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“When Six Māori Words Are "Too Many": The Colonial Classroom Returns” - 8 August 2025

The Ministry of Education's latest assault on te reo Māori reveals the hollow rhetoric of reconciliation

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Ltn

08 Aug 2025 — 16 min read

Kia ora whānau, tēnā koutou katoa.

Hello family, greetings to you all. In an era when this government supposedly champions educational excellence and cultural understanding, Education Minister Erica Stanford's Ministry has just delivered a masterclass in colonial arrogance by deeming six Māori words in a children's reader "too many" for young minds to handle. This is not merely an educational policy decision — it is a deliberate act of cultural vandalism that exposes the white supremacist foundations still rotting beneath our education system.

Timeline of te reo Māori suppression and revitalization in New Zealand education

Background: The Colonial Classroom Lives On

To understand the magnitude of this assault, we must first acknowledge what te reo Māori represents to tangata whenua. Our language is not merely a collection of sounds and symbols — it is the very essence of our identity, our connection to whenua, our ancestors, and our future. As noted by te reo experts, the language provides "an opportunity to connect and engage with the very essence of Aotearoa and deepen our understanding of Te Ao Māori".

The book in question, "At the Marae," contained what the Ministry considers an excessive number of kupu Māori: karanga, wharenui, koro, hongi, karakia, and kai. These are not obscure academic terms — they are everyday words that millions of New Zealanders encounter regularly. As principal Lynda Knight correctly observed, these are "very common words heard in New Zealand everyday life and our kids should know them".

The Systematic Assault on Indigenous Knowledge

The Hollow "Science of Reading" Smokescreen

The Ministry's justification centers on their new obsession with "structured literacy" — a phonics-based approach that Education Minister Erica Stanford has mandated across all state schools. While phonics instruction has legitimate pedagogical applications, its weaponization against indigenous languages reveals the true agenda at play.

Stanford's government has committed $67 million to this structured literacy rollout, yet apparently cannot accommodate six basic Māori words that children encounter daily. This selective application of "reading science" demonstrates that the real issue is not educational efficacy but cultural dominance.

The Ministry claims these words present "decoding challenges within the phonics sequence," yet research consistently shows that bilingual and multilingual children demonstrate enhanced cognitive abilities and reading comprehension. The global evidence overwhelmingly supports multilingual education as beneficial for all children, not just those from indigenous communities.

Te Mātaiaho Under Attack

This assault on "At the Marae" occurs alongside systematic attempts to undermine Te Mātaiaho, the curriculum framework grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Recent reports reveal the government is attempting to replace references to Te Tiriti with vague mentions of "the science of learning" in curriculum documents.

As Bruce Jepsen from Te Akatea powerfully articulated, this represents "educational violence" and constitutes "a total whitewash of Te Tiriti out of education". The systematic removal of Treaty references from educational frameworks reveals a coordinated campaign to re-colonize our education system.

The Historical Pattern: Same Tactics, New Century

The Education Ordinance Act 1847 Lives On

The parallels to historical assimilation policies are unmistakable. As Jepsen correctly noted, this decision echoes "the Education Ordinance Act of 1847 and the Native Schools Act of 1867" — both designed to eradicate te reo Māori from schools.

The 1847 Education Ordinance established four key principles: religious instruction, industrial training, instruction in the English language, and government inspection. Governor George Grey's policy aimed to create "brown Britons" through systematic assimilation, viewing education as a tool to pacify Māori resistance and create a compliant laboring class.

The Native Schools Act 1867 required instruction in English "where practicable," and while there was no official policy banning te reo Māori, children were systematically punished for speaking their first language. By 1890, education policy explicitly aimed to ensure Māori children arriving at school speaking their own language had it replaced by English.

The Manufactured Crisis

The Ministry's decision reveals the manufactured nature of this "literacy crisis." While New Zealand faces genuine educational challenges, with 21% of 15-year-olds reading at the lowest level according to PISA 2022 results, removing indigenous language from children's books will not address systemic inequities.

The government's own Māori Education Action Plan acknowledges that only 12% of Māori students in English medium settings reach curriculum benchmarks in mathematics by Year 8. Yet instead of addressing structural racism and resource inequities, they focus on eliminating Māori words from children's readers.

The Neoliberal Education Agenda

Market Fundamentalism Disguised as Science

Stanford's structured literacy mandate represents classic neoliberal policy-making: centralized control disguised as evidence-based practice. The government claims to follow "the science of reading," yet ignores extensive research supporting multilingual education and culturally responsive pedagogy.

This selective use of research reveals the ideological nature of the agenda. As education researchers note, "PLD can also be used for political purposes, for example to support the current coalition government's desire for structured approaches to literacy". The science is invoked only when it supports predetermined political outcomes.

Corporate Interests and Cultural Elimination

The $67 million structured literacy investment flows primarily to overseas publishing companies and corporate training providers, while locally developed, culturally relevant resources like "At the Marae" are eliminated. This represents a classic neoliberal maneuver: destroying public assets to create private markets.

The removal of indigenous content creates space for standardized, corporate-produced materials that ignore local contexts and cultural knowledge. This is not education reform — it is cultural extraction disguised as pedagogical improvement.

The White Supremacist Curriculum

Replacement Theory in Action

The Ministry's decision embodies replacement theory in practice — the systematic displacement of indigenous knowledge with settler colonial perspectives. By declaring six Māori words "too many," they establish English monolingualism as the default and indigenous languages as burdensome additions.

