values in the new zealand curriculum - Ministry of Education

King (2003) attempts to fill in some of the gaps. He notes that a number of aspects of New
Zealand culture linked to the attitudes and values of the early Pākehā settlers are still
evident in the present. He includes in this the notion that the country is special, and has
features that the rest of the world could learn from - New Zealand as “God's own”. The
man alone ideal, and the hunting-shooting-fishing ethic is strong. Bach culture based on
“a strong desire to live simply on the margin between land and sea,” is a feature of New
Zealand. The highly practical “do-it-yourself tradition of home maintenance” lives on.
There is, what King calls a “fiercely egalitarian instinct” in Pākehā New Zealand, which
prefers to see resources spread widely and equitably through the community. There is
also, he suggests, an acceptance of strong reactions from dissenting individuals or groups
in the face of authority. He also identifies a strong preference for informality at social
occasions and in social situations (King, 2003, pp. 508-09).
King further argues that Pākehā New Zealanders value discretion and tact and do not
approve of talking loudly and a long about one's own affairs and exploits. They think it is
important to be able to take a hint and sense an attitude as much from what is not said, as
from what is. He points out that Pākehā New Zealand heroes and heroines epitomise
modesty, doing practical good in the world, support of humanitarian and conservation
causes, being reticent, strong, dependable, unboastful, good-humoured, and accepting
responsibility quietly with patience and grace (King, 2003, pp. 509-510).
One essential ingredient of Pākehā-ness, for King, is the acceptance of the worth of things
Māori and being affected by Māori things such as Māori concepts, values, language and
relationships. King claims that more than 160 years of working together around the Treaty
of Waitangi, particularly over the last 25 years, has resulted in what might be called a
“mutuality of respect.” He claims that both cultures have borrowed richly from each other
and that Pākehā culture has changed some of the features of its European and Western
cultural origin. He gives examples such as the wide acceptance of words and concepts
such as mana, tapu, whānau, taonga, haka, turanagawaewae and attitudes such as the
tradition of hospitality (manaakitanga). He suggests that ways of doing business and
conducting affairs in New Zealand show an increase in the willingness to talk issues
through and reach consensus in preference to dividing into groups for and against a given
motion, (Hui and Kotahitanga). He also suggests that rites of passage have changed,
Values in the New Zealand Curriculum: A Literature Review 15