supporting tiriti-based curriculum delivery in mainstream early ...

did not understand te reo Māori me ōna tikanga and they were fearful as JT
explained:
Generally there‟s such a lack of understanding of things Māori – that
there is a fear (Tr: JT, 1/3/04).
It is working with the unknown that increases fear specifically the
possibility of being inaccurate or offensive to Māori. This was described by one of
the survey respondents:
I find the fear if getting it wrong or offending someone is a reason why I
don‟t do a lot of stuff (R. 410).
Ritchie and Rau (2006a) also found non-Māori educators were afraid of
“moving forward in terms of Tiriti-based commitments, despite expectations of Te
Whāriki and their own personal convictions of social justice and equity” (p. 19).
Tolich (2002) also noted that perceived difficulties could lead to non-engagement
with Māori. Although Tolich was discussing Pākehā paralysis in relation to
research, there is a similarity in response that warrants comparison to Pākehā
teachers avoiding te reo Māori me ōna tikanga. In this study, teachers expressed
fear of getting te reo Māori wrong, as Chris H from Case Study Three noted:
At the beginning I was afraid. Could I talk to children in Māori
accurately? (Jl: C, 12/08).
Another reason teachers were hesitant with Tiriti-based curriculum was
concern about reactions from parents; teachers feared a backlash from Pākehā
parents – especially after the speech by Don Brash at Orewa in 2004: 5
I have only been greeting Māori families at the moment, which is not
really a very equitable practice but at this stage in my journey I feel
comfortable using te reo with Māori families. I guess I am unsure of
what European families‟ response would be. Positive or negative? I will
never know until I try, just waiting for the right moment! (Jl: B, 5/8/04).
Concern about possible negative reactions from Pākehā parents prevented
Brodie from speaking te reo Māori with them. She felt much more comfortable
using te teo Māori with whānau Māori because she perceived them to be more
accepting of her attempts. Four and a half years later, when I explored this matter
during an interview, Brodie still had the same concerns:
5 Most of the data for Case Study Two was collected in 2004. During that year, Don Brash (the then
Leader of the Opposition [National Party]) gave a speech in which he said it was time to stop the
“entrenched Treaty grievance industry” (Brash, 2004). He appeared to receive widespread support for
this view.
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