Māori history: Suggested topics and resources 

Josie Scott of Ngāti Whakaue describes how stories told on the marae by kaumātua are important in shaping identity and a sense of belonging. The sharing of oral histories helps young people connect with their local areas.

Key idea

Māori knowledge and stories from before the arrival of Europeans are relevant today.

Professional learning conversations 

• How can you design a teaching programme around personal history? 
• Place-based programmes often mean working with local people—sometimes your school community and whānau and sometimes other people. What protocols, conventions, and systems could you set up in your school to make this process part of your programmes? 
• Co-constructing a teaching programme with ākonga is a great way to gain engagement. In a Māori history context, this could be a bigger whānau, hapū, or iwi initiative where many members of the local community contribute. Consider the networks and relationships you already have and the ones you may want to establish to make this a feature of your teaching programmes.

Victor Manawatu discusses incorporating field trips for history teachers, where they visit sites of significance for Māori history and hear the stories of these places told by local people. He talks about who needs to be involved in setting this up and why this is so important. 

Key ideas

• Raising identity and cultural awareness within Murihiku (00:00)  
• Contextualising history so that it’s relevant to young people in their local areas (01:24) 
• Turning local stories into local curriculum (02:39) 
• Ngāi Tahu commitment to all Māori in their rohe (04:03)  

Professional learning conversations

• Much of the New Zealand history we teach is concerned with big ideas and themes. The Māori history project is designed to hear local stories from local people. What do we need to do in our schools to set up a Māori history programme? How will Māori be involved in this? 
• How will Māori be included in this programme? In what ways does this project impact on Māori? Is this appropriate and respectful?  Do I need to consult with Māori for this project? If so, how do I do that?
• How can teachers negotiate the ownership or stewardship of these stories so that they become part of a teaching programme? 
• How important are field trips to the Māori history project? What about visits from local kaumātua? How important are these to the programme? Are there systems and protocols a school could put in place to make field trips a natural part of the teaching and learning programme? 
• The Māori history programme is important for all ākonga. However, there is an expectation that many Māori ākonga will gain an extra dimension from hearing about their tūpuna and possibly visiting places that are of significance to their own whānau. Do we need to think about the impact our programme may have on ākonga, and everyone involved, both Māori and non-Māori, and plan for this? 

Bryce Murray, Pouwhakarite Te Taumata o Ngāti Whakaue Iho Ake, describes how local history will inevitably be told from a variety of perspectives by both Māori and Pākehā. Bryce believes it is important ākonga gain an awareness of how other people think and get to know the stories of their region, as these retold stories can strengthen their identity and help ākonga to focus on their culture.

Key idea

Recognising the range of perspectives on local histories held by different iwi and hapū. 

Professional learning conversations

• In schools, we are used to using formal, evidence-based content in our programmes. How do we change our pedagogy to make sure local Māori history is part of our programmes? 
• How will local Māori be included in our programmes? What processes and protocols could we set up in our school to make it easier for teachers to take part in a Māori history programme?

Catherine Forster, history teacher at Naenae College, talks about how important it is to teach Māori history. Catherine explains how teaching Māori history begins with teaching about local areas, making local connections, and hearing local stories. This is particularly important for Māori ākonga. She describes the way Naenae College took time to develop relationships with local iwi and how getting ākonga out into their local world is critical to building their understanding of local stories.

Key ideas

This video is 15 minutes long. You can get to the points in the video where the key ideas are discussed by clicking on the video timecode links below. 

• Our culture and our way of life are critical to the study of history (00:00)  
• Gaining a sense of belonging through sharing stories (01:59)  
• Connecting with local people as resources (04:20)
• Commitment to biculturalism, multiculturalism, and the Treaty partnership and principles (05:19)  
• Taking time to build relationships with local iwi (10:47)  
• Using other expertise in the school to help make local connections (12:39)  
• Ākonga need to connect to their local places through place-based education (13:41)  

Professional learning conversations

• How could you go about finding out about the local history in your area? 
• What changes might you have to make to your traditional teaching programme if you are going to have a programme that you can call Māori history? 
• How could you go about co-constructing a Māori history programme with your ākonga, community, and whānau? 
• How can you use the Treaty and the industry that has grown up around the Treaty in your programme? 

