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Māori history in The 2007 New Zealand Curriculum

This resource provides possible programme designs for teaching and learning Māori history in years 1–13, along with The 2007 New Zealand Curriculum and NCEA links, resources, and learning experiences.

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Tags

  • AudienceKaiako
  • Learning AreaSocial Science
  • Resource LanguageEnglish
  • Resource typeCollection/Curriculum Guide

About this resource

The concept that Māori history is the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa New Zealand is the first of the four ‘big ideas’ that underpin learning within the Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum. This resource helps educators engage with the question ‘What is Māori history and why should it be taught?”. There are suggested topics, resources, and ready-made teacher support materials. 

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Māori history in the New Zealand Curriculum

How should we teach Māori history? 

Māori history needs to be taught within the framing of the Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum as part of the social sciences learning area of The New Zealand Curriculum. This section provides: 

  • an overview of the curriculum’s Understand, Know, and Do elements and progressions model 
  • links to resources to help you get started, including purpose-made video stories and perspectives from iwi historians and teachers  

Important considerations when teaching social sciences

Because important issues for society change frequently, it is important to regularly review topic selection. Selecting meaningful topics is critical if ākonga are to deepen their understanding of social sciences’ big ideas and be able to apply them to both familiar and new situations. These topics often require an investigation of the past. Teachers can ask the following questions to support their decision-making: 

  • How will the topic help ākonga to explore the Understand big ideas: the history of Māori, the impact of colonisation, the power people and groups hold, the interactions that shape people’s experiences and rights, how people form communities and society, and the multiple perspectives they bring? 
  • How will the topic draw on diverse examples across time and place so that ākonga develop their conceptual understandings by exploring their world and the world beyond (case studies and comparisons)?  
  • How will the topic draw on stories from communities, iwi and hapū in the rohe? 
  • How will the topic support research into enduring societal issues in the rohe, the local area, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the world? 
  • How will this topic support ākonga to progress their learning to new and more complex contexts? 

Developing rich and sometimes provocative questions about society supports the development of thinking and imagining as young citizens. Teachers can ask the following questions when developing a social sciences inquiry question and when supporting ākonga to develop their own questions. Does each question: 

  • help identify the concepts you want to explore in the topic? 
  • invite the exploration of multiple perspectives held by people or groups? 
  • have enough depth that makes it worthy of exploration and progress in their learning? 

Teachers support ākonga to develop their critical thinking and literacy skills to support argumentation and reasoning, to evaluate the integrity of sources and claims, and to identify and critique possible solutions to social issues. Questions to ask: 

  • What depth of knowledge is required for ākonga to develop higher level reasoning? 
  • What opportunities are there for ākonga to consider the quality of the evidence they are drawing on? 
  • What opportunities are there for ākonga to weigh different points of view and discuss possible solutions? 
  • What opportunities are there for ākonga to take action or contribute to that of others? 
  • How will these opportunities support progress? 

The Understand, Know, and Do elements  

There are three elements to the Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories content: Understand, Know, and Do. The elements are not separate or sequential. Kaiako weave them together so that student learning is deep and meaningful. The three elements are interwoven and come together as progress outcomes at each of the five phases of learning progression.  

Understand 

Four big ideas form the Understand element of the Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum. Although the big ideas don’t change across year levels, ākonga gradually deepen their understanding of them as they grow their knowledge of national, rohe, and local contexts and develop their use of inquiry practices. 

Māori history engages ākonga with the big idea that Māori history is the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa New Zealand. Learning Māori history, also provides a natural context for constructing learning around the three other big ideas: 

  • Colonisation and settlement have been central to Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories for the past 200 years. 
  • The course of Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories has been shaped by the use of power. 
  • Relationships and connections between people and across boundaries have shaped the course of Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories. 

Know  

The Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum invites knowledge-building within national, local, and rohe contexts. These contexts are made up of stories about events, people, the land, and how they interact. As ākonga move through schooling, they gain richer understandings of the big ideas through engaging with new and more complex contexts. 

The prescribed contexts describe the expected learning for all ākonga across Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Rohe contexts are defined by iwi and hapū and are guided by the question, “What stories do local iwi and hapū share about the history of the people of this rohe?” 

Local contexts include histories that are important to local communities and ākonga. 

There are four prescribed contexts: 

Whakapapa me te whanaungatanga │ Culture and identity

This context focuses on how the past shapes who we are today – our familial links and bonds, our networks and connections, our sense of obligation, and the stories woven into our collective and diverse identities. 

Tino rangatiratanga me te kāwanatanga │ Government and organisation 

This context focuses on the history of authority and control, and the contests over them. At the heart of these contests are the authorities guaranteed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi. This context also considers the history of the relationships between government agencies and the people who lived here and in the Pacific. 

