Summarised by Centrist
The Ministry of Education’s new draft school curriculum has triggered a wave of outrage from education unions and principals.
They accuse the draft of “recolonising” classrooms, erasing Māori and Pacific perspectives, and promoting a “Eurocentric” view of knowledge.
The New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) called the rollout “rushed and Eurocentric.” Principals’ Council chair Stephanie Madden said the curriculum “fails to mention ‘Aotearoa’ even once” and sidelines te reo Māori.
The draft is the result of a pledge from National-ACT coalition to “rebalance” the previous curriculum focused on Māori history as the main thread running through New Zealand’s past.
“Whose version of history are we being asked to teach?” she asked. “Omitting this discourages kids from learning the full history of Aotearoa, so they won’t be equipped to see the effects of colonisation today.” She warned the changes “look like aspects of the Treaty Principles Bill have made their way into this curriculum.”
Porirua principal Lynda Knight-de Blois called the draft “a joke” and “a recolonisation of Aotearoa’s education system.” She noted that of 82 scientists referenced in the new science curriculum, 75 were “predominantly dead white men,” with none from the Pacific. “We’ve gone back to the days when Pacific [people] are invisible,” one staff member said.
Leanne Otene, president of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation, said principals were “horrified” at the shift away from inclusion and Te Tiriti principles. “This feels like a foreign document,” she said.
Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa chief executive Jackie Edmond called the health curriculum “regressive and fractured.” She said it erases gender diversity and Māori-inspired frameworks for wellbeing like hauora and Te Whare Tapa Whā.
The History Teachers Association called the draft “unrealistic” and “unmanageable,” saying students would be overloaded with content ranging from the French Revolution to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. “The ministry has interpreted ‘knowledge-rich’ to mean knowing lots of facts,” it said.
Education Minister Erica Stanford defended the reforms as providing a “clear, knowledge-rich, year-by-year curriculum” focused on consistency and academic standards.
Editor’s note: The criticism quoted in mainstream coverage comes almost exclusively from teachers’ unions and activist educators. Their backlash may therefore represent the view of a radical, entrenched professional lobby rather than the full range of opinion among teachers or parents.
The episode provides a striking example of what commentator Muriel Newman recently described as the “deep state” effect in public institutions, where ideological networks within ministries and unions pursue their own agendas, regardless of the direction of an elected government.
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Read more over at The Post, RNZ, and NZEI Te Riu Roa
