Recolonising the Classroom
Te Akatea President Bruce Jepsen on the Draft Curriculum: Waatea News Interview
In a powerful and uncompromising interview with Waatea News, Bruce Jepsen, President of Te Akatea – The National Māori Principals’ Association, has warned that the Government’s draft primary school curriculum represents a major step backwards for Māori education.
Jepsen says the proposed changes risk erasing Māori perspectives and knowledge from the nation’s classrooms — effectively making Māori invisible in the curriculum, the staffroom, and even the boardroom.
Systemic Rollback of Māori Inclusion
Jepsen places the curriculum within a wider pattern of “regressive, recolonising changes” being driven by the Minister of Education, Erica Stanford. He says these moves can’t be viewed in isolation — they form part of a coordinated rollback of Māori language, knowledge, and representation within the education system.
Among the changes Jepsen lists are:
The removal of $30 million in funding for teachers to learn Te Reo Māori, directly undermining efforts to normalise the language in classrooms.
The disestablishment of Resource Teachers of Māori, who have long supported schools and teachers with Māori language acquisition and culturally responsive pedagogy.
The abolition of the National Education and Learning Priorities (NELP) — policies designed to make schools inclusive, safe, and free from racism, bullying, and discrimination. The NELP also required schools to actively reduce barriers for Māori, Pacific, disabled, and other marginalised learners.
The removal of 27 junior readers containing Te Reo Māori and Māori contexts from English-medium classrooms — where 97% of Māori tamariki are educated — significantly weakening early exposure to Māori language and narratives.
The deprioritisation of Te Reo Māori within English-medium schooling, a move Jepsen describes as “shameful” and contrary to decades of bipartisan support for revitalisation.
The plan to take control of the Teaching Council, the independent national professional body for teachers — a move Jepsen warns could erase the requirement for teachers to demonstrate a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a fundamental professional standard.
The removal of the legal requirement for school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, a change Jepsen says will have “a massive detrimental impact” on how schools are governed and how Māori partnership principles are upheld.
“These regressions must be considered together,” Jepsen said. “They deprioritise Te Tiriti, appropriate Mātauranga Māori, and sanitize our histories. When you strip away Te Tiriti, Te Reo, and Māori history, you make Māori perspectives invisible — in the classroom, in the staffroom, and now even in the boardroom.”
A Curriculum That Deepens Inequity
Jepsen argues that the proposed changes are dishonest and unethical, describing them as a “recolonisation” of the education system.
He warns that removing Māori worldviews from foundational learning will perpetuate racism and inequity:
“Inequity is an outcome of colonisation and racism. Racism happens when a dominant governing group’s bias is backed by legal authority and institutional control — and that’s exactly what we’re seeing play out now.”
He points out the contradiction in the Minister’s rhetoric:
“You cannot create equity through a one-structured framework drawn solely from a Eurocentric worldview. You have to see, listen, and respond to the groups least well served by colonial systems.”
Sector-wide Opposition
It’s not just Māori principals expressing concern. Jepsen says thousands of educators, iwi leaders, academics, and principals — both Māori and non-Māori — are standing together against what they see as an unethical redirection of the education system.
He highlights the extraordinary coalition of professional organisations rejecting the Minister’s curriculum changes, including:
The New Zealand School Boards Association
Pasifika Principals Association
New Zealand School Principals’ Federation
Secondary School Principals’ Association of NZ (SPANZ)
New Zealand Catholic Education Office
PPTA and NZEI Te Riu Roa, alongside numerous subject associations in English, History, Arts, and Mathematics
“This level of collective resistance is unprecedented,” Jepsen said. “Peak bodies representing thousands of teachers are united. So, who is the Minister really listening to?”
Jepsen went further, directly challenging the Government’s claims of broad endorsement:
“We’re tired of these generic comments that hundreds of principals support these changes. It’s garbage. We just don’t believe that anymore. Actually provide the evidence. Name the hundreds of principals who believe this nonsense. Name the people writing our curriculum. Give us the evidence — because right now, these people only exist in the Minister’s imagination.”
He also questioned the Government’s secrecy around the process:
“They say there are non-disclosure agreements, but that’s another fabrication. It’s not standard practice for Ministry advisors to sign NDAs — it’s highly unusual.”
A Call to Return to Te Mātaiaho
Jepsen and Te Akatea are calling for the Government to return to Te Mātaiaho, the version of the curriculum developed between 2020 and 2022 with extensive sector-wide consultation and authentic Māori input.
“We want the original Te Mātaiaho back — not this recolonising rewrite. It was inclusive, expert-driven, and grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”
He also challenges the Minister’s narrative that only teacher unions are resisting the reforms:
“Unions are made up of principals and teachers. It’s misleading to claim they’re the only resisters. The entire sector is mobilising to protect Te Tiriti and our shared future.”
Reclaiming the Future of Education
As interviewer Dale Husband observed, the current direction of reform reflects a “white-is-right” ideology — one that tramples on the mana of those who signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi and welcomed others to Aotearoa.
Jepsen’s message is clear: Māori leaders and educators will not stand by while the system is stripped of its cultural integrity and Treaty commitments.
Listen to the Full Interview:
Any reasonable person can look at these actions conclude that racism and small-mindedness motivates the actors.
I live on unceded Wurundjeri Woiwurrung land in NE Melbourne. The state Labor government has just passed the first Treaty into law. The only one in this whole country.
The discussion in the upper house on the final day of debate made me proud and in awe of the work that our First People have put in to make this happen. Conversely, I am disgusted at the shallow, disrespectful opposition to this long-called for recognition.
What’s happening in Aotearoa and across the world is a reminder that equality requires work.
There's no mystery about whos involved. Elizabeth Rata's slimy white privileged hands are all over this curriculum change.