Sub-topics and inquiry questions

Contexts you can use to shape an iwi or local history-based programme of learning. 

Use the topics and inquiry questions with your ākonga to explore and develop knowledge at the national, rohe, and/or local level/s. This supplements the guidance on the Aotearoa New Zealand's histories website. 

Māori prophets 

• What prompted and supported indigenous Māori religious movements in your area?
• What local and national influence did the Māori prophets have, and why?

Māori leaders

• What forms has local leadership taken over time in your local area? 
• What influence has the Māori assertion of rights had on global leadership? 

Place of Māori women 

• How have the roles, rights, and responsibilities of Māori women changed in your area over time? What ideas and events have brought about that change? 
• What role did local women play in the Ngā Komiti Wāhine and the suffrage movement? 

Māori health

• What health issues have affected local iwi over time? 
• What historical factors contributed to a local and national health crisis?  
• and impact on wider New Zealand society? 

World wars I and II 

• What were the individual and local responses to the two world wars in your community? 
• How far-reaching were the consequences of those responses?

Resource links

Resources you can use to shape a iwi/history-based programme of learning. These resources augment those on the Aotearoa New Zealand's histories site and those that will be generated through exploring Māori history within your rohe.   

• Living Heritage | Identity 
  Ākonga at Waipaoa Station School learned about who they are through their pepeha or mihi and researched a significant person and event from their local area.  
• The National Library | Services to schools 
  A rich array of teaching, learning, and professional learning support, including image and video galleries that can be located through the Topic Explorer and a free online reference service for New Zealand school ākonga, staffed by librarians.  
• Te Ara | Māori prophetic movements – Ngā Poropiti 
  Prophecy was practised by tohunga and matakite (seers). As Christianity brought by missionaries took hold, prophets combined Māori and Christian traditions. 
• New Zealand Electronic Text Centre (NZETC) | Te Pūhikotuhi o Aotearoa 
  Digitised heritage and born-digital texts held by Victoria University of Wellington. 
• The National Library of New Zealand | Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa 
  Database of digital material and records relating to non-digital materials including books, journals, newspapers, images, and oral histories. 
• The National Library | Papers Past 
  Database of digitised NZ newspapers, magazines, letters, diaries, and parliamentary papers from the 19th and 20th centuries. 
• Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision 
  Film and video Collection of over 160,000 moving images from 1895 to now. Contact Ngā Taonga, and they will put together a package of sound, video, and archival material relevant to class topics. 
• NZ History | Teaching te Tiriti o Waitangi 
  Includes topics for NCEA History
• Te Ara | The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 
  Online encyclopaedia on aspects of New Zealand’s people, history, environment ,and more. 
• Huia Histories of Māori, Danny Keenan, 2012 
  Written by sixteen Māori scholars, covers histories of descent, land, people, and autonomy and includes writing on customary law, ancestral law, the natural world, Māori urban protest, customary language, health, politics, and cultural expression. contains over 100 photographs. 
• The New Oxford History of New Zealand, Giselle Byrnes (ed), 2009 
  A snapshot of the state of historical scholarship in early twenty-first century New Zealand.  
• Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History, Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney, Aroha Harris, et al.,  
  Charts Māori history from ancient origins through to the twenty-first century. Through narrative and images, it offers an overview of the past, grounded in localities and histories. 

Assessment exemplar  

See Materials that come with this resource to download Who Do You Think You Are? (.pdf). 

This assessment schedule provides a matrix of levels of understanding of an historical event of significance to New Zealanders, required for ākonga to achieve. 

Supports internal assessment for: 

• A.S 91002 Demonstrate understanding of an historical event, or place, of significance to New Zealanders (Credits: 4) 

Disclaimer: This NCEA assessment exemplar has not been edited or reviewed by the Ministry of Education or NZQA. It is an example of what one group of teachers has developed as they worked with local iwi on developing a resource for local schools, using local history. 

Professor Piri Sciascia argues that Māori history is for everyone and encourages schools to engage with whānau, hapū, and iwi wherever they are. He then discusses the importance of the Treaty in schools today. 

Professional learning conversations  

1. What makes mātauranga Māori distinct from western frameworks for understanding the past? 
2. How does learning from mātauranga Māori help give effect to the Treaty? 

