Restructuring Minority Schooling

Abstract

This article looks at organisational and curricular responses to cultural diversity which are presently operating alongside one another in New Zealand schooling. It begins with a critique of the minimal curricular response now recommended for government schools: the incorporation of programs in taha Maori (things Maori) within the mainstream curriculum of schools. It then looks at two recent responses which are structural and curricular: the modification of existing schools to take account of Maori student presence within them; and the development of Nga Kura Kaupapa Maori (Maori culture and language immersion primary schools) which are founded upon organisational and pedagogical features which are consistent with Maori cultural values. Conclusions are drawn relevant to the education of ‘involuntary minority’ cultures in Australia whose structural values and mores are very different from the dominant culture. A comparison of the values of Koori and Maori lends support to the view that Australian education could borrow with profit from the New Zealand example.