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ITE Module 03 · Māori Education

Kaupapa Māori in Practice

Russell Bishop · Mere Berryman · Graham Smith · Tātaiako · Ka Hikitia

For every teacher in Aotearoa, Kaupapa Māori education is not optional specialist knowledge — it is foundational professional responsibility. This module moves from theory to practice: what does it actually look like in a classroom to apply Bishop’s Effective Teaching Profile, challenge deficit thinking, and build genuine whanaungatanga?

Deficit Thinking Te Kotahitanga Tātaiako Ka Hikitia Whanaungatanga
“The solution to Māori students’ underachievement is to be found in changing teachers’ relationships with Māori students, not in attempting to change Māori students to fit the present school system.”— Russell Bishop, Te Kotahitanga Research (2003)

🌿 Six Principles of Kaupapa Māori (Graham Smith)

Tino Rangatiratanga
Self-Determination

Māori people’s right to control their own destinies — including their children’s education. In classrooms: whānau and student voice in learning design.

Taonga Tuku Iho
Cultural Aspiration

Māori language, culture and identity are taonga to be actively protected and celebrated, not merely tolerated.

Ako Māori
Culturally Preferred Pedagogy

Teaching approaches that reflect and include Māori cultural heritages — collaborative, relational, place-based learning.

Kia Piki Ake
Mediation of Socioeconomic

Actively working to counter the negative effects of poverty and socioeconomic inequality on Māori students’ educational opportunities and outcomes.

Whānau
Extended Family Structure

Creating school cultures that reflect Māori community values of collective identity, shared responsibility, and intergenerational relationship.

Kaupapa
Māori Philosophy

Grounding education in Māori values, knowledge systems, and ways of being — not adding them as decorative extras to a Western framework.

🔴 Deficit Thinking: Naming and Challenging It

Bishop’s (2003) most important conceptual contribution was giving teachers a precise term for what often goes unnamed: deficit thinking — explaining Māori underachievement through the perceived deficits of students and families rather than examining school and teacher practice.

🔴 Deficit Thinking
  • “These students don’t have good home support.”
  • “Māori culture isn’t very academic.”
  • “We have to be realistic about these kids.”
  • “The problem starts at home.”
✅ Asset-Based Reframe
  • “How do I build whanaungatanga with this whānau?”
  • “Whose culture does my curriculum centre?”
  • “What do I need to change in my practice?”
  • “How am I partnering with whānau as co-educators?”

📋 Tātaiako: Five Cultural Competencies

Tātaiako (Ministry of Education, 2011) provides an actionable framework for all Aotearoa teachers — not just those teaching in Māori settings. These five competencies are now embedded in graduating teacher standards:

  1. Wananga — Participating with learners and communities in collaborative, reciprocal, and dynamic learning. Being willing to be changed by what you learn from Māori students and whānau.
  2. Whānaungatanga — Actively engaging in respectful working relationships with Māori learners, whānau, and communities. Relationship before content.
  3. Manaakitanga — Consistent demonstration of genuine care — aroha — for Māori students as whole people with cultural identity, not just as learners to be managed.
  4. Ako — Designing and delivering learning built on Māori values and the principle of reciprocal teaching and learning. The teacher is also a learner.
  5. Tangata Whenuatanga — Affirming Māori cultural identities and providing a safe and culturally responsive learning environment in which Māori succeed as Māori.

📚 References

← All ITE Modules Module 02: How Students Learn → Russell Bishop study guide →