Catherine Forster, history teacher at Naenae College, talks about how important it is to incorporate the Treaty in your history programme. 

Professional learning conversations 

How can you use the Treaty and the industry that has grown up around it in your programme? 

Te Tiriti o Waitangi 

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is New Zealand’s founding document, and as such, it should underpin any programme development. For some classes, however, you may choose the Treaty itself as the focus of study. It provides an opportunity for ākonga to examine the long-term consequences of a treaty that shaped Aotearoa locally and nationally. 

A teaching and learning programme developed around the Treaty gives ākonga the opportunity to explore indigenous histories from an international perspective, comparing the experience of Māori under a colonial government with those of other first nations peoples. This is a way to make coherent connections between Māori history and other history topics you have chosen for the year.

Sub-topics and inquiry questions

Suggested topics and inquiry questions that you and your ākonga could explore to develop knowledge of this context at the national, rohe, and/or local level/s. This supplements the guidance on the Aotearoa New Zealand histories site. 

The Treaty of Waitangi 

What is the history of the Treaty of Waitangi in your local area and how does it relate to the present day? Carry out an iwi investigation 

Can Treaty settlements can ever be fully and finally settled? 

What economic drivers were there for the Treaty of Waitangi? 

Legal system and impact on Māori

What were the intentions, philosophies, and understandings that underpinned colonisation? Do any of them continue today? 

Is there a social and economic cost to legislation? Has there been in the past? 

Does the Treaty of Waitangi apply to those who chose not to sign it, or were not invited to do so? 

1852 Constitution Act and its impact 

What were the local, national, and global impacts of the Act? 

From Governor Grey’s perspective, were there any specific impacts for Māori? 

From a Māori perspective, were there any significant effects on Māori? 

Resource links  

The resources suggested here augment those on the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories website and those found through exploring Māori history within your rohe.   

• Instructional Series | Te Tiriti o Waitangi
  This comic provides a fresh approach to the story of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It covers a wide time span, from the arrival of Polynesian explorers to the signing of Te Tiriti, to the New Zealand Wars, and through to the modern-day Treaty settlement process. Emphasis is placed on unpacking the two versions of Te Tiriti and exploring their ongoing significance.  
• The National Library | Treaty of Waitangi collection 
  EPIC provides schools with free access to the Treaty of Waitangi Bridget Williams Collection of reference materials. The collection includes online teacher notes.  
• Ministry for Culture and Heritage | Treaty settlement stories 
  A Ministry of Culture and Heritage project that interviews those involved in the Treaty settlements. The aim of the project is to improve understanding of the Treaty settlement process over the past 30 years. This project is in progress, so material may not become available for some time. 
• The National Library | He Tohu: Signatures that shape New Zealand 
  A permanent exhibition of the founding constitutional documents that shape our nation: 
  • 1835 He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni – Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand 
  • 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi – Treaty of Waitangi 
  • 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition – Te Petihana Whakamana Pōti Wahine. 
• Treaty of Waitangi collection – Bridget Williams Books
  A mobile/tablet optimised collection of resources on the Treaty, which is available through an EPIC library subscription. You will need to login first to access the Treaty of Waitangi collection. 
• Human Rights Commission | Te mana i Waitangi – Human rights and the Treaty of Waitangi 
  Resources that explore the Treaty, particularly from a human rights perspective. 
• Te Papa | Te Tiriti o Waitangi – The Treaty of Waitangi 
  Content covers the events that led up to the Treaty, explains what is written in the documents, and explores the crucial differences between the Māori and English versions.  
• NZ History | Treaty of Waitangi 
  A range of resources about the Treaty of Waitangi and Waitangi Day.  
• John-Paul Powley | Why the Treaty now? 
  A Prezi presentation by John Paul Powley, a Wellington secondary school teacher. The presentation references the book The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan. Contains tasks and strategies that teachers could use with ākonga to unpack and explore the Treaty. 

Resistance and conflict  

Māori history is marked by conflict and resistance, active and passive, to colonial action. It is likely that conflict and resistance have affected your local community at times, and the local community has had connections to conflicts at national and global levels. 