Tūrangawaewae me te kaitiakitanga │ Place and environment 

This context focuses on the relationships of individuals, groups, and communities with the land, water, and resources, and on the history of contests over their control, use, and protection. 

Kōwhiringa ohaoha me te whai oranga │ Economic activity

This context focuses on the choices people made to meet their needs and wants, how they made a living individually and collectively, and the resulting exchanges and interconnections. 

Do  

The Do element of teaching and learning within the Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum involves developing and using the following inquiry practices:  

Identifying and exploring historical relationships

The construction of narratives about the past is based on the ability to sequence events and changes and to identify historical relationships between them and how long ago they happened. Depending on who is telling the story, the same story can be told in different ways. 

Identifying sources and perspectives

Drawing on a broad base of historical sources, in varied forms, provides a fuller and layered understanding of the past. This includes paying deliberate attention to mātauranga Māori sources and approaches. When drawing evidence from sources, it is important to consider authorship and purpose and to identify voices that are missing. 

Interpreting past experiences, decisions, and actions

Interpretations of people’s past experiences, decisions, and actions need to take account of the attitudes and values of the time and people’s predicaments and points of view. By using these interpretations and reflecting on our own values, we can make evidence-based ethical judgements about the past. 

Progressions model  

In the Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum, the current curriculum levels have been replaced with phases of learning in a progressions model, and progress outcomes have replaced the achievement objectives. 

This progressions model gives clarity about the direction of learning and the key outcomes that matter across the phases, enabling kaiako, ākonga, whānau, mana whenua, and communities to know what is important and how learning develops. It ‘chunks’ the learning so that the progress described in The 2007 New Zealand Curriculum is easily seen. 

The progressions model covers five phases of learning throughout schooling: years 1–3, years 4–6, years 7–8, years 9–10, and years 11–13. The content for Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories covers the first four phases of learning – until year 10. 

The Understand, Know, and Do elements come together as progress outcomes for each phase of learning. The progress outcomes describe the depth and breadth of knowledge and understanding required for ākonga, and the sophistication of their use of practices. 

Integrating Māori history into your local curriculum  

The following videos provide insights into how you might integrate “Māori history” into your local curriculum and why this is so important. Key ideas and prompts to spark professional learning conversations to get you started on this journey are included. 

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Two young tamariki stand smiling at the camera outside a school entrance.

The stories and histories relating to your school’s geographic location will assist you to instill a deeper sense of personal identity and belonging for every student. Focusing history learning in a familiar place allows assumptions to be challenged and new perspectives to be explored. While you may choose to show the links between local, national, and global history, place-based history also acknowledges the different experience of Māori across Aotearoa and allows students to explore local tikanga and the events that have shaped their own community. 

Professor Wally Penetito, Ngāti Hauā, Professor of Māori Education at Victoria University, begins by describing growing up without having rich local historical stories and artifacts included in the local school curriculum. Wally talks about place-based education as a “basic principle of education – begin with stuff you know, and then move into the unknown.” He talks about the three strands:  

  • a place-based curriculum that lets students examine knowledge and events from where their feet stand  
  • a place-based pedagogy that takes into account the tikanga of where you are teaching 
  • the idea of challenging your own “taken-for-granted” world. 

Key ideas from the video 

Professional learning conversations  

  • In designing a Māori history programme, what part do the personal stories of all the people involved – the people telling the story, the people they are talking about, the ākonga, the teachers – play in the overall programme? 
  • 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 we best connect with the past, acknowledging the different perspectives and points of view about historical movements and events?  
  • “Place-based education– Beginning where your feet are”: Wally recommends “Getting to know where we are first, then spreading out into the world.” What systems and protocols could we put in place to ensure that this happens? How may we successfully incorporate the important aspects of a place-based programme into our curriculum? 
  • Can we challenge taken-for-granted versions of events in our teaching? How do we teach history that challenges the accepted versions of events? 
  • When considering Māori history and local people telling local stories, we may find we want to be able to share these stories. How can we develop systems, networks, and connections that help us develop a national dialogue and a discourse that we can all access for the teaching of Māori history? What are some of the considerations in doing this? 
  • How do we teach the Treaty as part of our Māori history programme? 

Gregor Fountain discusses the complexities of teaching history that is local, from within a traditional history framework. He talks about how important the stories of Māori history are to our understanding of the past. He describes how difficult it can be framing assessment topics around stories that fall outside the official version of history, and how crossing into another cultural space can be challenging. Gregor acknowledges the complexity of designing new programmes that include less formal and more local resources but argues that it is a critical part of historical study in New Zealand. 

