Connections with iwi vital for Aotearoa New Zealand histories to be rolled out successfully

Wednesday, 29 June 2022

New frameworks for the teaching of Aoteroa New Zealand histories will require the support of local iwi who hold the histories of their area.

Federico Magrin is a journalism student interning at the Taranaki Stuff office.

An advocate for the revitalisation of te ao Māori says making a genuine connection with local iwi is vital for schools to successfully integrate Aotearoa New Zealand histories into their curriculum.

But developing those relationships will take time, iwi leaders say.

The Ministry of Education earlier this year released the Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum, which aims to see local histories being taught in schools.

The move has been welcomed by some teachers and educators who believe it can help give pupils a sense of belonging in their community.

Dr Ruakere Hond says schools don’t always know the difference between narratives supported by iwi and narratives negative towards Māori.

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Taranaki te reo Māori advocate and community leader Dr Ruakere Hond said local histories were treasured by iwi and schools would have to build a relationship with the hapū to access them.

However, there were challenges. Iwi at Parihaka were sometimes reluctant to share information, he said, because there had not been many well-developed relationships between schools and iwi in Taranaki.

“The expectation that the iwi will be there and meet the requests of schools is unrealistic.”

He has been training teachers through Te Reo Māori immersion courses in the region, but he was concerned that iwi were not given the authority to tell local histories.

“Quite often schools don’t know the difference between narratives that are supported by iwi and narratives that are very negative towards Māori.”

Damon Ritai says iwi will share stories with people who have the right attitude.

Hond said the Aotearoa histories curriculum was an opportunity to move from a one-sided historical perspective to one where a mosaic of perspectives allowed for a unified understanding of history.

Francis Douglas Memorial College principal Tim Stuck said the New Plymouth school had been training its teachers for the coming changes.

“It’s important for our young men to be authentic learners and it can’t be by chance that they’ll know the stories.

“There are plenty of local stories for us, even on the school’s ground around the Okoare pā .”

However, Stuck admitted the school had yet to make that connection with iwi who held the stories about the pa.

“The next mission is to connect locally with iwi and hapū,” he said.

Māori achievement collaborative iwi liaison Damon Ritai (Te Ātiawa, Taranaki, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui) said teachers would have to be upskilled in te reo Māori and then a healthy relationship between local iwi, marae, hapū and schools would follow.

“Iwi are going to start sharing local stories once they know the people they are sharing with have the right attitude to teach this special histories,” he said.

“Some of the narratives are actually stories that teachers can’t tell. They are stories that need to come from our local people.”

Māori advocates and schools would like to see local histories being taught in Taranaki, but the ministry has only provided a framework so far and no connections with local iwi were established.

Federico Magrin is a journalism student interning at the Taranaki Stuff office.