Education minister Hekia Parata has told secondary school teachers that students should be learning New Zealand history - including Maori experiences.
Ms Parata made the suggestion on Wednesday during the Post Primary Teachers' Association conference in Wellington.
She says education should reflect the students who are learning a subject, such as history, rather than them being immersed in learning history from overseas.
Ms Parata says she thinks it is a duty that at Year 13 history is Aotearoa history.
She questions why the education system does not teach history about people such as Te Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi, who led the Parihaka peace movement in the 1800s at a time when the colonial government was trying to confiscate their land in Taranaki.
