Planning, policy, and practice in Maori education, 1936-1968

Abstract

The last five years have witnessed an upsurge of interest in the educational problems faced by the Maori sector of the community in New Zealand. The common theme of many recent articles, books and dissertations has been that the Maori represents one of the greatest sources of untapped talent in the population See, for example, John E. Watson, Horizons of Unknown Power, N.Z.C.E.R., Wgtn., 1968. The Report of the Maori Affairs Department 1960, usually referred to as the Hunn Report, highlighted the relatively poor educational attainments of the Maori people. Since then a very great deal has been said or written about what it has become fashionable to call "the Maori problem". Most commentators in recent years have emphasised that the problem is closely connected with a lack of vocational mobility amongst the Maori people. The most common reason put forward for the relative lack of Maori mobility is their limited educational attainments. But, although this is a widely held belief, little attention has been directed towards the history of Maori educational policy and practice, especially in the period covering the last three decades. T.H. Beaglehole T.H. Beaglehole, Maori Schools 1830-1880, Unpublished M.A. thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, 1955 and J.M. Barrington J.M. Barrington, Maori Educational and Society 1876-1940, Unpublished M.A. thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, 1965, in two Masters' theses, have made excellent contributions in covering the century 1830-1940. However, apart from the occasional article, notably that of W. Parsonage W. Parsonage, 'Education of Maoris in New Zealand' Journal of the Polynesian Society 65, 5-12, 1956 and the relevant section of the report of the Commission on Education (1962) Currie et. al. Report of the Commission on Education in New Zealand, Government Printer, Wellington, 1962 no major investigation of the period 1940-1968 has taken place.