Teaching Maori in English-medium schools in New Zealand: Teacher responses to aspects of the curriculum guidelines for 'te reo' Maori in English-medium school

Abstract

Opinions are divided about how the content of language courses should be specified and whether educational authorities should include specifications/ suggestions about language content in national curriculum documents. Issues associated with language content are, however, not ones that can be avoided, particularly as teachers are expected to prepare students for national examinations at the upper levels of schooling and these examinations are necessarily predicated on general expectations about proficiency achievements and more specific expectations about the types of language with which students will be familiar. In this article, we explore the complex nature of some of the issues involved and the ways in which the New Zealand Ministry of Education has sought/ is seeking to resolve them in the case of the curriculum for Maori in English-medium schools. We also report on the responses of a sample of teachers of Maori in secondary schools in New Zealand to the omission of language examples from the final version of the curriculum guidelines document.