Ngā mātāpono
Principles resource kete
Ngā hua o te mahi tahi | Collective impact 
We invite manutaki, tumuaki, and kaiako to use these resource kete as a place to begin their own journeys of inquiry and research. Each resource listed is accompanied by the reason for their recommendation, and suggested starter questions for critical conversation. Please contact PLANZ to add resources that you know are relevant and useful for this conversation.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi
He Whakaputanga (Declaration of Independence) Signatories
This website offers a brief overview of a much-overlooked document. It tells its story and offers links to a database of signatories and additional information that offers a springboard for further inquiry into signatories when working with schools and kura on their local curriculum.
- What does a declaration of independence mean to you?
- What do you think He Whakaputanga means for Māori?
- What do you think He Whakaputanga means now for your rohe and for Aotearoa?
NZ History: Treaty of Waitangi, Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The NZ History site offers rich material to fill knowledge gaps, prompt ideas for learning activities, and push against the notion that we are just “doing” the Treaty. A version in te reo Māori is in development.
- What do you know about the story of Te Titiri in the place that you live and work?
- If Te Tiriti is to be central to your mahi, what does this look and sound like?
- Who can you call on to discuss these questions?
Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a principle of the New Zealand Curriculum
The New Zealand Curriculum Principles: Foundations for Curriculum Decision-making. Education Review Office (2012).
ERO’s evaluation reports are valuable sources of evidence about the education and care of our ākonga. The second national evaluation report on the implementation of the principles of The New Zealand Curriculum is an important example. It offers indicators for reflecting on progress within schools and across the system. Schools (and individuals) can use the examples of effective practice to reflect on their own practice.
Evaluation is only of value if it is purposeful and directed towards improvement. Improvement in Action | Te Ahu Whakamua is a bundle of videos and publications that help illustrate what it takes to achieve successful outcomes for all ākonga.
- While the ERO’s report on curriculum implementation found that the Treaty of Waitangi principle was more evident in classrooms than was previously found, it was still one of the least evident principles. Cultural diversity fared worse. How do you respond to the evaluators’ theories about why this is?
- What is the picture in your learning place?
The articles of Te Tiriti
Bicultural challenges for educational professionals in Aotearoa
In this paper, Ted Glynn discusses the development of ideologies about multiethnic educational policy in Aotearoa New Zealand in terms of four successive stages: assimilation, integration, multiculturalism, and biculturalism.
Inaugural Lecture, University of Waikato, 11 September 1997
In his inaugural lecture, Ted Glynn explains his belief that our greatest challenge as educators and Treaty professionals is to understand tino rangatiratanga and how to create opportunities for its exercise by Māori in mainstream contexts.
- How do you respond to Glynn’s statement that one of the greatest challenges confronting indigenous peoples is how to promote, protect, and nurture their culture?
- Glynn’s call for educators to deploy a “culturally relevant pedagogy” was first made in 1998. To what extent have we stepped up to that challenge?
Land loss in the wake of Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi a brief history of the Treaty
This infographic includes a description of the decline of Māori land ownership subsequent to its signing.
- Why or in what ways is whenua important to iwi and hapū?
- How might resources such as this be used to generate conversations in your rohe?
Te Tiriti o Waitangi in Aotearoa New Zealand education
Bicultural Education in Aotearoa/New Zealand: Establishing a Tauiwi Side to the Partnership. Sullivan, K. (1994)
Keith Sullivan helps educators think about the phases that we have gone through in thinking about the role of Te Tiriti in education. He argues for a form of biculturalism that fully acknowledges Māori as tangata whenua.
- This paper was written in the first half of the 1990s. Are the issues raised still relevant today? Why, or why not?
- With whom do you identify? What do you perceive as your responsibility in contributing to a bicultural education system?
Critical consciousness – A process for critical pedagogy
The Benson Kids: Teaching is Learning
Joan Wink says we get to critical pedagogy by changing our mental models through a process of learning, relearning, and unlearning.
- Can you sketch the relationship between learning, relearning, and unlearning?
- What needs to be unlearned in Aotearoa New Zealand?
Understanding the terms of critical pedagogies in relation to culture
Reconciliation in Schools and Early Learning
Reconciliation in Education: Learning, Unlearning, Relearning
Pulling together: A guide for curriculum developers, Indigenization, Decolonization, and Reconciliation
These resources provide definitions of decolonisation, indigenisation and the language of oppression. While the contexts are Australian and Canadian, they provide good starting points for discussion of these terms for New Zealand.
