Recently the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, that illustrious bastion of excellence in education and line of defense against ignorance and bigotry in education has put together an app called Unteach Racism. I’ve referred to and critiqued some of the modules in this app already, as have others. The most recent module I explored was entitled ‘low expectations’.
In chatting about this module with others, a friend noted the irony of the situation. It’s the Teaching Council that have low expectations. They are the ones who see Maori children as helpless victims. As I reflected on this, I was impressed by her insight. They are the ones running around accusing teachers of implicit bias and racism as if Maori educational aspirations are at the mercy of much stronger and more powerful people. It’s the Teaching Council and their ilk who imply that Maori learners are weak and unable to grasp success without others going into bat for them.
Take a look for example at the Teaching Council’s code. Section 2 of the code for teachers states, I will work in the best interests of learners by: 5. affirming Māori learners as tangata whenua and supporting their educational aspirations. This is not said of any other particular cultural or ethnic group. What is the Teaching Council saying? Are Maori learners uniquely unable to meet their educational aspirations unless teachers specifically work in their best interests? Do they need to be treated as special because they arrived in these islands a little before some of the rest of us in order to achieve excellence? I don’t think so, but the Teaching Council of Aotearoa and their code seems to. So who has low expectations?
And if we move over to the teaching standards which every teacher in New Zealand is supposed to adhere to we see similarly low expectations. We are required to, “Specifically support the educational aspirations for Māori learners, taking shared responsibility for these learners to achieve educational success as Māori.” Once again, we are not told to specifically support Chinese learners, or Dutch learners and their aspirations. Why are we specifically told that we must take shared responsibility for Maori learners to achieve educational success as Maori? The implication of this patronizing standard is that Maori need to be catered to and helped because they can’t get there without us pandering to their special needs. I don’t believe that for a minute. I happen to believe Maori learners are capable. So who has the low expectations? Not me or fellow conservative teachers…but the Teaching Council does.