Te Tiriti o Waitangi

The Treaty of Waitangi

Concepts and links to key documents to help you give practical effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi in your service.

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari he toa takitini.

I come not with my own strengths but bring with me the gifts, talents, and strengths of my family, tribe, and ancestors.

E ngā maunga, e ngā awa, koutou e whāngai nei i ā tātou kōhungahunga ki ngā wai o te puna mātauranga, mei kore ake koutou hei kawe i te kaupapa nui whakaharahara nei. Mauriora!

The following are concepts and links to key documents that help kaiako to give practical effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi I The Treaty of Waitangi, and implement a local curriculum for all mokopuna within their community. The vision that underpins Te Whāriki requires “a society that recognises Māori as tangata whenua, assumes a shared obligation for protecting Māori language and culture, and ensures that Māori are able to enjoy educational success as Māori” (Ministry of Education, 2017, p. 2).

A curriculum that gives practical effect to Te Tiriti | The Treaty
Māori educational success as Māori
Significance of whakapapa

Te Whāriki gives practical effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi. This means that as part of a commitment to Te Tiriti | The Treaty, all tamariki in early learning can experience, learn about, and connect with te ao Māori (the Māori world) and te reo Māori (Māori language).

Te Tiriti | Treaty honouring principles and practices in Te Whāriki provide the foundation for promoting equitable educational success for mokopuna Māori as Māori – with kaiako responding to the values, knowledge, and strengths mokopuna Māori bring to their learning.

Mokopuna Māori achieving educational success as Māori starts with kaiako understanding that te ao Māori and te reo Māori provide the foundation for designing learning environments with and for Māori tamariki and their whānau that:

are positive, relevant, and responsive to their aspirations as Māori and as citizens of Aotearoa New Zealand and of the world
respect and promote the use of te reo Māori (with attention to correct pronunciation)
enable them to see, feel, and hear their identity, language, and culture around them.

The essence of te ao Māori is relationships between people—whānau, hapū, iwi—but also between the spiritual world and the natural world. Everyone and everything are connected through whakapapa. For Māori, land, rivers, lakes, forests, and the sea are a part of whakapapa; connection to these things is more than just physical. Building a strong understanding of local places of importance to Māori in your local community can help support a local curriculum that grows te ao Māori knowledge.

Understanding the significance of whakapapa as a taonga in te ao Māori is an important part of supporting the learning and wellbeing of mokopuna Māori. Some considerations include:

supporting mokopuna to be proud of their whakapapa by creating opportunities to celebrate their identity
developing and maintaining positive partnerships with whānau Māori about their aspirations and learning for mokopuna.

References

Ministry of Education. (2017). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa Early Childhood curriculum. Wellington: New Zealand: Ministry of Education.

Key resources

Ministry of Education

Ka Hikitia – Ka Hāpaitia

Tau Mai Te Reo

Ka Hikitia – Ka Hāpaitia is the Māori Education Strategy, and Tau Mai Te Reo is the Māori Language in Education Strategy. Together, they outline the shifts needed in education for Māori to enjoy and achieve educational success as Māori, and growth needed in te reo Māori for both Māori and non-Māori ākonga.

Te whatu pōkeka: Kaupapa assessment for learning (Māori)

Te whatu pōkeka: Kaupapa assessment for learning (English)

Te whatu pōkeka is an assessment for learning resource based on a Kaupapa Māori perspective and context. The resource was developed for assessment for learning with mokopuna Māori in Māori language early childhood settings, but it’s a helpful resource for all kaiako who work with mokopuna Māori.

Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand

Tātaiako: cultural competencies for teachers of Māori learners

Tātaiako is a Teaching Council guide for teachers, their employers, Initial Teacher Education providers and providers of on-going teacher professional learning to think about what it takes to successfully teach Māori learners.

New Zealand Council of Educational Research (NZCER)

Macfarlane, A., Macfarlane, S., Teirney, S., Kuntz, JR., Rarere-Briggs, B., Currie, M., Macfarlane, R. (2019). The Hikairo Schema: Culturally responsive teaching and learning in early childhood education settings. Wellington, New Zealand: NZCER Press

The Hikairo Schema is a NZCER resource that has been developed to support early childhood education teachers’ practice. It encourages teachers to reflect on the ways in which they engage tamariki in the curriculum and in the learning environments and supports them to expand on their skills in building connectedness to tamariki and their whānau. You can read more about the Hikairo Schema at Ipu Kererū at the New Zealand Association for Research in Education blog.

Ako Aotearoa

Resources to enhance te reo Māori skills of ECE educators

These rauemi (resources), developed as part of the Ki Te Hoe: Indigenising Practice project by Dr Ngaroma Williams with support from University of Canterbury, have been developed to improve early learning kaiako confidence in te reo and tikanga Māori:

The resources include the following:

About this resource

The early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, is committed to giving practical effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi. It recognises Māori as tangata whenua, and it assumes a shared obligation to protect Māori language and culture and ensure that Māori can enjoy educational success as Māori. This resource provides concepts and links to key documents that help you implement a local curriculum for all mokopuna within your community that gives practical effect to Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi.