Kura kaupapa founders, Crown agree to mediation over Māori education claims

Friday, 15 April 2022

Tauranga’s Te Wharekura o Mauao head boy Tutakangahau Teepa will travel to London next year to perform on the famous Shakespeare Globe stage.

Kura kaupapa founders who have been pushing for an autonomous Māori Education Authority through a Waitangi Tribunal claim have now entered mediation with the Crown.

The claimants said they were agreeing to mediation to show “good faith” to the Crown, despite the Crown indicating it would rule out an independent Māori education authority.

In February, Dr Cathy Dewes, who headed the claim, said the Ministry of Education and the Crown had failed to honour the principles by which Māori kura should be run.

Dewes, who is part of an organisation behind 63 kura and 6500 students around New Zealand, Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori, earlier told Stuff Māori immersion schools were not given full school resources in te reo Māori.

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Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori, which previously pushed for an autonomous Māori Education Authority through a Waitangi Tribunal claim, has now entered mediation with the Crown. (File photo)

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The claimants argued the Māori philosophical framework developed in 1988-1989 called Te Aho Matua, of which Te Rūnanga Nui was the legislated kaitaiaki, had not been upheld by the ministry.

Following a judicial conference on April 8, the Tribunal issued directions asking both parties to file a response on the possibility of mediation.

In a statement released by Te Rūnanga Nui on Friday, Dewes said the organisation had agreed to mediation “as an expression of good faith towards the Crown”.

“We recognise that a mediated settlement of some, or all, of the issues raised in our claim may bring about a remedy more swiftly than an urgent Waitangi Tribunal process”, Dewes said.

“The Crown has ruled out a standalone Māori education authority.

“Indications to date, including at the judicial conference on 8 April 2022, are that the Crown intends to proceed with its approach, with or without the agreement of Te Rūnanga Nui.”

Dewes said the group hoped to engage in mediation sooner rather than later.

A Memorandum of Counsel issued to the Waitangi Tribunal on Thursday regarding the claim said the Crown agreed “that some of the relationship issues raised” were appropriate to mediation.