1 Jun 2010

Maori Studies head faults the way history is taught

8:29 pm on 1 June 2010

The head of Victoria University's School of Maori Studies says the way New Zealand history is taught in schools is hurting race relations.

In a speech at New Plymouth's Auke Riki Museum marking the 150th anniversary of the start of the Taranaki Wars, Peter Adds said recent changes to the curriculum had not fixed the fundamental problem.

The Te Atiawa ki Taranaki claim negotiator says high-school students get a patchy view of the country's history from the Crown perspective and are ill-equipped to understand why Maori feel the way they do.

"I don't think it places New Zealanders in a good place to assess the whole of the things that are going on in New Zealand today," Mr Adds told Waatea News, "especially in relation to race relations and a whole lot of Treaty things.

"And what that produces is dissension and jealousy in some sections of our communities about what's happening with that process."