National’s wokest minister has quietly snuck an Education Bill through select committee that seeks to “ensure that its plans, policies, and teaching and learning programmes reflect local tikanga Māori, mātauranga Māori, and te ao Māori”.
Has she forgotten her Government’s commitment to end co-governance in public services? Is she ignoring the ACT and NZ First Coalition agreements?
EMAIL THE MINISTERS
Submissions may have closed, but it isn’t too late to tell Erica Stanford and the Government party leaders that our schools should be places for teaching not indoctrinating.

Let’s get started

Dear Minister Stanford, my belief is that:

The Coalition Government was elected with a mandate to end co-governance in our public services including our education system. Both coalition agreements also outlined a reining in of embedding Māori concepts in every piece of legislation and every policy.
Tikanga, te ao Māori, matauranga Māori, and te reo are more important to some New Zealanders than others. Within Māoridom there are different cultural norms. Some schools have few (or no) Māori students and so legislating such intense Māorification in systems is inappropriate.
Equity of outcomes is unrealistic and unfair: It’s impossible to guarantee equal outcomes for every student — differences in ability, effort, family support, and life circumstances make this an unworkable and misleading goal. Equality of opportunity is a far better goal.
New Zealand's grades and attendance have declined in recent years and school boards should be focused squarely on lifting education standards. It’s a misuse of valuable classroom time when students already have limited time to master essential subjects. Adding mandated cultural content risks diluting that time further.
These regulations will also force every Board in the country to pay for expensive cultural consultants. Instead of monies being used to fund better classrooms or supplies for kids, this will just become another transfer of taxpayer funds to iwi.
New Zealand is a multicultural society, and the push to prioritise Māori tikanga and mātauranga Māori could conflict with the cultural values of other ethnic groups. Schools should ideally be fostering inclusivity and respect for all cultures.
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