the one objective.

Along with ensuring every student is able to attain their highest possible educational achievemment, and that schools are inclusive, non-discriminatory and are physically and emotionally safe, Section 127 requires boards to give equal attention to giving effect to Te Tiriti.

Section 127 (d) specifies this by ensuring their 'plans, policies and local curriculum reflect local tikanga Māori, mātauranga Māori, and te reo Māori ... achieve equitable outcomes for Māori students.' The Minister of Education's proposals would replace the current primary obligation and specific steps with as yet unspecified language about ensuring equitable outcomes for Māori students.

They would also remove schools' focus on developing local curriculum - that encourages them to adapt national curriculum to the different contexts of local communities, iwi and hāpu with generic 'teaching and learning programmes'.

This could result in a much-diminished responsiblity on school boards that could weaken students' access to te reo and tikanga Māori, and would stop current work developing plans, policies and local curriculum to reflect local tikanga Māori, mātauranga Māori and te ao Māori.