For ākonga, local landmarks and natural resources are a foundation for looking at a history of guardianship, ownership, confiscation, conflict, and settlement. Look at which conflicts have been memorialised in your area and how they have been memorialised. Ākonga can also discover any conflicts that have not been publicly recorded and look at land issues in the local area that were directly influenced by the Treaty of Waitangi. Conflict, confusion, protest, and settlement are the journeys of many iwi with their mana whenua. 

Some of the most documented moments in history have to do with resistance and conflict. It is, then, an ideal way to examine perception, bias, and the presentation of historical ‘facts’. Be conscious that people’s voices represent points of view, so it is important to question them. Whose point of view is missing? 

Sub-topics and inquiry questions  

Suggested topics and inquiry questions that you and your ākonga could explore to develop knowledge of this context at the national, rohe, and/or local level/s. 

The Musket Wars

• Did the musket wars signal a new kind of conflict in Aotearoa? 
• What were the long reaching consequences? 
• Te Reo Māori – decline and renaissance of Māori language. 
• What affect did the decline of te reo Māori have on identity, place, and a sense of belonging? 
• How was te reo Māori revitalised in your local area? Did that reflect the national movement towards revitalisation? 

The New Zealand Wars 

• How have change and conflict characterised your local area? 
• Are the Pākehā and Māori experiences of conflict in your community comparable? 

Raupatu

• What were the short-term and long-term consequences of land confiscation? 
• How could the confiscation of land in the past affect the future of your community? 

Parihaka

• What were the effects on Aotearoa as a nation when the local Parihaka conflict became a national event? 
• What parts of the Parihaka story run parallel to the story of iwi in your area? 

Māori Parliament

• How have movements for Māori sovereignty and governance changed over time? 
• What events might have occurred had there not been a treaty? 

Kīngitanga 

• Are the concerns that Kingitanga tried to address still relevant today? 
• How did the Kingitanga movement move from a local to national force? How did this shape Māori protest and civil rights 
• Explore local and national protest movements. Who showed leadership and a strong dedication to the cause? How were they supported (or derided) by local people? 
• Have there been times in your local area where a group or individual has been denied their civil rights? For what reason? What were the consequences? 

Resource links  

The resources suggested here augment those on the Aotearoa New Zealand histories site and those you find through exploring Māori history within your rohe. 

• The National Library | New Zealand history collection 
  EPIC provides schools with free access to the New Zealand History Bridget Williams collection of reference materials. The collection includes online teacher notes.  
• The New Zealand Wars 
  Information about the New Zealand Wars fought between 1845 and 1872. It includes information about Parihaka, the causes of the wars, and the consequences for Māori. 
• Kia Mau | Teachers notes
  Waiata and haka associated with 28th Māori Battalion 
  This resource for senior secondary ākonga, focuses on waiata and haka associated with the Māori Battalion. It includes activities and ideas to develop conceptual understandings and investigate historical issues. There are three history units at each level of NCEA.  
• 28th Māori Battalion 
  The story of the Māori Battalion in World War 2, told through articles, images, audio, video, and an interactive map. The Battalion roll has names of men who served in World Wars 1 and 2. It has links to a page on each soldier, with options to add comments and media, and a link to the soldiers’ page on the Auckland Museum Online Cenotaph. 
• The Mighty Waikato | The Waikato War 
  A self-drive tour visiting 13 sites of significance to the Waikato War. Downloaded as an app. The teacher resource is at the secondary level and contains activities for social studies, history, geography, the arts, and English. It includes pre-tour and post-tour activities and detailed information about, and activities for, each place on the tour. It includes historic and contemporary maps.  

First World War - Inquiry Support Guide Years 1-8
First World War - Inquiry Support Guide Years 9-13

• NZCER | What is a social inquiry? Crafting questions that lead to deeper knowledge about society and citizenship 

Assessment exemplar

See Materials that come with this resource to download The Battle of Tuturau (.pdf). 

This assessment exemplar and teaching unit examines the significance of the Battle of Tūtūrau to Southland and its people. Supports internal assessment for: 

• A.S 91006 Describe how a significant historical event affected NZ society. (Credits: 4) 

Disclaimer: This NCEA assessment exemplar has not been edited or reviewed by the Ministry of Education or NZQA. It is an example of what one group of teachers has developed as they worked with local iwi on developing a resource for local schools, using local history. 

