Third Time Unlucky says Te Ururoa Flavell, Education Spokesperson for Maori Party

Te Ururoa Flavell, Education Spokesperson for the Maori Party, today revealed the third major omission from the new draft Curriculum.

- “On Tuesday, we revealed the Treaty of Waitangi had been removed from the curriculum - from the Language and Languages section; the Social Sciences section; and the key principles.

- Yesterday we revealed that a gender inclusive curriculum, non-sexism and non-racism were no longer included in the curriculum.

- And today, we disclosed that the unique value of Maori arts had been taken out of the Arts curriculum” said Te Ururoa Flavell.

In the 1993 New Zealand Curriculum Framework, the following statement was included: ‘In New Zealand, the uniqueness of Maori arts is recognised and valued, along with the diversity of our cultural heritage’.

This has been replaced in 2006 with a vague reference to ‘culture’.

“In responding to questions in the House, about the lack of any specific initiatives to promote Maori arts, culture and heritage, the Associate Minister, Mahara Okeroa, noted only that arts was for “the benefit of all New Zealanders”.

“The Minister was also unable to explain why Maori arts had been withdrawn from the school curriculum, stating he had no responsibility for this area” said Te Ururoa Flavell.

The other discovery from the Maori Party is the cover-up around the introduction of a new learning area called ‘English’.

In 1993, there were seven learning areas - language and languages; mathematics, science, technology, social sciences, the arts, and health and physical wellbeing.

In 2006, there are now eight learning areas - learning languages, mathematics and statistics, science, technology, social sciences, arts, health and physical education, AND ENGLISH.

“The bizarre thing to the Maori Party is - why has there been no fanfare about ‘English’ as a new learning area? “ asked Te Ururoa Flavell.

“The document states that “success in English is fundamental to success across the curriculum” and yet I haven’t seen one press release or speech, explaining why it has taken until 2006 for this new learning area to be seen as a priority”.

“We have wondered, what was happening in schools, before this new curriculum came in, if English has to be introduced now? Were they all learning in te reo Maori, as the official language of Aotearoa?”

ENDS

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