Bevan Holloway has also published his thoughts about the removal of Te Tiriti on the AEC substack. I will highlight sections and as usual encourage you to read the full article.
The Hidden Cost: Removing Te Tiriti Harms Every Child
“Te Tiriti o Waitangi is an instruction manual for systemic excellence.”
(He also published it on his Democracy Begins in the Classroom website)
“The impending removal of Te Tiriti o Waitangi from the Education and Training Act means its principles — Partnership, Participation, and Protection — are gone too. It is a mistake to view their removal as a niche policy debate or ‘just a Māori issue’. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
The fact is, these three principles are the foundational scaffolding for quality education for all children in Aotearoa New Zealand. Their removal doesn’t simplify the system; it lowers the bar for every student, regardless of their background.
Every parent and every teacher must understand the cost of this decision: Māori kids will be harmed. Knowing that should be enough. But if it’s not, every parent and every teacher should understand that in that harm we find the conditions for all other learners to be harmed too.”
This really needs to be stressed – all children are going to be affected. Sure, Seymour, Stanford, Elizabeth Rata, and others, may have a simplistic view of a world that goes back to days when decolonisation wasn’t a thing and Māori ‘knew their place’ but that was always a head in the sand approach to the cultural and legal makeup of this country.
“We Can’t Rely on ‘Goodwill’
First, let’s be clear: Te Tiriti, and its principles, are a legal mechanism that does not act to only protect Māori. Te Tiriti helps schools to ‘operationalise’, in a uniquely Aotearoa way, fundamental human rights in our education system, connecting us directly to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC). These rights mandate a minimum, non-negotiable standard of care, respect, and engagement. With the removal of Te Tiriti, we are shifting these essential rights from a legal requirement to the optional ‘goodwill’ of the school or teacher.
Te Tiriti’s Three Principles Benefit All Students
The inclusion of Te Tiriti in the Act ensures that its principles are ‘alive’ in every school. That means a safer, and more engaging learning experience for Māori creates a safer and more engaging learning experience for all children because schools must adopt a stance that is cognisant of them and the rights children have. In other words, they become part of the culture of the place.”
Bevan then explains these principles. I’ll summarise them here, but I recommend you read the article where he goes into more depth.
“1. Partnership
The principle of Partnership legally demands schools build genuine, respectful relationships with Māori whānau. Crucially, this practice raises the standard of engagement with all parents and caregivers, whether Māori, Pākehā, Pasifika, or newcomers.
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- Participation
The principle of Participation ensures that Māori voices — students, whānau, and iwi — are integral to decision-making, curriculum, and pedagogy.
Embedded within Participation is the ethos of listening. Can there be learning without listening?
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- Protection
The principle of Protection guarantees a Māori student’s right to be Māori and find success as Māori. Importantly, this is perhaps the most significant universal benefit.
Embedded within Protection is the ethos of understanding. Can there be learning without understanding?”
But there’s more, which had escaped me, and which is equally significant.
“Alongside removing Te Tiriti from Section 127, it has long been signaled that the draft amendments also propose removing the explicit obligation in Section 127 of the Act for school boards to uphold the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and the Human Rights Act.
Removing the explicit reference from the board’s core objectives signals to the education sector that the human rights of every student are no longer a priority for school governance.”
When we look at the overall policy direction of this government, then I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to find an attack on the Bill of Rights and on Human Rights.
But that’s not all – as outlined numerous times previously, the government’s aim, following the guiding influences of The New Zealand Initiative, and especially Elizabeth Rata, is take New Zealand education back to an Eurocentric, especially Anglo-Saxon, world view. The recent release of the revised curriculum documents makes that very clear.
“Prioritising the Colonial View
The changes have been criticised for diminishing the central place of Te Ao Māori, and instead introducing a Eurocentric prioritisation of knowledge. By making local context and cultural relevance secondary to detailed, abstract content, the curriculum risks failing to reflect the true, honest, history and reality of Aotearoa.”
How many times do educators and others have to point this out?
“The removal of Te Tiriti means we now have a system primed for the violation of the rights Māori tamariki, and that should be enough for us to say no. Just in case it’s not, the rights of every child are now at risk. There is no successful education system where the rights of children, any children, are left to chance.
Te Tiriti’s principles acted as a crucial counterweight, a counterweight that became even more crucial with the proposal to remove reference to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and the Human Rights Act from Section 127.”
Bevan then outlines the differences between a classroom that included Te Titirit and one that doesn’t. Once again I’ve just used a selection of his text; read the article for the full version.
“The Classroom WITH Te Tiriti
Learning is local, responsive, and relevant. Students are engaged in debates about their area’s history, incorporating both Western and Indigenous knowledge…”
Then compare it with:
“The Classroom WITHOUT Te Tiriti
Learning is passive and textbook-driven. Content feels distant and irrelevant to many students’ lives. Success is defined in narrow terms….”
Which, as I’m sure you will have noticed, is exactly where the new ‘knowledge based curriculum’ is taking us. This is not an accident.
“Te Tiriti o Waitangi is not a policy of division. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is an instruction manual for systemic excellence.
Its principles are the structural shield that ensures quality education, safety, and relevance for all children. When we remove that shield, we aren’t just letting down Māori students — and to be clear, this removal means we absolutely are — we are making every classroom shallower, less safe, and less accountable to every parent and every child in the country. The removal is a regression to a lower, unacceptable standard. It heralds the arrival of an impoverished education for every child in every classroom.”
Again, thIs is not accidental. Seymour will use ‘failing schools’ as the excuse to have them taken over and converted to a charter school. This is already in progress with Kelston Boys High School.
Is that what we want for our children’s education?