- For each of these terms, discuss your understanding for Aotearoa New Zealand.
Pedagogy of the oppressed
Paulo Freire has had a significant influence on many people working in the education, health, and wellbeing sectors in Aotearoa New Zealand. His ideas have been adopted and adapted by a number of indigenous researchers, including those engaged in developing kaupapa Māori theory. A great deal of material by and about Freire is available on the web. This resource gives you an overview of his thinking that has been applied to many contexts in education throughout the world.
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Freire argues for a new type of education – an education or pedagogy of the oppressed, that is, one constructed by themselves, out of their lived experience (see page 2). What does this mean to you in relation to Aotearoa New Zealand?
Activating critical consciousness
Kia Eke Panuku – Building on Success 2013–2016 challenged the theories in action in the schools that they worked in. The resources contained in these materials will guide you, with examples, in the language and practical application of critical consciousness.
- How could you use the voices that are transcribed to support learning, unlearning, and relearning?
Values informed practice
This article (retrieved from Te Pou o te Whakaaro Nui, 2019) describes how values-informed practice can give people greater control and influence over their own health and the services they access. The fact that it was written by people working within the mental health and addictions sector does not lessen its relevance. Rather, it underscores the fact that the transformational effort in education is happening alongside similar work across the social sector.
- What can you do to align your practice with values that will create a system in which all ākonga can flourish?
- How will you ensure the curriculum experiences you are part of designing satisfy the values of ākonga and whānau?
White fragility
In the following two resources Robin DiAngelo explores the dynamics of “white fragility” – a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves. You can read the article or view a free webinar in which she discusses how we can engage and partner more effectively in cross-cultural dialogue, anti-racist action, and change.
White fragility
Article by DiAngelo, Robin. (2011). Retrieved from: International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 3(3), 54–70.
White fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism
In this free webinar, join renowned writer, trainer, and speaker Dr Robin DiAngelo to better understand how you can engage and partner more effectively in cross-cultural dialogue, anti-racist action, and change.
- DiAngelo says, “White racism is ultimately a white problem and the burden for interrupting it belongs to white people” (p.66). How do you respond?
Understanding bias
Unconscious bias and education: A comparative study of Māori and African American students
The writers of this article, Blank, A., Houkamau, C., & Kingi, H. (2016), argue that bias is a natural human characteristic – we find it easier to connect with people we understand. It can be combated, not so much by understanding others, but by understanding ourselves first.
- What are your strategies for noticing, recognising, and responding to unconscious bias?
- How will you evaluate the efficacy of your attempts to eradicate bias?
Thinking about bias in our curriculum
Using evidence for a step up – Learning from Te Kotahitanga: impact, sustainability and ongoing improvement
This presentation by Dr Adrienne Alton-Lee explores what has and hasn’t worked for Māori, prepared for the team designing Te Hurihanganui, and illustrates developing mathematical inquiry communities, with videos that bring to life the approach to mathematics teaching and learning developed by Dr Bobbie Hunter.
- The evidence of what works, as collated and shared by the Best Evidence Synthesis Programme, is an entry point for all educators aiming to make changes for learners through curriculum design. How might curriculum leaders use the work of Dr Bobbie Hunter to think about equity and bias in their enacted curriculum?
From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding Achievement in U.S. Schools
Ladson-Billings argues that the focus on an "achievement gap" as a way of explaining the inequality in US education is misplaced and moves the system to a focus on short-term solutions that don’t solve the underlying problem. Instead, the focus should be on the “education debt” owed to Black, Latina/o, and Native American communities. It is a debt with historical, economic, socio-political components. She argues that attending to the debt isn’t just the right thing to do. It also has the potential for forging a better educational future.
- To what extent does Ladson-Billings’ analogy of a national education debt resonate with you? How well does this analogy work for unpacking inequity in Aotearoa New Zealand?
- Ladson-Billings challenges readers to use their imagination to create images representing the magnitude of the debt. What is the image you would construct for Aotearoa New Zealand?
Colouring in the White Spaces: Reclaiming Cultural Identity in Whitestream Schools
Dr Anne Milne, in her keynote at Aotearoa New Zealand CORE Education uLearn Conference 2017, argues for “colouring in the white spaces” through critical and culturally sustaining pedagogy. That is, we must change the colour of the space rather than expecting ākonga to adapt to fit in.
