Aligning Hangarau Perspectives: Exploring Curriculum Coherence in Māori-medium Technology Education

Abstract

This paper is the fourth in a series exploring the issue of curriculum coherence in the development and implementation of the three iterations of Māori-medium Technology curriculum from the 1990s to the present. For Indigenous schools, curriculum coherence is not just a structural design issue but also involves the place of their Indigenous knowledge systems, cultural values, and educational philosophies. This paper investigates the challenges and opportunities to develop a Māori-medium Technology curriculum based on an Indigenous philosophy of Hangarau. Data is drawn from Ministry of Education archival files and interviews with developers of curriculum and curriculum support materials. It utilises document analysis and interviews with curriculum experts (referred to as mātanga in this paper). This study reviews literature around curriculum design in Aotearoa New Zealand, particularly meta-analyses, and reviews, in the context of curriculum coherence. Curriculum coherence affects student learning across various levels: national, subject, school/classroom, and systems. It examines how curriculum coherence relates to the challenge of alignment between curriculum and curriculum support materials for teachers implementing the Hangarau curriculum, and the challenges in teaching of interpreting the learning outcomes. The paper concludes with recommendations to align national curriculum design, content, and implementation for more effective support of developers, teachers, students, and communities in Indigenous language learning contexts, enhancing student learning outcomes.