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Abstract Kura kaupapa Māori provide a unique primary school education system that immerses children in Māori language and culture. Interviews with founding members from the first Auckland kura give a critical sense of the aspirations that guided them in their struggle to set up the kura kaupapa Māori initiative. The desire to provide suitable schooling for their children, educated in a pre-school Māori immersion environment, led to a political and legal battle to provide an education validating traditional Māori knowledge. The narratives inform of the hardship endured in the setting up of kura kaupapa Māori without government assistance, and clarify the political strategies employed to establish kura. The restructuring of New Zealand's Education Department opened a space for the development of kura kaupapa Māori, leading to legislation in 1989 and formal recognition in 1999 of the Te Aho Matua document, the guiding philosophy for the majority of kura today.
Keywords kura kaupapa Maori Te Aho Matua
Introduction
Kura kaupapa Maori evolved from the kohanga reo movement in which parents and whanau strived for the survival of the Maori language and traditions by providing Maori language education for babies and toddlers. Kura kaupapa Maori provide a primary school level of education rich in Maori knowledge, traditions and cultural values communicated through the Maori language. The history of the development of kura kaupapa Maori has been documented by Nepe (1991), Smith (1997) and Rata (1991). In arguing that kaupapa Maori can provide a relevant educational intervention, Nepe analysed the components of kaupapa Maori and demonstrated the importance of Maori language in imparting and vitalising Maori traditions, history and knowledge. Rata provided an insight into the political struggle for government acceptance by kura kaupapa Maori whanau. Smith argued that, through the push for kaupapa Maori educational initiatives, Maori created a transformative model of resistance.
This article documents the beginnings of kura kaupapa Maori through narratives as told to me by some originators of the kura kaupapa Maori movement: Cathy Dewes, Katerina Mataira, Elizabeth Rata, Pita Sharples, Graham Smith and Linda Smith. The interviews with Elizabeth, Graham, Linda and Pita took place in 2008. I was not able to interview Katerina until 2010 and Cathy in 2011 (see Tocker 2014).
Hoani Waititi Kura
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