ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the positioning, often in deficit terms, of indigenous Ma-ori students in New Zealand education. While the focus of the chapter is thus on Ma-ori students, wider lessons can be drawn from this discussion about the often-pejorative treatment of indigenous students in other national contexts, as well as other minoritized students more generally. The chapter also explores, via kaupapa Ma-ori (Ma-ori philosophy), how such deficit treatment can be contested, an approach consonant with critical multiculturalism.