- Ann Milne asks, “What does community and collaboration look like for the learners our system marginalises and minorities?” What is your response to this question when thinking about the young people within your circle of influence?
- Where does your school or kura sit on the action continuum towards eliminating white spaces?
Having those “awkward” conversations
The podcasts in this Radio New Zealand: Awkward Conversations series were created as part of the Tuia 250 ki Turanga commemorations of first contact between European and Māori. They look at the roles and responsibilities of tāngata tiriti and tāngata whenua; the impact of colonisation on our identity, relationship, and where we are going; and our response to increasing ethnic diversity.
- How can you make space for awkward conversations in your community?
- How can you ensure these conversations dig deep into the reasons behind our actions and kōrero?
Unteach racism
Look out for a new set of resources from the Teaching Council as part of their focus on eradicating racism. The Council is working with the Human Rights Commission, teachers and professional leaders, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet – Child Youth Wellbeing Strategy, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, Te Papa – The Museum of New Zealand, and the Baha'i Faith New Zealand. The Council will be producing and sharing a range of resources including a dedicated website.
Land of the Long White Cloud | Episode 4 – Pākehā Paralysis
In this Radio New Zealand interview, Alex Hotere-Barnes describes his life as a Pākehā who grew up in te ao Māori. He looks back on his experiences as a speaker of te reo Māori, as connected to his marae, and now married to a Māori woman.
He describes Pākehā paralysis, the fear that non-Māori may feel, when taking steps towards te ao Māori.
- Have you had similar experiences to those that Alex describes?
- How can you respond to the key messages that he gives to non-Māori?
Teachers as learners: Inquiry – Learning stories
The kete of learning stories illustrate critical consciousness at work in classrooms as teachers undertook professional inquiries to support improved learning for their learners.
- What critically conscious decisions have these teachers made to make a difference for their learners?
Impact of colonisation
The following two articles sourced from E-Tangata could be used to begin conversations with educators about the impact of colonisation.
Understanding racism in this country
This article by Moana Jackson (25 February, 2018) challenges readers to boldly name the issues.
Getting past white defensiveness
Simone Kaho (8 December, 2019) analyses the white defensiveness evident in responses to the documentary series Land of the Long White Cloud, a series committed to honouring and exploring Pākehā identity, as a partner of Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
- What issues can we name in the education system? What happens when we name them?
- How have you seen white defensiveness manifest in your life?
- What part might you play in countering it?
Cultural identity | Te tuakiri ahurea
Evidence in Action: Hangaia te Urupounamu Pāngarau Mō Tātou
A video about improvement in mathematics education.
Kaupapa Māori – What is kaupapa Māori in terms of research?
Rangahau
This website developed by Dr Leonie Pihamaoffers curated articles, video recordings, and interviews describing and exploring kaupapa Māori research. The set of principles are useful as you consider the approaches you take with schools and kura, especially as you undertake collective inquiry as part of leading professional learning.
Rangahau warns: “Just because you are Māori, or your topic and/or participants are Māori, doesn’t necessarily mean you are conducting or engaging in kaupapa Māori research.”
Note especially the curated articles about education and the section, principles of kaupapa Māori.
- Why this warning?
- What is so significant about kaupapa Māori research?
- What do you know about the relationship between kaupapa Māori research and pedagogy?
Te Hurihanganui – leading a transformational movement in Aotearoa 2020–23
These items offer an introduction to Te Hurihanganui, a transformative movement that will disrupt the power dynamics that currently work to maintain racism, inequality, and bias. It is worth noting that Te Hurihanganui Blueprint includes an excellent list of references that offers a jumping off point for further investigation.
- What thinking does Te Hurihanganui Blueprint provoke for you? How might you respond to it?
- How will you keep abreast of learning from Te Hurihanganui?
Poutamu Pounamu
A research and development centre as part of the University of Waikato who seek to describe, tease out, and enact the full meaning of the term “culturally responsive pedagogy”. They build on the work of the Poutamu Pounamu research whānau and Kia Eke Panuku. The website houses much of the prior learning from these research and development programmes in the form of charts, articles, videos, ebooks, learning tools, brochures, and discussion prompts. It includes Ngā Huatau Taiohi – the voices of ākonga Māori about what “Māori enjoying and achieving education success as Māori” means to them. Poutamu Pounamu builds on a huge base of previous research and PLD intended to create equitable outcomes for Māori learners.