History teacher, Paul Enright, outlines the importance of teachers working with iwi and local communities to develop an understanding of the differing perspectives on local history. 

Professional learning conversations  

1. Paul says that history is a construct. How can we represent the past in the places where we live as part of the bigger themes we study in a formal history programme? 
2. Ngāi Tahu are insistent that Māori history that relates to their past needs to be told as much as possible by them. How can local people be heard in our places? How can this become a convention in our history programmes? 
3. What protocols and systems can we put in place to help facilitate a Māori history programme? 

Kirsten Erasmus and Johnny Horrax, history teachers from Aurora College, talk about a Māori history field trip around sites of significance in Southland. They talked about how the stories they heard were very powerful and how special it was to meet some of the local people who had connections to these places and knew the stories. Both Kirsty and Johnny felt that the field trips were a huge motivator for teaching Māori history. 

Key ideas  

• Make connections with local people and become familiar with local stories (00:00) 
• Hearing different perspectives from local people helps bring history alive (01:36) 
• Visiting sites and hearing stories highlights the impact and effect of European settlement on local Māori (03:22)  

Professional learning conversations

1. Why is it important to teach local history when teaching New Zealand history? Discuss with your colleagues how you would go about doing this in your area. 
2. What is Māori history to you? 
3. Visiting local sites of significance with kaumātua is a powerful way to learn about the past. Field trips could be a critical element in learning about local history. What systems and protocols could you set up in your school to include field trips as part of your programmes? 

Cyril Gilroy talks about how important it is to visit the sites of places that are important to Māori and to hear the stories about these places from local people. Understanding why the land is so important and how connected Māori are to events from the past is an important part of teaching Māori history. 

Key idea  

• Educators need to work with iwi and local communities to hear local stories. 

Professional learning conversations 

1. Visiting local sites of significance with kaumātua is a very powerful way to learn about the past. Field trips could be a critical part of learning about local history. Discuss how you would go about setting up field trips in your area. 
2. How does the Treaty fit into Māori history? Discuss how the Treaty is relevant to Māori today and to all New Zealanders. 

John Ryan, history teacher at Verdon College, talks about travelling around coastal Southland with a group of secondary teachers, visiting places of significance to local iwi and to Ngāi Tahu. John describes the impact of hearing stories told by people who had ancestors affected by the events. He describes how he plans to use rivers as an entry point for ākonga into understanding local histories. 

Key ideas

The video is six minutes long. The links below take you to where the key idea is discussed in the video. 

• Schools have a duty of care (00:00)
• Hearing stories on site and from people who had ancestors affected by the events has high impact (02:11)
• "Rivers just seemed the logical sort of entry point for me" (04:16)

Professional learning conversations

1. Discuss John’s statement that "schools have a duty of care" in hearing local history from local people, with your colleagues. 
2. This initiative to teach Māori history has implications for any shared story or national identity. Determining national identity and the importance of teaching Māori history could be a powerful learning conversation to have with your colleagues.  
3. John describes local rivers as being an entry point to construct or design a programme around local geographical features. What are some of the geographical features in your area that you could draw on to help in the design of your programme? 

Sub-topics and inquiry questions 

Suggested topics and inquiry questions that you and your ākonga could explore to develop knowledge of this context at the national, rohe, and/or local level/s. 
 

Place and migration

• Has the concept of tūrangawaewawe changed? How and why? How might the meaning or value of place be perceived differently by Māori, by Pākehā? 
• How is place linked to history? Is history the same as memory? 
• Explore the movement of local iwi over time – what were the economic push and pull factors? Whose choice was it to move? 

Urbanisation

• How did urbanisation and colonisation interact in your local area? 
• What was the impact of post WW2 urbanisation for Māori identity and culture? 

Resource links 

These resources augment those on the Aotearoa New Zealand histories site and those that you find through exploring Māori history within your rohe. 

