Foreword
E ngā iwi huri noa o te motu, tēnā koutou katoa. He mihi whānui tēnei ki a koutou e hāpai nei i te reo Māori. Ki a rātou ngā tini mate kua wehe atu ki te pō, haere, haere, haere atu rā. Haere atu mā runga i ō koutou waka mokemoke, tae rawa atu ki ō tātou tūpuna – haere atu, whakarehurehu atu, whakangaro atu koutou rā.
Te reo Māori is the foundation language of New Zealand and an official language under the Māori Language Act 1987. The Act also recognises te reo Māori as a taonga under the Treaty of Waitangi and so guarantees its protection. Revitalisation efforts have increased the visibility of te reo Māori and the opportunities for learning it. By learning te reo Māori, young New Zealanders can increase their awareness of the central role that the indigenous language and culture play in shaping our nation’s identity.
Studying another language has academic, cognitive, and cultural benefits. Studies show that students who speak more than one language perform at higher levels than their monolingual counterparts on tests of academic achievement, cognitive flexibility, and creativity. Such students also develop skills, attitudes, and understandings that help them to learn other languages.
Te Reo Māori in the New Zealand Curriculum will support and encourage more students to study, learn, and become proficient in te reo Māori. The provision of these curriculum guidelines enables the Ministry of Education to provide scaffolded opportunities to learn te reo Māori and support teachers to build their professional capabilities.
These curriculum guidelines will also strengthen and support the use of te reo Māori in communities and raise student outcomes more generally. Being able to communicate in an additional language extends learners’ creative and critical literacies.
Te Reo Māori in the New Zealand Curriculum is designed to assist teachers in the planning and delivery of Māori language programmes in English-medium schools. The curriculum spans eight levels of achievement and includes suggested learning contexts in the form of sociocultural themes, topics, and text types.
The key to this outcomes-based curriculum is flexibility, which is integral to learner-centred education. This flexibility is essential because the needs and interests of individual learners differ, as do the contexts in which te reo Māori is taught.
Te Reo Māori in the New Zealand Curriculum is released as a draft for consultation. All feedback will be taken into account in developing the final curriculum to be published in 2008. Sincere appreciation goes to the many people who have contributed to the development of this draft curriculum; in particular, the writers, the trialling teachers, the curriculum advisory group, and those who provided their feedback along the way.
We acknowledge and pay special tribute to the late Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu and Toby Rikihana, both of whom were stalwarts in promoting te reo Māori. Kei te mihi atu, kei te tangi atu.
Nō reira, kia kaha koutou ki te ako i te reo Māori kei roto i ngā kura auraki.
Karen Sewell
Secretary for Education