oh so it turns out that it wasn't just ONE book with te reo removed for "education" reasons, but actually an almost blanket ban directed by Erica Stanford against the use of Māori words in ALL new readers? People need to stop taking ANY explanation or action of this government at face value
It certainly seems to now contradict what she said on Q and A on Sunday.
Was the Labour government really "that bad" that most of NZ preferred what you are getting from the current mob?
sorry i don't understand the question or implication
A majority of Kiwis voted for this government. Seems they thought Labour were so bad, they preferred what you are getting now. Did they not know it'd be a backward, conservative, racist government, far worse than whatever was wrong with Labour?
obviously many people also *didn't* vote for the current lot; but I think a number of those who did were just outright lied to, aided by the media, to an extent we maybe haven't seen before. A lot of the worst policy certainly wasn't promoted, nor the degradation of institutional norms.
Ah yes, I thought you were better off than AU because you don't have Murdoch's tripe and malign influence. But then I remembered reading about Atlas in NZ, which we have here too, but called Advance. They need exposing and reigning in. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04...
it seems the advice she got from her advisors was to create 2 distinct streams (one english only, one te reo only). it isn't clear whether students will get access to both languages or not.
I think it's pretty predictable given the other attacks on Māori, particularly in education
What do they want? The Oxford English Dictionary acknowledges a number of the words from te reo Māori that have become part of English language usage, along with myriad words adopted from many other world languages. Are they all to be excluded as well?
China did this to Tibet. 🤬 Not only do they want to erase a culture, but the culture they want to erase is native to the lands.
This is interesting on the subject of language and conquest:
Thank you. I agree. Colonisers & invaders oppressed many people by outlawing their language. From one hemisphere to the other it has been used as a weapon. Language is a powerful part of a culture, and so many people have suffered losses from such oppression from Scotland to Australia and all over.
That’s one positive thing in this drama - that Stanford asked for a parallel te reo version to be produced. But as you say, who will get this? (and why does it have to wait til year 2?).
The te reo books are for kōhanga reo and kura. That’s their resource with which to teach their ākonga in their first language
Which teachers will use it? This will get te reo out of mainstream classes and segregate it to full immersion & bilingual classes. It will undo decades of work normalising reo & Máori culture within daily life of all Aotearoans.
I’m guessing that most Māori students don’t attend kura. Be interesting to see the stats.
You asked so i found it. 25% of all students are Māori. 97% of them attend English medium schools. Māori studentd who attend kura do better at NCEA than Māori students at English medium schools. We need more of the kura practices in our mainstream schools not less.
evidence.ero.govt.nz/media/ytyjt3...
Thanks - I was trying to get the figures on educationcounts.govt.nz to no avail! So 97% attend 'English medium' schools. Wow - that is higher than I thought.
My understanding is that there arent enough kura to meet demand.
To think you voted Jacinda out
Jacinda resigned. We voted Hipkins out.
Okay. D9nt know why I thought that.i remember now.
Hipkins has the chance to do the funniest thing! 😆 #returnArdern #2026Elections #nzpol
We didn't. She resigned before the end of the parliamentary term.
The media, RW & some heinous individuals bullied & threatened her until she was exhausted.
And STILL the country won't go on a general strike to remove them. To be honest, if we don't stop this, we deserve EVERYTHING this government is doing to destroy our identity!!
Yep. The racist bigots strike again.
Thanks for bringing attention to this. I’m not a Kiwi, but as an Aussie I truly appreciate one of our closest neighbours. It’s appalling that these guttersnipe politicians are attacking the public and indigenous communities. I hope you can kick them out soon. www.teaonews.co.nz/2025/08/12/e...
I mean I remember our kids when they were little coming home with what to do in a bushfire heading for their home situation readers - I assumed it had come from an Australian set. I guess they just use everyday experiences right. Going to a marae seems more likely for a mid north island town though.
I’ve not heard of marae being used in a book for our kids. But as a white Australian I have no problem using, or my children using, words from any aboriginal native tongue. And let’s face it - they’re fun words to say, like: Kia Ora Haka Billabong Didgeridoo Witjuti Grub Yabby 😁
It is a staple of most schools. Very few children would get thru primary school without doing a Marae visit. Also these words are used within most classrooms every day. Even rural South Island schools have a smattering of te reo that is in daily use. Mostly actions, days of the week, karakia, kai
On Q&A she stated it was 'cause learners could cope with only a few "heart" words & said te reo words are heart words. They are not. Heart words don't follow normal phonics rules & have to be learned by heart. Te Reo is phonic, so she is conflating the 2 to sound informed, but is completely wrong.
I’m so sorry to see this happening to you NZ it’s very sad