Content area
Full Text
This article discusses the most dramatic changes in the New Zealand education system since it was formally established in the 1860s. Maori people who were prepared to go outside the existing state schooling system developed these revolutionary changes. They were motivated to make drastic educational change because they were concerned about the educational underachievement of their children and the loss of their language, knowledge, and culture. The article highlights the critical intervention elements at the core of the Maori education revolution, which centers on the use of traditional and contemporary notions of whanau (extended family) values, practices, and structures. Since 1982 Maori people have developed several alternative education innovations in a variety of education sites. These include preschool (Te Kohanga Reo), primary schools (Kura Kaupapa Maori), secondary schools (Whare Kura), and postsecondary sites (Whare Waananga). All these initiatives have been based on Kaupapa Maori as a theory and practice of transformation.
introduction
In this article I discuss the most dramatic changes in the New Zealand education system since it was formally established in the 1860s. These changes were initiated in the 1980s by Maori parents who were prepared to go outside of the compulsory state schooling system to develop change. This movement toward alternative Maori schooling can be viewed as a revolution. Indeed, when the primary schooling (for students from 5 to 12 years old) initiative of Kura Kaupapa Maori developed, Maori parents went outside the law to support their beliefs about what should count as an appropriate schooling and education for their children.
Thus this article examines the development of the innovative response undertaken by the Maori people of New Zealand to the dual crises of educational underachievement on the one hand and the loss of language, knowledge, and culture on the other. In particular, I consider the critical intervention elements at the core of this revolution. That is, I examine the key elements that have generated change and intervention. These factors are generalized as Kaupapa Maori theory and practice, the significant component of which is centered on the use of traditional and contemporary notions of whanau (extended family) values, practices, and structures.
Since 1982 Maori people have developed a range of alternative schooling innovations in a variety of educational sites. These...