Mullins said the Government made changes to the curriculum in spite of the opposition of both Māori and the education sector and despite the lack of solid evidence that a knowledge-rich approach will reduce inequities.
“The Minister of Education’s approach has been essentially ideological, and she surrounded herself with supporters of that position in, for example, her Curriculum Ministerial Advisory Group – which has included members either unenthusiastic about or outwardly hostile to mātauranga Māori.”
The tribunal found the Crown, through its actions related to developing a “knowledge-rich curriculum” informed by the “science of learning”, breached a number of Treaty principles.
These included that the Crown breached the principle of partnership through its lack of meaningful engagement and consensus-building with Māori about the new draft national curriculum.
And that it breached the principle of active protection by moving ahead with a knowledge-rich approach in the absence of evidence that it will reduce Māori inequities.
The tribunal recommended the Crown recommit to working in partnership with Māori in education, and return to working with Māori on designing a truly indigenous Māori-medium and kaupapa Māori curriculum through Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.
“We believe that partnership is the key to reducing inequity, not the imposition of an overseas model untested in Aotearoa New Zealand and so strongly opposed by Māori educators,” Mullins wrote.
RNZ has approached Minister for Education Erica Stanford for comment.