- Which of these practices will support your mahi?
The evolution of kaupapa Māori in education
Reform of the New Zealand Education System and Responses by the Indigenous Māori of New Zealand
Kaupapa Māori Theory: Theorising Indigenous Transformation of Education & Schooling
Graham Hinengaro Smith, one of our leading thinkers and practitioners, has lived the journey and continues to both provoke critical thinking and inspire us to do better. His writing describes and reflects the evolution of kaupapa Māori. In these two articles, Graham describes the development of kaupapa Māori as an innovative response “to the dual crises of educational under-achievement on the one hand and to the loss of Māori language, knowledge and culture on the other”. He reconfigures Western approaches to critical consciousness to show that it’s not necessary for transformation to proceed in a linear way from conscientisation to resistance to action. Transformation can be initiated from any of these places.
- Graham constantly challenges us to go beyond describing the problems and to get on with making the change. How does this article support you to understand what we must do?
- What is your understanding of transformation and how this is different from what we are doing now?
Examples of transformation in action
Murupara Hard
Waka Huia tells the story of educator Pem Bird and his fight to care for his community and foster te reo Māori, first through participating in the Kura Kaupapa Māori movement, and later through establishing a special character school teaching the reo of Ngāti Manawa.
Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au
This video shows how schools and iwi combined their strengths in Whanganui: Te Kāhahu.
- What are the values that drive Pem Bird in Murapara and the iwi leaders in Whanganui in these stories? Where do these values come from?
- What thoughts do these stories prompt about the interaction between school and place?
Inclusion
Understanding the rights of children in our education system
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (downloadable child-friendly version)
Signed in 1989, the Convention sets out the civil, political, social, health, and cultural rights of children.
- Article 12 of the Convention states: Children have the right to express a view, and have that view given due weight, in matters that affect them. To what extent are the ākonga for whom you are responsible enabled to express themselves?
Standards for inclusion
The United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities
New Zealand Human Rights Commission:
The New Zealand Government signed The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007. Our compliance with the Convention is reviewed approximately every four years.
- The Human Rights Commission has reported that “forty-two percent of disabled young people aged 15–24 are not in education, training or employment.”
- How can an approach to PLD, informed by the kaupapa and mātāpono described in this resource, help us to turn this around?
Inclusive Education Guides in Aotearoa
This extensive collection of strategies, suggestions, and resources is curated by the MOE. You can use them to unpack what inclusive education is and how to ensure you are part of the creation of an inclusive education system in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- What are the intersections between diversity, equity, and inclusion?
- What are the fundamental entitlements of every ākonga in a school or kura in Aotearoa New Zealand?
Student voices about their educational experiences
Education matters to me: Key insights and Experiences of Māori
These publications of student voices, sharing their perspectives about what matters in education are a useful starting point for leading local responses to inclusion.
- What have the tamariki-mokopuna at your school told you about their experiences of education?
- Have you asked?
- How did you respond?
Inclusion within the digital transformation
Digital technologies/Assistive technologies
These guides from the Inclusive Education series offer strategies for using digital technologies to provide personalised learning pathways, and for using assistive technology to enable all ākonga to participate in learning alongside their peers.
- How can digital technology be used to remove barriers to a fair and equitable education and improve access?
Gifted and talented learners
Support for gifted education in Aotearoa New Zealand
This website offers an overview of the meaning of inclusive education, the diversity of learners, and stories of inclusive practices for you to consider as part of supporting the regionally allocated PLD priorities.
- What does inclusion look like for gifted and talented learners?
Working alongside teacher aides
A suite of modules from the Teachers and Teacher Aides Working Together site intend to strengthen relationships between teachers and teacher aides working together, improve role clarity, and build knowledge of inclusive practice that supports student learning. There is also a self-review tool for school leaders to use to understand where their school is at and what they should do next in supporting teacher aides to be effective in their roles.
- How can you strengthen relationships between kaiako and teacher aides in your school or kura?
Inclusion: Sexual identity
Inside Out
Inside Out is intended to help increase understanding and support of sex, gender, and sexuality diversity so that everyone feels they belong. It is built around a set of videos and offers guidance for using them to facilitate safe yet challenging critical conversations.
The pedagogy and safety guidelines for this resource support users to take an approach that challenges problematic norms while maintaining a safe learning environment.
- Reflecting on your personal experiences of such conversations, what has and has not gone well?
- What might you take to future challenging conversations?
