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The Green Party plan for compulsory te reo Maori lessons is winning support from education sector unions.
Maori development spokesperson Marama Davidson says over the next year the party’s Maori caucus will engage with parents, teachers unions, hapu and iwi to create a plan that will ensure every kiwi kid will learn te reo Maori up until Year 10.
NZEI Te Riu Roa president Lynda Stuart says normalising te reo Maori in schools will help make learning more inclusive for Maori childrens.
But she says it will mean attracting many more fluent Maori speakers into teaching, as well as professional development and training both at the pre service level and for teachers in the classroom.
PPTA president Jack Boyle says the post-primary union had policy supporting te reo Maori as a universal subject since 2001, so it’s excellent to see a political party taking concrete steps towards achieving it.
He says being able to learn te reo Maori will benefit every child in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Principals' Federation president Whetu Cormick says the federation has developed a programme to help principals open up their schools to biculturalism, and teaching te reo will complement those
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