Abstract:
In 2023, English-medium New Zealand schools began implementation of a New Zealand history curriculum that was introduced in response to social and political movements for historical reassessment. In its recognition of Māori histories as the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa and critical consideration of the ways colonisation and power have shaped New Zealand history, the curriculum content responds to calls for new ways of engaging with the past and greater public awareness of marginalised historical narratives.
This presentation draws on doctoral research exploring the relationships that are formed with this curriculum content in a single secondary school. The interactions with students and teachers provide opportunities to explore the ways they both resist and reproduce settler narratives in their engagement with New Zealand history. In the context of heightened and contentious public debate about New Zealand history, and in particular Te Tiriti o Waitangi—New Zealand’s founding document—the presentation examines the complex and contradictory relationships that are formed between new knowledge, prior knowledge, and wider public discourses. Doing so provides rich opportunities to understand the place of formal history education within wider movements for historical reassessment and decolonising justice.
This presentation draws on doctoral research exploring the relationships that are formed with this curriculum content in a single secondary school. The interactions with students and teachers provide opportunities to explore the ways they both resist and reproduce settler narratives in their engagement with New Zealand history. In the context of heightened and contentious public debate about New Zealand history, and in particular Te Tiriti o Waitangi—New Zealand’s founding document—the presentation examines the complex and contradictory relationships that are formed between new knowledge, prior knowledge, and wider public discourses. Doing so provides rich opportunities to understand the place of formal history education within wider movements for historical reassessment and decolonising justice.