Upholding the vision of Te Mātaiaho

<div data-breakout&equals;"normal">&NewLine;<h2 id&equals;"viewer-c1dx9236" class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto"><span class&equals;"TuVEW">When Te M&amacr;taiaho was launched&comma; it represented a watershed moment for indigenous rights in education&period; <&sol;span><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto"><span class&equals;"TuVEW">For the first time&comma; the national curriculum of a nation was purposefully built upon a m&amacr;tauranga M&amacr;ori framework and te ao M&amacr;ori worldview&period; As proud advocates&comma; we celebrated this as honouring true Treaty partnership&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto">The collaborative process brought together M&amacr;ori educators&comma; iwi and communities &lpar;<a class&equals;"&lowbar;06hOl MRQmD" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;vimeo&period;com&sol;757359115" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer" data-hook&equals;"WebLink"><u>Dr&period; Wayne Ngata<&sol;u><&sol;a>&rpar; to intricately weave their knowledge systems and aspirations into the very DNA of the curriculum&period; Te M&amacr;taiaho stood as a monumental accomplishment &&num;8211&semi; m&amacr;tauranga M&amacr;ori was the foundational whakapapa&comma; not an add-on&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto"><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;latest-print-issue&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Read the latest print edition of <em>School News<&sol;em> HERE<&sol;a><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;31026" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-31026" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-31026" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;06&sol;AdobeStock&lowbar;133383251-300x225&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"225" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-31026" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Changes to the curriculum don&&num;8217&semi;t uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi&comma; argues Thomas&period; Image&colon; AdobeStock by pixs&colon;sell<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div data-breakout&equals;"normal">&NewLine;<p id&equals;"viewer-cm7wj246" class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto"><span class&equals;"TuVEW">However&comma; the latest <a class&equals;"&lowbar;06hOl MRQmD" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;curriculumrefresh&period;education&period;govt&period;nz&sol;&quest;fbclid&equals;IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR305pkaX2ImjiCyOwG-eUUjaGy44O5oheuawInRwm0oCNGQIjLJE8ac474&lowbar;aem&lowbar;ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer" data-hook&equals;"WebLink"><u>curriculum revision <&sol;u><&sol;a>proposals from the Ministry of Education &lpar;come on&&num;8230&semi;refreshing the refresh&quest;&rpar; have set off alarm bells&period; The excerpts that have been released focus solely on Western educational theories like cognitive load&comma; explicit instruction methods&comma; and references to &&num;8220&semi;science of learning&&num;8221&semi; research&period; Markedly absent is any mention of upholding Te M&amacr;taiaho&&num;8217&semi;s indigenous origins or continued M&amacr;ori engagement in the process&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto">This raises critical questions we must grapple with as an education community&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto">Are we truly living up to the revolutionary commitment of Treaty partnership that Te M&amacr;taiaho represented&quest; Or was that transformative vision simply a symbolic gesture&comma; now being walked back&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto">If these radical curriculum roots are discarded in favour of repackaging through a Western academic framing&comma; have we not negated Te M&amacr;taiaho&&num;8217&semi;s entire purpose&quest; Its m&amacr;tauranga is intimately tied to this land &&num;8211&semi; it cannot simply be extracted and remixed into a Eurocentric paradigm&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto">Despite what you are being sold now&comma; the common practice model was always shaped by &&num;8220&semi;science of learning&&num;8221&semi; concepts from the outset &lpar;Steve and I followed this from the <a class&equals;"&lowbar;06hOl MRQmD" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;engaginglearningvoices&period;com&sol;post&sol;a-mana-enhancing-way-to-engage-educators-with-the-common-practice-model" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer" data-hook&equals;"WebLink"><u>outset here<&sol;u><&sol;a><u> &&num;8211&semi; <&sol;u>in fact search any Te M&amacr;taiaho k&omacr;rero on our website for the true picture &&num;8211&semi; before you forget&rpar;&period; The indigenous framing of Te M&amacr;taiaho went far beyond just pedagogical methods&period; It embodied a fundamentally different worldview as the curriculum&&num;8217&semi;s foundational whakapapa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto">As we continue this national discussion&comma; we must think critically about what honouring tangata whenua rangatiratanga over their own knowledge systems truly means&period; Is having that centrality in the curriculum a right to be protected&quest; Or just lent intellectual property open to repurposing by the Crown&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto">If Te M&amacr;taiaho was never meant to be a living&comma; evolving commitment to that indigenous vision for education&comma; then we must confront whether its creation was simply performative decolonisation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto">These are the intense implications we face if the proposed revisions move forward without reinstating an authentically bi-cultural focus from the ground up&period; Tangata whenua must have a formative voice and see their worldview represented &&num;8211&semi; not have it subsumed into a singular Westernized model&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto">For those of us from the tangata Tiriti community&comma; we have an obligation as Treaty partners to earnestly grapple with these tensions&period; This process will define whether we remain stuck in colonial paradigms suppressing indigenous knowledge&comma; or forge a truly revolutionary path in Aotearoa&&num;8217&semi;s education&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto">No matter where one stands&comma; these are critical perspectives to deeply consider as the curriculum journey continues&period; The ramifications of this pivot will ripple through generations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto">We must think critically to uphold Te M&amacr;taiaho&&num;8217&semi;s transformative potential&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"CMQuX tnihK oaSxl Lgome" dir&equals;"auto"><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; 18px&semi; font-weight&colon; bold&semi;">This article has been republished with the author&&num;8217&semi;s permission from their blog Engaging Learning Voices&period; Read the original article <&sol;span><a style&equals;"font-size&colon; 18px&semi; font-weight&colon; bold&semi;" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;engaginglearningvoices&period;com&sol;post&sol;upholding-te-m&percnt;C4&percnt;81taiaho-s-vision" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">here<&sol;a><span style&equals;"font-size&colon; 18px&semi; font-weight&colon; bold&semi;">&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;