Recolonising the New Zealand History curriculum: A political critique of recent reforms

This is an in-person event at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.

Speaker:

Richard Manning, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

In 2019, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced plans for a national history curriculum “reset” in all schools that promised to include more Māori and iwi (tribal) history content and to address the country’s contested colonial past. This new Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum (ANZHC) soon came under attack from far right/neo-conservative activists, academics, media commentators, think tanks and politicians. In 2024, a newly elected right-wing coalition government announced it intended to follow through on its 2023 election campaign to restore “balance” to the teaching of “our” history.

This seminar will outline the recent history curriculum reforms and show why the government’s draft curriculum swiftly became the subject of a Waitangi Tribunal urgent claim hearing. The critique will draw on evidence provided by the presenter to the Tribunal and assess the findings and international implications for curriculum reforms.

Description supplied by the event organiser.