Racism in NZ history classes
Underlying racism is dictating how New Zealand’s history is being taught in schools, members of the Ma¯ ori affairs select committee have heard.
It’s up to schools how much colonial history is taught but teachers have called on the Government to change the way that children are taught our histories to better represent Ma¯ ori.
The plea comes after Northcote College history teacher and New Zealand History Teachers’ Association chairman Graeme Ball told MPs at a June briefing that there was no data to represent what was being taught in schools but this could be fixed if the subject was compulsory.
However, University of Canterbury School of Teacher Education senior lecturer Dr Richard Manning said at this week’s select committee hearing that compulsion was ‘‘distracting from the real elephant in the room, and that is racism’’.
Manning said teachers were not providing students with a well-rounded history if they did not teach Ma¯ ori perspectives on New Zealand’s histories through the curriculum.
‘‘We’re not necessarily fans of compulsion but it just seems like it is the simplest thing to do.’’
Difficulties arose because of ‘‘perceived white backlash’’.
He had encountered history teachers who pushed back on teaching Ma¯ ori history, saying it was ‘‘all political correctness’’.
‘‘This is well documented . . . but we would question the professionalism of those teachers who would hide behind that excuse when we have this code.’’
Many teachers were striving to teach Ma¯ ori heritage, history and language but when others actively chose not to, central government needed tools to audit schools.
‘‘It is not that difficult to teach about our histories. There is plenty of support out there. There’s plenty of resources, and the guidelines give us the permission to do that. I think there are some hard conversations that have to be had.’’
University of Canterbury’s School of Ma¯ ori and Indigenous Studies senior lecturer, Garrick Cooper, said thorough teachings of New Zealand’s history needed to be offered to children to produce ‘‘fully grounded, informed students for the 21st century’’.