Māori principals advocate for comprehensive history education

Atereano Mateariki Bruce Jepson | Māori principals advocate for comprehensive history education

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Māori Principals Association chief executive Bruce Jepson opposes the Government’s approach to education, particularly regarding New Zealand history.

This week marked the 189th anniversary of He Whakaputanga o te Kotahitanga o Nū Tirini—the Declaration of Independence—and the seventh Te Pūtake o Te Riri, the Day of Remembrance of the NZ Wars, both of which received minimal mainstream media coverage.

Jepson says this limited coverage highlights the importance of teaching New Zealand history to rise above ignorance.

Teachers believe the history curriculum should be guided by education experts rather than government preferences.

” The New Zealand histories curriculum and Te Mātaiaho curriculum, the refresh, has been a collective endeavour to create some balance, which we haven’t achieved. So all these suggestions that are going on out of that building, they’re not helpful, if anything, they’re problematic, and they’re marching us back in time, rather than forward as a nation together,” says Jepson.

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