More than Simply Head, Heart and Hand: Rethinking Māori Empowerment Within Steiner Education

Abstract

This thesis addresses the issue of Māori in Aotearoa/New Zealand Steiner education. Māori have not been doing well in the colonially derived State education system, with the system failing to be beneficial for many Māori students forcing them to leave school without any qualifications. For this reason the Māori immersion education movements were established. For a variety of reasons, however, Māori immersion education is not always an option for Māori families. This thesis examines whether the Waldorf movement could be a beneficial and empowering option for Māori second to that of Māori immersion education. There are common similarities between Steiner philosophies and traditional Māori philosophies such as the Steiner motto: Head, Heart, Hand which relates to Te Taha Wairua, Te Taha Tinana, Te Taha Hinengaro. There are also common aims and objectives regarding the Māori studies programme and current pedagogical practices within Steiner schools that have the ability to be beneficial for Māori students. There is however, still more that can be developed within the Waldorf movement to empower Māori within the constraints of the Steiner school. This thesis argues that the main constraints within Steiner schooling are that there is a need for Steiner schools to recognise that there are remnants of old colonial assumptions regarding indigenous peoples within the Waldorf movement and there is a need for more appropriate analyses to be adopted if Steiner schools are to be empowering for Māori students.