Centering learners and their whānau, creating great education opportunities, supporting learning that is relevant to the lives of New Zealanders today and into the future. Those are some of the goals of Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga - the Ministry of Education. 

The Ministry of Education helps shape New Zealand’s education system by setting strategic direction, developing policies, and providing support to education providers, communities, and teachers.

They also played a role in the development of the Maihi Karauna – the Crown strategy for the revitalisation of te reo Māori for all New Zealanders. As a national leader in the area of education, the Ministry of Education has translated the goals of the Maihi Karauna into two key cross-agency strategies. 

Ka Hikitia – a Māori language strategy for Māori learners 

Tau Mai Te Reo – a Māori language strategy for all learners. 

They describe the ambition of Tau Mai Te Reo as follows: 

“To create change, it is important to embed Tau Mai Te Reo into this framework to ensure we are aligning vision, purpose and action within our education system to grow te reo Māori through education and to grow education through te reo Māori.” 

Their strategies include some of the following goals: 

• Ensure all education services have a Māori language plan, with clear expectations for incorporating tikanga Māori and te reo Māori in curricula and policies. 

• Stimulate demand for Māori language education by promoting events like Māori Language Week and working with agencies to increase engagement. 

• Grow the education workforce by providing additional funding, scholarships, and professional development to support Māori language teaching, including the Māori Immersion Teaching Allowance (MITA). 

• Provide high-quality resources through online portals and funding for Māori language curriculum updates, and strengthen Māori medium education pathways, including a National Māori Medium Network Plan. 

 Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori was grateful to have the Ministry of Education as the sponsor of the Education Category at the 2024 Ngā Tohu Reo Māori awards. 

The category winner was Tupu Ora, an organisation that operates within a vast network of relationships. They were developed out of a desire to grow the wellbeing of all people, by advancing and enhancing the mana of Māori. Their influence can be seen in all sorts of ways across the public, private, and community sectors. 

The judges of Ngā Tohu 2024 expressed that this organisation has “ been a huge contributor to growing Māori language capabilities in the education sector through their programmes.” 

Haramai tētahi āhua! A huge thanks to the Ministry of Education for uplifting our reo champions.