ABSTRACT
E tipu, e rea, mō nga rā 5 tōu ao. Ko tō ringa ki ngā rākau ā te Pakeha hei ora mō tō tinana, Ko tō ngākau ki ngā taonga ā ō tīpuna hei tikitiki mō tō māhunga, Ko tō wairua ki te Atua, nānā nei ngā mea katoa. Grow up, O tender plant, for the days of your world. Your hand to the tools of the Pakeha for the welfare of your body, Your heart to the treasured possessions of your ancestors as a crown for your head, Your spirit to God, the creator of all things. (Sir Apirana Ngata, in a Maori school-girl’s autograph book) Education in the full sense of the word takes place over a broad front, covering the whole process of learning, by children and adults all through their lives. In contemporary New Zealand, formal education in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions has come to be of such central importance that it is commonly referred to as ‘education’ as if it constituted the whole. All children are required by law to attend school between the ages of six and fifteen, and their relative success or failure in the school system has important implications for their future, because of the way it affects others’ valuation and their own self- image. Nevertheless, a great deal of essential learning takes place outside the school situation, in home and community, in childhood and in adulthood. For Maoris this extra-school learning is not always complementary to what is learnt at school: sometimes, and to varying degrees, there is contradiction and conflict.
