Cut to te reo programme a few days after Te Wiki o te Reo Māori a mistake

Teachers will continue to uphold te reo as a tāonga in their classrooms in spite of the Minister of Education’s decision to cut $30 million from Te Ahu o te reo Māori, a programme which develops teacher competency in te reo, NZEI Te Riu Roa says.

The Minister for Education, Erica Stanford, has announced that the funding will be cut and diverted into publishing maths workbooks because of the Government’s fast-tracking next year of the new maths curriculum.

NZEI Te Riu Roa president Mark Potter says that union members fought for years to have such programmes introduced and cutting funding to it was a mistake.

“The programme has helped both Māori and Pākehā kaiako and ākonga flourish in the reo and understanding of tikanga and te ao Māori. I speak to teachers and principals around the motu, and they say it’s helped boost their language confidence and proficiency, as well as challenging them. Our education system and our country is better off for being bilingual.”

An evaluation of the programme has shown it has positive impacts and was well implemented. An evaluation of the initial pilot published on Education Counts* in October 2020, states that:

“It is an opportunity for teachers to engage and understand a different worldview; to engage in cultural practices, narratives and histories relevant to Aotearoa and to the system that supports the education of all students. The programme has enabled teachers with different skills and knowledge, from different schools, and from different sectors to come together in a safe place to learn.”

*You can read the Education Counts evalutation report here.