Now that I’ve spent some time talking about quantitative data from PISA, I want to take a step back and describe the history of New Zealand.  Before I can get into my hypotheses as to why New Zealand performs better on PISA and also why the NZ scores are dropping, it is important to understand the historical and social foundations of the country and the education system.

Bicultural Society

Visitors to New Zealand notice that many towns have complex names and that the native, the Maori people, culture is honored much more than the Native American culture is honored in the United States.  Schools include te reo Maori (the official Maori language) in their curriculum.  Also, the rate of Maori words incorporated into New Zealand English is increasing every year.

But, the history of relations between Maori and Pakeha (European descent) have not always been so nice.  In fact, the honoring of the Maori culture has only been happening for the past few decades.

The modern country of New Zealand was founded with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.  The British signed the treaty with Maori chiefs for multiple reasons.  European settlement was increasing in New Zealand and no country had assumed responsibility for the settlement.  There’s a story that the French arrived and threatened to claim New Zealand.  The Maori signed the treaty with the British for many reasons too.  The most commonly referenced reasons were to have the British control the settlers, protect them from other nations, and to end inter-tribal wars.  When I visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, I heard another reason why the British were so keen to sign the treaty… the Maori were starting to acquire guns and the British wanted to peacefully colonize before guns became widespread throughout the tribes.

The Treaty of Waitangi was written in English and translated into the Maori language.  This wasn’t as simple as translating English to Spanish or French.  The Maori language is completely different and includes cultural elements.  The end result is that there were significant differences in the English and Maori versions of the treaty.  The main difference is that the English version was interpreted to mean that the British were in charge and allowed the Maori to live independently.  The Maori version was interpreted to mean that the British and the Maori were to exist together with separate cultures.  At the time of the signing of the treaty, the Maori did not have a national king.  Instead, they had local chiefs.  Attempts were made to get every local chief to sign it.  Most did sign, but some did not.  The British had enough signatures to move forward.  The Maori eventually had a king movement and believed that the treaty gave their king equal power as the British monarch.

It wasn’t long before culture clashes started to happen.  The Maori didn’t understand how many settlers were coming and the British needed more land for settlement and farming.  The treaty was supposed to protect Maori lands from settling unless the Maori wished to sell the land.  Unfortunately, the New Zealand government entered into a colonial era where it rigged the system to take lands away from the Maori.  The government also established native schools where they strongly encouraged Maori children to learn English and eventually banned te reo Maori in schools.

Fast forward to the mid-20th century… urbanization was happening in New Zealand.  Iwi (tribes) and their cultures were disappearing due to people moving into cities for work.  Urbanization also meant that Pakeha and Maori started living in the same communities.  Discrimination and culture loss of the Maori people continued into the late 20th century.  Te reo Maori was an almost dead language by the 1970s.  By the 1960’s the Maori people were influenced by the U.S. Civil Rights movement and wanted equal treatment.  Through demonstrations and unity, as well as support from some Pakeha organizations, the discrimination against Maori decreased significantly between the 1960s and 1980s.  Not only did the Maori get equality, they also won a reparations system.  The reparations system is known as the Waitangi Tribunal.  The tribunal hears cases about unlawfully taken lands and other injustices the Maori suffered that the Treaty of Waitangi was supposed to protect.  Iwi have gained back lands and educational rights.  Also, the tribunal ruled that te reo Maori is a national treasure that the treaty is supposed to protect.  Because of that ruling, te reo Maori is now an official language of New Zealand.  In the same way that the U.S. celebrates July 4th, New Zealand celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi with a special national holiday in which all schools are closed.

This is a condensed version of New Zealand’s history.  I only included pieces that I feel are important to understanding schooling in New Zealand.  The history is far more complex and there are definitely two sides of the history story.  If you’re interested in learning more about the history, this site is a great resource.  http://www.teara.govt.nz/en

From my schooling perspective, the most important piece of this history to remember is how recent all of these events are.  As recent as the early 1900s, the New Zealand society was separate, but equal.  A majority of Pakeha lived in towns and cities.  A majority of Maori lived in their own villages.  The 1930s-1960s is when the cultures began to exist nearer to each other.  The 1960s is when equal rights movements happened.  The 1980s is when equal rights actually happened.  Next up, I’ll briefly describe the schooling history in New Zealand.