Key ideas from the video 

Professional learning conversations  

  • How would a place-based approach to teaching local history work in your context? What the challenges might you face in setting up a place-based programme? 
  • How would your school develop a programme that you could refer to as ‘Māori history’? 
  • How can you establish systems and initiatives that support place-based programmes? 

Dean Whaanga discusses the importance of Māori history and how much of this history is traditional knowledge still held in local Māori communities. Hearing these stories from local people means establishing relationships between schools and communities, based on trust and respect. The Māori history project is helping schools to develop these local resources by connecting schools with local people who can tell the stories. The sharing of stories benefits the schools and local people who want their stories to be told in an authentic context. 

Key ideas from the video 

Professional learning conversations  

  • How can we construct a relevant and authentic Māori history programme? Who should be responsible for this? 
  • There is a huge level of trust when whānau and iwi share stories from the past. How do we ensure that respect is given to these stories from the past? 
  • Sometimes these stories are difficult to hear. They tell of injustices and are often a window into the way people behaved during a period from the past. How do we confront this, while maintaining respect for the people who own the stories. How do we challenge local history? 

Arapeta Latus, a senior student at Whanganui City College, talks about the importance of hearing local history from local people, if possible, by visiting the sites of significance. He discusses how important this was for him as a young Māori growing up in a city where there was early conflict. Arapeta suggests that teachers build a relationship with local marae to ask kaumātua and kuia to help in setting up the process for hearing these important stories from the past. 

Professional learning conversations 

  • Arapeta suggests that teachers go to marae to ask kaumātua and kuia for help. Sometimes there are protocols around the sharing of stories with schools. What are the protocols and networks you need to set up in your area and school to make sharing stories and information easy for teachers and local Māori? 
  • Should young people be able to challenge local histories told by local people? How can this be done respectfully? How can local histories told to young people at school become part of the formal curriculum discourse? Who owns local histories and stories? 
  • How do you teach the difficult, more complex questions that make up our diverse history in Aotearoa New Zealand? 
  • What counts as significant when you are teaching a place-based programme? 
  • Māori history is relevant to all curriculum areas. Consider how you could design a cross curricula programme. 

Ricky Prebble talks about Māori history and what this means in today’s world. He considers the differences between teaching New Zealand history and teaching Māori history. Ricky believes that we need to help ākonga to look at the past from different perspectives and to challenge mainstream perspectives. Place-based teaching is important in the teaching of Māori history, as it is a way to connect and build relationships between the different groups involved in telling, listening, and recording the stories. The Māori history project is a way of bringing history teachers together, forming clusters to share resources and to help make connections and partnerships with local iwi. 

Key ideas from the video 

Professional learning conversations  

  • Ricky talks about a difference between teaching Māori history and teaching New Zealand history. What does Māori history mean to you? 
  • How would you and your colleagues begin to design a Māori history programme? 
  • What are the essential systems, processes, and protocols you might need in a Māori history programme in your context? How could you design and implement them in ways that will assist all teaching staff? 

Kathryn Hutchinson discusses presenting history from different perspectives. She talks about the way visiting sites of significant events and hearing stories, sometimes from the relatives of people who were there, is effective and has impact for everyone. Kathryn considers the way history is constructed and how we should find out about, and teach, different versions of events. She advocates teaching a wider view than the traditional political, economic, and social discipline of history. 

Key ideas from the video 

Professional learning conversations  

  • How do you go about changing to a place-based programme? Consider the current NCEA requirements in your place-based programme about Māori history. 
  • Designing a programme using local people and resources could be challenging for ākonga required to provide evidence and research using acknowledged sources. How can you approach this? 
  • How do we teach ākonga to hear and use alternative views about accepted written, versions of history? 
A photograph of an iwi standing outside the marae participating in a traditional ceremony.

Whatever your Māori history content and context, the first step in building a successful Māori history curriculum is engaging collaboratively with local iwi and hapū. 

Iwi and hapū are the history experts in your local area, the holders of connections to important people and stories from the past, and the history makers of the future. While establishing and maintaining a school-iwi relationship that is beneficial to both parties takes time and commitment, it gives depth, authenticity, and relevance to the work you and your students are undertaking.   

Whanganui iwi have partnered with local schools to develop resources covering different perspectives of the causes and events of the Battle of Moutoa Island. For schools, the greatest learning is not so much about the battle itself as about the tikanga of engaging with the people of Whanganui River. 

Professional learning conversations  

  • What constitutes our knowledge; in particular, mātauranga Māori? Discuss ideas about who owns knowledge, in particular local knowledge, and how we can share knowledge. 
  • How can schools connect with the people they need to talk to about their local areas? 
  • What protocols and systems could we set up so that all schools know how to access local Māori history? Should everyone have access to Māori stories from different areas? 

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