This mirrors white supremacist narratives across settler colonies. Research on colonial education consistently shows how "the curriculum reflects the values of the dominant culture, while neglecting the needs of the subordinate cultures". The current policy continues this tradition of cultural domination.

The Myth of Neutrality

The government presents structured literacy as politically neutral "science," yet education is never ideologically neutral. As critical education scholars note, "curriculum traditionally refers to the coursework offered or required by an educational institution... However, the curriculum is composed of knowledge that is seen as important by the group that designs the curriculum".

The choice to prioritize English phonics over indigenous language exposure reveals explicit cultural preferences disguised as objective pedagogy. This is white supremacy operating through institutional policy — perhaps more dangerous because it masquerades as educational best practice.

The Resistance and the Response

Māori Leadership Under Attack

Bruce Jepsen's powerful response as president of Te Akatea represents the kind of principled leadership this moment demands. His characterization of this decision as "an act of white supremacy," "an act of racism," and "a determined act to recolonize our education system" accurately identifies the stakes.

Jepsen's leadership of Te Akatea has seen a 42% increase in Tumuaki Māori and 117% increase in Māori senior leaders, demonstrating the growing strength of Māori educational leadership. This growth threatens settler colonial control, explaining the intensity of the current backlash.

The Broader Pattern of Recolonization

This assault occurs within a broader pattern of recolonization under the current government. The systematic removal of Treaty references from educational frameworks, the proposed changes to school objectives that deprioritize te reo Māori, and now the elimination of Māori words from children's books represent coordinated attacks on indigenous rights.

The government's actions violate multiple international conventions on indigenous rights and linguistic diversity. They also breach Te Tiriti o Waitangi's guarantee of tino rangatiratanga over taonga, including te reo Māori.

The Implications for Tamariki and Communities

Psychological Violence Against Children

The Ministry's decision inflicts psychological violence on Māori children by suggesting their language and culture are obstacles to learning rather than assets to be celebrated. Research consistently demonstrates the importance of culturally responsive education for indigenous children's success.

When children see their cultural knowledge excluded from classroom materials, they receive clear messages about whose knowledge matters and whose does not. This creates what educational theorists term "cultural discontinuity" — the disconnect between home and school cultures that undermines academic achievement.

The Māori Green Lantern fighting misinformation and disinformation from the far right

Community Disconnection

The elimination of culturally relevant materials disconnects education from community knowledge and values. "At the Marae" provided opportunities for all children to learn about tikanga Māori and develop cultural competence — benefits that extend far beyond reading instruction.

By removing such materials, the government creates an education system that actively alienates Māori whānau and communities. This contradiction undermines their stated goals of improving educational outcomes for Māori students.

The Path Forward: Reclaiming Our Educational Future

Decolonizing Education

The response to this assault must center decolonizing education — not as an addition to existing structures, but as a fundamental reimagining of how we understand teaching, learning, and knowledge. This requires:

Moving beyond token inclusion of Māori content toward indigenous epistemologies as foundational frameworks. Recognizing mātauranga Māori not as cultural decoration but as sophisticated knowledge systems with their own pedagogical approaches. Implementing educational approaches grounded in whakapapa, whakatōhea, and other Māori concepts of learning and development.

Building Indigenous Alternatives

The strength of kaupapa Māori education demonstrates the power of indigenous-controlled learning environments. Rather than fighting for scraps within colonial institutions, we must continue building educational alternatives that center Māori ways of knowing and being.

This includes supporting the growth of kura kaupapa Māori, Māori medium education, and Māori leadership in mainstream schools. The work of organizations like Te Akatea provides crucial infrastructure for this transformation.

International Solidarity

The fight for educational justice in Aotearoa connects to global struggles for indigenous rights and decolonization. We must build solidarity with indigenous educators worldwide who face similar assaults on their languages, knowledge systems, and children.

This includes learning from successful indigenous education movements internationally while sharing our own innovations and resistance strategies. The colonial education system is global — so must be our resistance.

The Language of Liberation

The Ministry of Education's decision to cancel "At the Marae" for containing six Māori words represents more than educational policy — it is an act of cultural warfare against tangata whenua. By weaponizing "literacy science" against indigenous languages, they continue the colonial project of cultural elimination through educational institutions.

But this assault also reveals the growing strength of Māori resistance and the threat it poses to settler colonial control. The passionate response from educational leaders like Bruce Jepsen demonstrates that we will not quietly accept the recolonization of our children's minds.

The choice before us is clear: we can accept the gradual elimination of indigenous knowledge from our education system, or we can fight for an educational future that honors Te Tiriti, celebrates cultural diversity, and recognizes all our children's potential. The battle for six Māori words is really a battle for the soul of education in Aotearoa.

As our tipuna knew, language carries the breath of life itself. When they try to limit our words, they try to limit our world. But te reo Māori has survived centuries of suppression and will continue to flourish despite their latest assault. The question is whether our education system will honor this taonga or continue its shameful legacy of cultural violence.

Kia kaha, whānau. Our languages, our children, and our future are worth fighting for.

Readers who find value in my content are welcome to consider a donation/koha to support this important mahi. Times are tough for whānau, so please only contribute if you have capacity and wish to do so: HTDM: 03-1546-0415173-000.

Mauri ora

Ivor Jones
The Māori Green Lantern

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