History teaching a breach of Treaty principles

Students in Wellington and Hutt Valley secondary schools are being denied information about local Te Atiawa history according to Victoria University graduate Dr Richard Manning.

Dr Manning says this is a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi principles.

“History students around NZ are taught a lot of European history because their teachers often consider NZ history to be too PC and thus difficult to teach.

“Even if NZ history is taught, local tribal perspectives are seldom included. Consequently, the curriculum that is delivered often breaches the Treaty principles of partnership, active protection and participation because it leaves local tribes invisible.”

A former Hutt Valley and Wellington secondary school teacher, Dr Manning said he “was disturbed that local history teachers knew so little about local tribal histories and how they had influenced NZ history”.

He said that “history is often taught in ways that disconnects students from the natural environs and the actual communities in which they live”.

“What students are taught is largely a limited view of NZ history selected from textbooks. Reading and writing skills are important but students should also explore how local landscapes, flora, fauna and oral information serve as valuable sources of historical knowledge for local tribes and other ethnic groups living in their communities.

“Even if Maori content is included it usually addresses the colonisation of Maori in northern parts of the North Island as though nothing ever happened to Maori elsewhere.

“I encountered history teachers who appeared to have no idea, for example, that they were teaching children who are the descendants of some local tribes’ important historical figures. Most teachers also knew very little about things like local place names or the nature of local Treaty claims.

“This problem occurs around NZ. It doesn’t help to promote healthy race-relations or to raise the academic achievement levels of Maori students.”

As part of his PhD research, Dr Manning surveyed 24 schools located in the Port Nicholson Block (Hutt Valley and Wellington) area to identify the topics they were teaching and to compare the findings with those of a national survey.

He also interviewed nine local history teachers and nine Te Atiawa experts to examine the exposure they’d had to local history and ecological literacy skills when learning about past and place in their family, tribal and secondary school settings. This helped him to explore how family and tribal experiences may have shaped how the participants viewed local and NZ history today and, in turn, their current topic preferences.

“The findings showed that most history teachers and their families didn’t value local and NZ history to the same extent as the Te Atiawa interviewees. In fact, most teachers believed their families were a bit ambivalent about local and NZ history,” says Dr Manning.

But the history teachers and Te Atiawa experts expressed a desire to work together to teach local students about local Te Atiawa histories of place.

“The Te Atiawa interviewees were keen to share their history in ways they feel are culturally appropriate. The teachers also said they’d welcome the opportunity to work alongside Te Atiawa if resources are made available to them by the MoE.”

Dr Manning, who recently returned from the US, cites Alaskan place-based education models as examples of what NZ’s history teachers and education policy makers could learn from.

“It was interesting to see how some Alaskan teachers work very closely with tribal elders and university staff to co-design, assess, deliver and evaluate curriculum activities. It’s an example of how place-based research conducted by students, in partnership with informed community members, can be beneficial to local communities.”

He concluded that “a place-based education partnership involving local iwi and secondary schools would help teachers to teach in ways that are more consistent with the Treaty principles of partnership, active protection and participation.”

Dr Manning is currently the Treaty education programme coordinator at the University of Canterbury College of Education. He works in partnership with Ngai Tahu colleagues and community representatives to co-deliver place-based Treaty education courses.