Best for
Social-studies or cross-curricular lessons that need a strong mātauranga Māori lens on value, decision-making, and collective wellbeing.
Unit 4 Economic Justice • Te Ao Māori lens • Years 9-10
Māori Economic Principles
Explore how concepts such as manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga, whanaungatanga, and rangatiratanga can shape economic decisions. This page treats these as living principles for action, not as cultural decoration beside a “real” economics lesson.
Free classroom starter, premium localisation path
This worksheet is ready for class now. If your kura or school wants it localised around iwi enterprise, whenua stewardship, fisheries, housing trusts, or community wealth examples from your rohe, Te Wānanga can adapt it with that local detail.
- Add local case studies or rohe-specific examples.
- Generate junior, core, and senior versions from the same values frame.
- Save the adapted sequence into My Kete or refine it in Creation Studio.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 35-55 minutes.
- Grouping: Pairs for principle-matching, then individual reflection.
- Prep: Decide which local or national examples you want students to connect these principles to.
- Teaching move: Make it explicit that Māori approaches are diverse and contemporary, not one fixed script.
Resources already provided
- Principle-definition prompts
- Case-application scaffold
- Response lines for explanation and judgement
- Teacher-only curriculum companion
This page supports classroom discussion without pretending one worksheet can replace local knowledge or consultation.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning how kaupapa Māori values shape economic decisions.
- We are learning how value systems affect people, whenua, and future generations.
- We are learning how to explain the difference between symbolic reference and real application.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can explain the meaning of at least three key principles.
- I can apply those principles to a decision or case study.
- I can explain why a kaupapa Māori response may differ from a profit-first response.
Curriculum integration / Te Mātaiaho alignment
This handout is strongest where teachers want to connect cultural continuity, community decision, and present-day consequences rather than treating Māori content as historical background only.
Why this matters in Aotearoa
Māori economic ideas are not separate from the “real world”. They shape contemporary decisions about whenua, enterprise, housing, taiao, fisheries, and collective wellbeing across Aotearoa.
Different iwi, hapū, and Māori organisations will apply these values in different ways. This worksheet is a bridge into discussion, not a claim that one page can summarise every local or tribal approach.
Key principles
Manaakitanga: _________________________________________________
Kaitiakitanga: _________________________________________________
Whanaungatanga: ________________________________________________
Rangatiratanga: _________________________________________________
Case study prompt
Your community has a surplus of money from a successful project. There are four possible uses:
- Pay large bonuses to a small leadership group.
- Repair environmental damage and protect the site for future generations.
- Fund apprenticeships, housing support, and whānau services.
- Invest in a project that could make more money quickly but risks harming the local awa.
Apply the principles
Which option best reflects manaakitanga, and why? ________________________
Which option best reflects kaitiakitanga, and why? _______________________
How does whanaungatanga change the decision? ___________________________
What would rangatiratanga require from the decision-makers? ______________
Symbolic or real?
Sometimes organisations use Māori words in branding but keep the same profit-first decisions. What would make the use of these principles genuine rather than symbolic?
My judgement
Write one paragraph explaining how a kaupapa Māori approach to economic justice differs from a profit-first approach in Aotearoa.
Support / Core / Stretch
- Support: Match principles to examples orally before writing.
- Core: Apply three principles to the case study.
- Stretch: Compare one kaupapa Māori response to a market-first alternative and evaluate consequences for future generations.
Neurodiversity and inclusion note
Offer visual matching, oral explanation, and bullet-point planning before paragraph writing. Keep examples specific and contemporary so students are not left guessing how abstract values apply in practice.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Investigate social, cultural, environmental, and economic questions; gather and evaluate evidence from diverse sources; communicate findings and reasoning clearly for different audiences and purposes.
English — Communication
Level 3–4: Read, interpret, and evaluate information texts; write clearly and purposefully for specific audiences; apply critical thinking skills to evaluate sources and construct well-reasoned responses.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
This resource sits within a kaupapa that recognises mātauranga Māori as a living knowledge system with its own frameworks, values, and ways of understanding the world. The New Zealand Curriculum calls for learning that reflects the bicultural partnership of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which means every subject area has an obligation to engage authentically with Māori perspectives — not as cultural decoration but as substantive contributions to how we understand our topics. The concepts of manaakitanga (care for others), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), whanaungatanga (relationship and belonging), and tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) provide a values framework applicable across all learning areas, and all are relevant to the work in this handout.
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.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to critically examine economic systems — understanding how wealth, power, and resources are distributed in Aotearoa New Zealand, and exploring indigenous and alternative economic frameworks that prioritise collective wellbeing, mana, and tino rangatiratanga over individual accumulation.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can explain how economic inequality is produced and sustained through systems, not just individual choices.
- ✅ Students can describe at least one alternative economic model — including a Māori or indigenous framework — that challenges dominant assumptions about wealth and justice.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide structured comparison frameworks (e.g., two-column tables: "current system vs alternative") for entry-level access. Offer extension tasks asking students to research a specific Māori economic enterprise (e.g., Ngāi Tahu Holdings, Tainui Group Holdings) and evaluate how it balances commercial success with cultural values.
ELL / ESOL: Economic concepts (equity, redistribution, exploitation, surplus value, collective ownership) need concrete grounding — use local NZ examples and visual infographics. Allow oral discussion of economic justice issues before written analysis. Draw connections to students' home countries' economic systems as valid comparative frameworks.
Inclusion: Economic discussions can touch on students' lived experiences of poverty, precarity, or privilege — create a safe, non-judgmental space. Neurodiverse learners benefit from concrete case studies rather than abstract theory. Frame economic justice as a systems problem, not a personal failing — this reframe is both accurate and inclusive.
Mātauranga Māori lens: The Māori economy before colonisation was not "primitive" — it was a sophisticated system of reciprocal exchange (utu), collective resource management (rāhui, kaitiakitanga), redistribution through manaakitanga, and wealth measured in relationships and obligations rather than individual accumulation. Colonisation deliberately disrupted these systems through land confiscation and the introduction of individual title. Contemporary Māori economic development — through iwi corporations, Māori land trusts, and social enterprises — represents a reclamation of rangatiratanga in the economic sphere. The concept of ōhanga Māori (Māori economy) offers a genuinely alternative framework for thinking about justice, sufficiency, and collective flourishing.
Prior knowledge: Students benefit from basic familiarity with how markets and governments work. No specialist economics knowledge required — the unit builds this progressively through accessible case studies.
Curriculum alignment
- The Economic World — Social Studies: Understand how economic decisions affect people, communities, and environments, and how different groups seek to influence economic systems and outcomes.
- Understand — Social Studies: Systems shape how people and groups organise themselves — including economic systems that distribute power, rights, and resources.