Leanne Otene (Te Arawa), Principal of Manaia View School and President of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation. The list is going up and up of schools joining the resistance, what resistance you ask? To the Governments direction of Te Tiriti – schools Waatea has spoken to are appalled.
The Government has removed the requirement in the Education and Training Act 2020 that school boards must “give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi”. The amendment to section 9(1)(b) & section 127(2)(e) of the Act formalises this removal. Instead of the stand-alone Treaty objective, the bill emphasises a single “paramount objective” for boards: ensuring every student attains their highest possible educational achievement. The “give effect to Te Tiriti” objective is removed or subsumed under other objectives.
The Government states that while the formal clause is removed, boards will still have to “seek to achieve equitable outcomes for Māori students” and ensure te reo Māori instruction for those who request it. The changes were introduced with limited consultation in the education sector, and many education/ Māori organisations say they were surprised by the timing and lack of engagement.
Many in the education sector argue the Treaty clause wasn’t symbolic only; it provided a legal/structural anchor for Māori inclusion in planning, policy, curriculum, and for boards to recognise Māori as tangata whenua. By removing the stand-alone Treaty duty, there is concern that schools may deprioritise kaupapa Māori (Māori-centred approaches), te reo Māori, local tikanga and mātauranga Māori, or that progress made in those areas may slow.
