14 September 2017

Greens: te reo Māori in all schools by 2030

The Green Party has a plan for all children to learn te reo Māori at school within a generation, to support revitalising the language.

The policy package, announced today at a hīkoi marking 45 years to the day since the Maori Language Petition was delivered to Parliament, would implement te reo Māori as a core curriculum subject in all schools by 2030, significantly increase te reo Māori teacher capacity, and would set up recruitment and language quality strategies, overseen by an implementation taskforce.

“The Green Party supports teaching te reo Māori to all children at school, and we have a plan that will achieve it within a generation,” said Green Party Co-leader James Shaw.

"I can’t wait for the day when every child learns te reo Māori and falls in love with this beautiful language, which is uniquely ours.

“The Green Party put te reo Māori in all schools on the political agenda in February.

“Working with reo experts, parents and teachers, hapū and iwi, we have now developed a plan to achieve this vision.

“We will build teacher capacity and through a staggered approach implement universal te reo Māori learning for all students from Year 1 to Year 10 over a period of 10 years.

“Te reo Māori is the first language spoken in Aotearoa, and is a fundamental part of our identity as New Zealanders, giving us pride on the world stage.

“We have a responsibility to ensure that our indigenous language thrives, and introducing all children to it at school is one of the best ways to make that happen.

“Learning a second language has proven benefits for children’s educational outcomes, as does Māori students being immersed in their own culture,” said Mr Shaw.

Specific initiatives in the policy package include:

1. Establish a taskforce to implement te reo Māori as a core curriculum subject in all public primary and secondary schools from Year 1 to Year 10 by 2030.

2. Work with the education and te reo Māori sectors to create te reo Māori curriculum guidelines.

3. Develop a targeted strategy with incentives and scholarships to drive teacher recruitment.

4. Increase specialist te reo Māori teachers and kaiārahi i te reo.

5. Establish formal clusters of te reo Māori teachers, with facilitation and technical support from Language Advisors.

6. Negotiate to honour the Te Kōhanga Reo settlement claim (WAI 2336), and provide additional resource for kaupapa Māori education.

The full cost of this package will be met from the Green Party’s commitment to increase the overall education budget. Costs in the first few years will be modest and will rise over time as more teachers are trained, the workforce grows, and we move closer to achieving the goal.

ends

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