A ground-breaking education system is expected to change school curriculum. The government is proposing to shift education, including Māori content learning, into a digitally oriented system. But what does this mean for Kura Kaupapa Māori.
With the introduction of the Education Minister's new $40m digital fluency package, could Kura Kaupapa Māori kids be disadvantaged by the lack of technical hardware in their kura?
The principal of TKKM o Nga Mokopuna Mark Bradley says, “At the end of it all, we don't want to return to mainstream education because of funding. Kura Kaupapa Māori wants to remain independent and our own subjects for our own people, so that we stick to our own curriculum of Te Aho Matua despite a new subject being added to the educational curriculum.”
Education Minister Nikki Kaye announced a proposal to shift education into a "digitally oriented system" and says it will break new ground. The curriculum changes include unique Māori content learning that can be shaped according to student’s individual needs and future proofing so it can adapt to new technology as it arises.
“We need to make sure that young people can get jobs in the future and we know the world is changing and we know the nature of jobs are changing, so we want them to be digitally fluent to be able to be employed in the future, we want them to both understand confrontational thinking and be digital creators, but also be able to navigate new technologies.”
Minister Kaye says that as part of the package support will be provided to schools.
“We’ve created this new digital technology for all funds so we are going to be providing resources for those young people who may need further access to these programmes. We’ve already announced digital resources for Māori language of which some of those resources will be digitally focused.
Minister Kaye says that the $40m package will ensure that the education system is aligned with the rapid technological developments.