• Heritage NZ | New Zealand Heritage List 
  Information about New Zealand's significant heritage places.  
• Living Heritage | Identity 
  The ākonga at Waipaoa Station School learned about who they are through their pepeha or mihi and researched a significant person and event from their local area. This is the first chapter of their trilogy on identity. 
• Te Ara | Māori prophetic movements – Ngā poropiti
  Prophecy was part of traditional Māori society. It was practised by tohunga and matakite (seers). As Christianity brought by missionaries took hold, prophets combined Māori and Christian traditions. 
• The National Library | Topic Explorer
  Curated resources for schools on a selection of topics: Anzac, Famous New Zealanders, Māori heroes, Leaders and people, Traditional Māori culture and customs, Treaty of Waitangi. 
• AnyQuestions 
  A free online reference service for New Zealand school ākonga, staffed by librarians. The site displays information from questions submitted by ākonga, as well as "Hot topics" which give an overview and links to resources on topics such as, Māori, Pasifika and World War One. 
• New Zealand Electronic Text Collection | Te Pūhikotuhi o Aotearoa
  Digitised heritage and born-digital texts held by Victoria University of Wellington. 
• The National Library of New Zealand | Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa
  Searchable database of digital material and records relating to non-digital materials including books, journals, newspapers, images, and oral histories. 
• The National Library | Papers past
  A searchable database of digitised New Zealand newspapers, magazines, letters, diaries, and parliamentary papers from the 19th and 20th centuries. 
• Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision
  Film and Video Collection, predominantly of New Zealand material, consists of more than 160,000 moving image items dating from 1895 to the present day. Some material is accessible online. It includes EM and MM content. Teachers can contact them and they will put together a package of sound, video and archival material relevant to class topics. 
• NZ History
  Includes topics for NCEA History. 
• Te Ara | The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
  This online encyclopaedia includes a wealth of material on many aspects of New Zealand’s people, history, natural environment and more. 
• The New Oxford History of New Zealand, Giselle Byrnes (ed), 2009 
  A snapshot of the state of historical scholarship in early twenty-first century New Zealand. It includes chapters by Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney, Jim McAloon, Roberto Rabel. 

Assessment exemplars  

Disclaimer: These NCEA assessment exemplars have not been edited or quality reviewed by the Ministry of Education or NZQA. They are examples of what groups of teachers have developed as they worked with local iwi. 

See Materials that come with this resource to download: 

Early contact - Mokoia, Ngāti Whakaue and Ngāpuhi (.pdf)

Ākonga explore early Ngāpuhi history, pre- and post-European contact, and the raids undertaken by Ngāpuhi on Mokoia Island and Ngāti Whakaue. The consequences of this contact and the events that followed are examined through different perspectives, and ākonga are encouraged to see how the events of the 1820’s have affected Māori history today. 

Supports internal assessment for: 

• AS 91001 (1.1): Carry out an investigation of an historical event, or place, of significance to New Zealanders. (Credits: 4) 
• AS 91002 (1.2): Demonstrate understanding of an historical event, or place, of significance to New Zealanders. (Credits: 4) 
• AS 91004 (1.4): Demonstrate understanding of different perspectives of people in an historical event of significance to New Zealanders. (Credits: 4) 

See Materials that come with this resource to download: 

• Whose world changed the most (.pdf)

Ākonga create a presentation that communicates their understanding of a historical place of significance to a New Zealander. They are asked to explore the question: Whose world changed the most in the mid-19th century – the hapū of Te Aro Pā or the family of Nairn Street Cottage? 

Supports internal assessment for: 

• AS 91002 (1.2): Demonstrate understanding of an historical event, or place, of significance to New Zealanders. (Credits: 4) 

Toku Turangawaewae - Who do you think you are?  

See Materials that come with this resource to download:

• Tōku Tūrangawaewae - Who do you think you are. Unit plan (.pdf)
• Tōku Tūrangawaewae - Who do you think you are. Instructions  (.pdf)
• Tōku Tūrangawaewae - Who do you think you are. Assessment schedule  (.pdf)

Ākonga create a portfolio of evidence about a member of their family at least two generations back or an event in which a member of their family was involved in. 

Supports internal assessment for: 

• AS 91001 (1.1): Carry out an investigation of an historical event, or place, of significance to New Zealanders. (Credits: 4) 

See Materials that come with this resource to download:

• What’s significant in our backyard (.pdf)

In this year 11 social sciences unit, ākonga understand how the causes and consequences of past events of significance to New Zealanders shape the lives of people and society, and how people’s perspectives on past events, that are of significance to New Zealanders, differ.