The Cultural Misappropriation of Te Mātaiaho: A Breach of Tikanga, A Breach of Trust
- Oct 28
- 5 min read
by ELV
Let’s be really explicit.
To take a framework gifted by Māori, reshape it through a Western epistemological lens, and then present it back to the sector as if it still holds the same mana — is cultural misappropriation.
It is colonising.
It is a theft of worldview executed through framework manipulation.
It is a breach of the sacred.
We know for a fact that this horrific breach is being used to "pacify the sector" — to keep the illusion of co-design intact, to meet deadlines, to deliver on political promises of “equity and excellence” without ever truly understanding what those words mean in te ao Māori.
It’s a repackaging of Indigenous knowledge to fit the system’s mould — and it's being done under our noses, with a smile and a strategic karakia at the start.
We see it.
The foreword from, Ellen MacGregor-Reid, makes no mention of what was altered, removed, or reshaped in the whakapapa pou. Instead, it offers soft thanks and vague assurances, while quietly erasing the original integrity of a sacred gift.
To include the karakia and Māori terms at the front — while gutting their original relational and circular structure — is not honouring.
It’s performance.
It’s using the language of tikanga to mask the logic of control.
At Waitangi, there stands a carving — a pou of Governor William Hobson.
He is carved with his hands behind his back, standing rigidly, facing forward.
At first glance, it may seem formal — ceremonial, even.
But look again.
Read the plaque:
“His hands behind his back symbolise the hidden intentions of the colonial government at the time.”
This image is not neutral. It is an act of memory and resistance.
It tells the truth many still avoid: that the founding covenant of this nation was shaped not just by ink and signatures — but by secrecy, power imbalance, and intentions concealed.
And now, in 2025, we see the same posture reappear — not in a carving or a treaty, but in policy.
Just like Hobson’s hands behind his back, the Ministry’s structural rewrite of Te Mātaiaho hides its true intent: to keep Māori knowledge present enough to claim partnership, but altered enough to remain controlled.
The Gift, Then the Gutting
From the March 2023 draft:
“The design of the whakapapa encompasses seven curriculum components. The simple circular design is made up of whakarae (patterns) that breathe life into the whakapapa and reflect the ideas of observing, reading the signs, and navigating our way forward.” (Te Mātaiaho, Draft for Testing, p. 6)
“This whakapapa and its karakia were gifted by Dr Wayne Ngata...” (p. 5)
The shape was the meaning.
Circularity reflected the ways in which whakapapa, learning, and time are understood in te ao Māori. It was not a diagram. It was a declaration of worldview.
But in the 2025 final draft:
“WHY – WHAT – HOW” (Te Mātaiaho, October 2025, p. 3)
The circle is gone.
The pou are rearranged.
The meaning is hollowed out — then propped back up to look like partnership.
Breach of Trust, Breach of Tikanga
The worst part?
The sector was never told.
No public kōrero about the shift. No transparency. No explanation. And, crucially — no visible consent from Dr. Wayne Ngata, who gifted the original framework.
This is not just a misstep.
It is a breach of trust.
A violation of tikanga.
A betrayal of every educator who hoped, finally, that Te Mātaiaho would hold something sacred.
They didn’t just ignore the original intent.
They used it to shield themselves — tucking the firelight away behind “progressions,” “capabilities,” and a tidy “what students must know.”
Where Is Dr. Ngata Now?
And so we ask — with urgency and with respect:
Was Dr. Ngata consulted on the restructure?
Does he support the reframing of his gifted model?
Was permission sought to modify the original whakataukī?
And if not — who authorised the change, and why has the Ministry stayed silent?
His voice must be heard.
His silence — if it is not by choice — must not be used as consent.
We have gone from:
“Keep the hearth occupied, maintain the stories by firelight.”
to:
“Form strong relationships with students and whānau.”
We have gone from metaphors of whakapapa, whenua, and wairua —to bullet points about measurable learning.
This is not strengthening.
It is colonial streamlining of relational knowledge into a system that does not want to understand what it cannot control.
To every school leader, teacher, and kaimahi reading this:
Do not be pacified by the karakia at the start of the PDF.
Do not be fooled by the careful placement of kupu Māori on diagrams.
Do not accept structural redesign that erases Indigenous intent and then thanks you for your feedback.
We demand:
A public statement from Dr. Wayne Ngata.
Full transparency from the Ministry of Education.
A restoration — not a sanitisation — of the circular whakapapa pou.
And an end to using Māori knowledge as window-dressing for Western systems.
It Was Never Just a Diagram
It was a gift.
A sacred one.
And when you alter a gift, reshape it, and present it back without consent, you don’t just break trust.
You desecrate the relationship that allowed it to be offered in the first place.
Te Mātaiaho may still hold potential. But only if we burn away the illusion, and stand firm in our refusal to accept theft disguised as design.
Because we are not fooled.
If there was ever a plan to reshape, reword, or reframe the original whakataukī or whakapapa pou gifted by Dr. Wayne Ngata, then tikanga Māori should have been the compass.
And tikanga is clear on this:
You do not alter a taonga without returning to the giver.
You do not reinterpret wisdom to suit your purpose without first seeking permission.
And you certainly do not treat a sacred gift as system property to be “updated” like software.
This is not simply about cultural sensitivity — it is about relational accountability. In te ao Māori, the words of our kaumātua, our tohunga, our kuia and koroua — especially when gifted with wairua — are not ours to edit.
A whakataukī is not a tool.
It is a map.
A doorway.
A living breath of someone’s lived experience and inherited knowledge.
To change it without the giver’s voice is a violation of whakapapa, mana, and kawa.
This isn’t just bad process. It’s a breakdown of relational ethics. A Ministry cannot claim partnership if it sidesteps the very protocols that define what partnership means in a Māori worldview.
Every kaiako.
Every tumuaki.
Every professional leader who reads this — this moment calls us to choose.
If we stay silent, if we keep moving forward with this restructured version of Te Mātaiaho as if the betrayal is minor, we are complicit.
We are holding out one hand in public — while the other remains behind our back.
And we’ve seen what that looks like.
We’ve seen it carved into wood at Waitangi.
If we do nothing, we may as well have our own faces carved into pou, standing beside Hobson — with our fingers behind our backs.
This curriculum cannot claim to honour te ao Māori if it guts the very gifts it was built upon.
Not in our name.
Not with our silence.
Not while the firelight still burns and the ancestors still watch.
(Original video by Dr. Wayne Ngata)
2023 Te Mātaiaho
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