February 10, 2019
History on a plate for willing teachers
The School Trustees Association says the resources are there to teach New Zealand history, and schools just need the will to use them.
There have been calls for a compulsory history curriculum after a media pop-quiz of politicians at Waitangi revealed many could not recite the articles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Association president Lorraine Kerr says since 2016 many schools have started using Te Takanga o te Wā, which presents a Māori history perspective from the earliest Polynesian navigators to the present-day.
The resource provides practical suggestions for working with students, parents, whānau, hapū, iwi, to develop the ways that learning is offered including drawing on local histories and stories.
It was developed by a group of educators with extra input from Sir Pita Sharples, Dame June Mariu, Sir Toby Curtis, Te Ariki Sir Tumu te Heuheu and Professor Paul Moon.
Ms Kerr says teachers don’t have to be experts to get it under way, they just have to be prepared to learn alongside their students.
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