It is now 30 years since the appearance of New Zealand Treasury (Government management: brief to the incoming government, vol 2, education Issues, New Zealand Government, Wellington, 1987), a key text that marked the start of a new era of education policy in Aotearoa-New Zealand. In his review of this Treasury text, Professor Grace (Br J Educ Stud…

This article offers brief commentary on the development of "Te Marautanga o Aotearoa", which is the official statement of Mäori-medium school curriculum policy. From our perspective as three Mäori educators who have been involved in its development for over 20 years, we combine our experiences to tell the story of this unique indigenous…

Being Indigenous and operating in an institution such as a university places us in a complex position. The premise of decolonizing history, literature, curriculum, and thought in general creates a tenuous space for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples to confront a shared colonial condition. What does decolonization mean for Indigenous peoples?…

"Washday at the Pa" ('pa' is used colloquially by Pakeha to refer to a Maori settlement) is the title of an old schoolbook, a picture reading book for younger schoolchildren, which was produced in 1964 by the state education system in Aotearoa-New Zealand in 1964, written and photographed by Ans Westra, who later became one of the most…

The idea of the 'intercultural hyphen' is likened to a gap or bridge between ethnic groups, created from the ongoing intertwining of sociopolitical and intellectual histories. This 'gap or bridge' wording captures the paradoxical nature of the intercultural space, for which the 'hyphen' is a shorthand symbol or sign. There are options on either…

For Maori, a real opportunity exists to flesh out some terms and concepts that Western thinkers have adopted and that precede disciplines but necessarily inform them. In this article, we are intent on describing one of these precursory phenomena--Foucault's Gaze--within a framework that accords with a Maori philosophical framework. Our discussion…

This article analyses research literature and policy texts to investigate the extent to which culturally responsive education policies can improve Maori achievement in schools. It presents a snapshot of current levels of Maori inequity, which is followed by an account of the history of Maori education policy to illustrate the origins of the…

We recently attended a conference at which a non-Maori presenter, drawing on a particular metaphor already established by Maori writers, related Maori natural world features to a research method. The presentation was useful because it highlighted several issues that call for our concern as Maori philosophers. In this article, we outline these…

This article is written for school teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand schools who teach science to Year 7-10 students or as part of a primary classroom programme under The New Zealand Curriculum. What can teachers do about inequity in science education for Maori students? Clear understanding of this complex issue is required, so this article offers…

This collaborative paper reflects on academic life in Aotearoa-New Zealand. Drawing on our different personal histories, we examine the dominant influence of neoliberal ideas in shaping tertiary education reform, explore the importance of identity and worldview in structuring academic experience, and discuss the role of philosophy of education in…

This article takes "measurement" as a will to determine or fix space and time, which allows for a comparison of ontological models of space and time from Western and Maori traditions. The spirit of "measurement" is concomitantly one of fixing meaning, which is suggested as the essence of the growth of the scientific genre of…

This paper comments on the process of re-development of the Maori-medium Science (Putaiao) curriculum, as part of overall curriculum development in Aotearoa New Zealand. A significant difference from the English Science curriculum was the addition of an "extra strand" covering the history and philosophy of science. It is recommended that…

This second research paper on science education in Maori-medium school contexts complements an earlier article published in this journal (Stewart, 2005). Science and science education are related domains in society and in state schooling in which there have always been particularly large discrepancies in participation and achievement by Maori. In…