Best for
Senior digital technologies, AI ethics, social inquiry, and policy discussion that needs more than a generic “pros and cons of technology” frame.
Digital Technologies • Ethics and society • Years 11-13 • Print-ready tomorrow
Te Mana Raraunga: Māori Data Sovereignty
Use this handout to help ākonga think critically about who controls data, who benefits from digital systems, and why Māori data must be governed in ways that uphold tino rangatiratanga, tikanga, and collective wellbeing.
Free ethics scaffold, premium adaptation path
This handout is ready to use now. Te Wānanga is useful when you want a school-specific case study, a formal assessment version, or a parallel task built around health, education, environment, or local government data.
- Swap the case study for a local app, dashboard, or data-sharing situation.
- Generate supported, core, or extension policy-writing versions from the same kaupapa.
- Save and refine a class-specific version in My Kete or Creation Studio.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 35-50 minutes as a case-study lesson, or a double period if students draft a formal policy response.
- Grouping: Whole-class framing first, then small-group case analysis before individual or paired policy writing.
- Prep: Decide whether to keep the health-data case study or connect the ideas to a local school, council, or community data example.
- Teaching move: Start with relationships, rights, and governance rather than “What can AI do?” so the ethics stay grounded.
- Support / stretch: Use the policy frame for support; ask students to compare two sectors or propose a charter for extension.
Resources already provided
- Concept cards for tino rangatiratanga, manaakitanga, and kaitiakitanga
- One senior case study with prompt questions already on the page
- A policy-response builder and student self-check
- Support and extension pathways for mixed-readiness groups
- A matching teacher-only curriculum companion
If the lesson refers to a case study, policy frame, or self-check, those supports already exist. Kaiako should not need to write the actual worksheet after hours.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning why Māori Data Sovereignty matters in digital systems.
- We are learning how Māori concepts shape ethical decision-making about data.
- We are learning how to propose a practical response to a data-governance issue.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can explain what Māori Data Sovereignty means in this context.
- I can identify a real governance or fairness risk in the case study.
- I can propose a response that is practical, respectful, and culturally grounded.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
The companion page makes the social-studies and English-rich curriculum links explicit around systems, power, rights, responsibilities, discursive discussion, and policy response writing.
Why Māori Data Sovereignty matters
Māori Data Sovereignty is the right of Māori to govern data about Māori people, knowledge, communities, resources, and taonga. It asks not only who collects data, but who decides what is collected, how it is interpreted, where it goes, who benefits, and who remains accountable.
Through a mātauranga Māori lens, data is not a neutral extractable asset. It sits inside relationships, whakapapa, and collective responsibilities. That is why “consent” alone is not enough if governance and benefit-sharing remain one-sided.
Tino rangatiratanga
Who has the authority to decide what happens to Māori data and why?
Manaakitanga
How are people, communities, and relationships treated with care and respect?
Kaitiakitanga
What protection, stewardship, and accountability are needed over knowledge and taonga?
Case study: A health-data AI system
What is happening?
A new AI tool is being built to support hospital decisions. The training data includes large sets of Māori patient information. Developers say the system will improve speed and efficiency across Aotearoa.
What must be asked?
- Who approved the use of the data?
- Who sits in governance, not just consultation?
- Who benefits if the tool works well?
- What happens if the system harms Māori communities?
Build a policy response
| Policy question | Your response |
|---|---|
| What is the main benefit the system claims? | ______________________________________________ |
| What is the biggest Māori Data Sovereignty concern? | ______________________________________________ |
| Which principle matters most here? | ______________________________________________ |
| What safeguard or condition should be required before use? | ______________________________________________ |
Your recommendation
Write a short recommendation for a decision-making group. You may begin with: “This system should only proceed if...”, “The most important governance issue is...”, “A mana-enhancing safeguard would be...”
Self-check before you finish
- I explained what Māori Data Sovereignty means in this case.
- I identified a real risk and not just a vague worry.
- I linked my reasoning to a Māori principle or value.
- I proposed a practical safeguard or governance condition.
- I kept the response specific, respectful, and evidence-based.
Tautoko / Support
- Complete the policy table as a class before independent writing.
- Let students choose one principle and one safeguard only.
- Offer sentence starters and oral rehearsal in pairs.
Whakawhānui / Extend
- Compare the health case with a school, environmental, or policing data case.
- Write a formal board brief rather than a paragraph.
- Draft a class charter for ethical AI and data use in your own kura context.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Digital Technologies — Hangarau Matihiko
Level 4–5: Understand how digital systems and AI tools work; evaluate the social, cultural, and ethical implications of technology; design and apply computational thinking skills to real problems.
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Analyse how technology shapes relationships, power, and identity within communities; evaluate the impacts of digital innovation on society, including effects on Indigenous data sovereignty and cultural representation.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
In te ao Māori, data and knowledge are not neutral — they carry whakapapa and obligations. Māori Data Sovereignty (Mana Motuhake i ngā Raraunga) holds that Māori have the right to govern, own, and interpret data about themselves and their communities. When digital systems are designed without this understanding, they risk perpetuating colonial patterns of extraction: taking knowledge from communities without accountability or benefit-sharing. The concept of kaitiakitanga extends naturally to the digital realm — guardianship of what is collected, stored, and shared about us is as important as guardianship of land, water, and living knowledge systems.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. Related resources from the same unit are linked in the unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
Curriculum alignment
- Digital Technologies — Progress Outcome: Students understand how digital systems store, represent, and transmit data and consider the ethical implications of digital technologies on society.
- Digital Technologies — Progress Outcome: Students can identify and describe the key components of digital systems and how they interact.