The chief argument of this study of major reforms within Maori schools is that while their curriculum was updated and morale restored, all educational developments were predicated upon the Maori people remaining a rural, dependent people.
In the background to schooling changes were two expressions of nationalism within New Zealand: Attempts of the Dominion, at an official level, to assert its independence, moves made more urgent by the Depression, and secondly, the growing sense of the Maori people of their racial and cultural heritage. These significant changes were joined by a clutch of moves which propelled the Maori people into the national economy.
The chief architects of schooling changes would have considered their work made a major break with the past. In reality it continued a tradition embedded in the nineteenth century in which education was regarded as a means of social control. As such, this paternalistic stance originated from British colonial theory, and from the purposes defined for education of the so-called lower classes. Partial reinterpretations of the tradition emerged in the growing practice of setting aside reserves for native education, from E G Wakefield�s theories, and the highly influential stance of John Thornton, Headmaster of Te Aute Collage. In a theory novel for the nineteenth century, Thornton held that Maoris should be so educated that they might fill any job or profession.
Douglas Ball, appointed Inspector in 1928, was a domineering presence within Maori Schools. The substantial support of unique, creative government projects to make productive farms of Maori traditional lands were joined to Ball�s promotion of the tenets of Progrssive Education, and the then-novel introduction of Maoritanga in the curricululum. Education and social philosophies so espoused were derivative; the former from the �child-centredness� of Progressive Education, the latter, from the late colonial theory of adaptionism.
Schooling renewal and land development attracted bi-partisan support. Ball received further support from international colleagues. It was the demise of the Proficiency Examinaton, however, that enabled education to be pressed into a vocational pattern, and with it, moves to link school and community.
This renewal received limited challenge until officials pressed for reforms and expansion of secondary education on a vocational basis. Pressure on Denominational Schools to virtually abandon academic courses was exceedingly unpopular, as were the turns the development of the Native District High Schools took: Maori families had become aware that a good life on the land was not possible for all. They also felt the vocational slant was an insult to Maori aspiration for better jobs and recognized status within New Zealand. Maori opposition to this form of education was an appropriate response to its limitations. This study concludes, however, given the paucity of articulate critics a no-contest situation emerged in face of strongly-held stereotypes and the bureaucratic vigour of an Education Department bent on implementing �progressive� policies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/217656 |
| Date | January 1987 |
| Creators | McKean, John Charles, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Faculty of Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright John Charles McKean |
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