Oral Questions for Tuesday 15 July 2025
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RNZ News
14 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Education Minister cut Māori words from future junior books, documents reveal
Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Education Minister Erica Stanford has imposed a near total ban on Māori in new additions to a series of books used to teach five-year-olds to read. An Education Ministry report shows Stanford decided in October last year to exclude all Māori words except for characters' names from any new books in the Education Ministry's Ready to Read Phonics Plus (RtRPP) series. The paper showed the decision was driven by concern Māori words were confusing for children learning to read English though evidence of that was mixed. Stanford told RNZ the decision affected only 12 books that would finish the series, after which the series, including 27 books with Māori words, could be reprinted. The ministry's report said: "Under this option, we would not include kupu Māori in all phases of the RtRPP scope and sequence for any future books. The 13 RtRPP books currently in development do not contain any kupu Māori, apart from character names." It was not clear in the paper whether the books would be reprinted. "As noted above, the RtRPP resources are expected to have a lifespan in schools of approximately 10 years, so it would take several years for the books containing kupu Māori that are currently in circulation to be replaced in practice." The document showed Stanford also instructed the ministry to develop a teaching sequence in the English curriculum to help teachers prepare children to read Māori words from their second year at school. Stanford told RNZ that would stop teaching children in mainstream classrooms to pronounce and read Māori from being "left to chance". The ministry's document said currently from Year 4, Māori words were included in the curriculum with increasing frequency and complexity. Stanford told RNZ she considered rewriting the 27 books that contained Māori words to retain only the proper nouns in Māori, but later decided against it. "These are very early readers that teach children to learn to read and there are already 'heart' words in there that children have to memorise in English and if there are some te reo words in there as well, then that's okay and we'll leave them as they are," she said. She described the decision as the middle position between conflicting advice. The minister's October decision included reprinting one of the books, 'At the Marae', as a big book but not as a 'reader' for children to take home - something that angered many teachers and principals in the past week. The document showed Stanford raised the issue after "experts in structured literacy approaches" told her that including two different languages in the books could confuse learners and make it harder for them to master English phonetics. The ministry's paper said evidence about that was mixed but there was a case to consider the amount of Māori words in books for children learning to read. Literacy experts told RNZ this week Māori words were part of everyday New Zealand English and did not present problems for beginning readers because their spelling was regular and their vowel sounds matched some of the English vowels. The document said 26 of the 75 Ready to Read books had up to three Māori words and a 27th, 'At the Marae', had six Māori words. A hand-written note on the document showed the minister wanted te reo Māori introduced when children stopped using "decodable" books like the Ready to Read series, usually at the end of their first year at school or early in their second year. "I want to include in the NZC (English) a section on Te Reo vowel sounds and pronunciation to ready students for reading te reo words in school journals as previously discussed," she wrote. Stanford also noted that: "Interestingly - I asked kura leaders if they would accept English words in te reo Māori decodable books and they no. So it would be consistent to keep one language only in very early Year 1 decodable books, except for names." The ministry's paper said the Ready to Read series was designed to teach the reading of English "and the sound-letter correspondences in English". "Our advice to schools is to teach kupu Māori in RtRPP books as "told" words. The foundational skill of phonic decoding within the resoruces is based on the English language and students are not expected to decode the kupu Māori," it said. The paper warned the options could result in pushback from schools. "If we discontinue the use of kupu Māori (apart from character names) in RtRPP books, there may be a negative response and media attention. [REDACTED] In particular, recalling existing books has the potential to generate pushback." The minister wrote in response: "It's only in Year 1 decodable books that teach English and it would align with the approach taken in te reo decodables. Te Reo would be introduced immediately after the use of decodable stops which is typically end of Year 1 early Year 2 where students move on to journals." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
44 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Green's co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick to decide whether to apologise and return to Parliament
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick will today decide whether she will return to Parliament and apologise, or continue to be barred from the House for the rest of the week. During an urgent debate on Tuesday, Swarbrick said government MPs could grow a spine and support her bill imposing sanctions on Israel. The Speaker suspended her from Parliament and said unless she apologises, he will do so again every day this week. Swarbrick said the party will follow the correct processes, and will ask the speaker to reflect on previous language in Parliament. She said she's angry people are being massacred in Gaza, and politicians need to do their job. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
9 hours ago
- Scoop
Christopher Luxon Shrugs Off Polls Showing Tight Electoral Race
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has shrugged off two polls showing a tight electoral race, promising to stay the course with the coalition's plan to fix the economy. The Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll on Monday showed Labour overtaking National as the most popular party and no clear path to power for either side. TVNZ's 1News-Verian poll was more forgiving to the coalition parties, returning them to government. But it also saw Luxon sink to just 20 percent as preferred prime minister, a two-year low. On his way into a morning caucus meeting on Tuesday, Luxon told reporters the polls would not be a topic of conversation in the meeting, nor should they be. "No, no, not at all," he said. "I'm not focused on polls or talking about myself. What I'm focused on is New Zealanders and making sure we've got the right long term economic plan in place." Luxon said his MPs continued to be provided internal polling through "a regular process" and discussed them "from time to time" in line with "normal practice". Asked whether he was meeting his own high standards, Luxon said the government was dealing with a challenging international environment. "We've inherited a really difficult recession," he said. "It's a very difficult time, but we are very, very clear minded and very, very focused on fixing the economy." Luxon said global confidence had been knocked by the United States' tariff regime but New Zealand had to "power through that". The faltering economy and cost-of-living crisis featured in both polls as key concerns for voters. Recently, the Auckland Chamber of Commerce has advocated a cut to the corporate tax rate, while the Taxpayers' Union is calling for an emergency mid-year Budget. Luxon previously dismissed such calls, and on Tuesday, he maintained the coalition's current focus on manufacturing and construction was the right approach. "We are doing everything we can. If you think about $6 billion worth of infrastructure projects starting before Christmas, that is a lot of jobs, it's a lot of tradies." He also pointed to relief on the horizon with the Reserve Bank expected to deliver further interest rate cuts this year. What's the alternative? Speaking on Tuesday morning, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the polls demonstrated New Zealanders were losing faith in National's ability to deliver on its promises. He accepted, however, that Labour had more work to do, given neither poll had returned the party to the Beehive. Asked whether the party's support was helped or hindered by Labour's lack of policy, Hipkins said the government "would desperately love more things to attack". "We'll put further policy out there, but my focus right at the moment is holding the government accountable for their promises." Any comprehensive fiscal plan would have to wait till after next year's Budget, he said, but Labour's tax policy would be released this year. Hipkins said a final decision on tax had yet to be resolved but: "consensus is emerging." He repeatedly refused to give any details, including whether the proposal would be revenue neutral or possible parameters. "I've always said that I don't think the family home should be taxed, but I'm not announcing a policy that we haven't announced." National's campaign chairperson Chris Bishop said it was very easy for Labour to insist life should better when they had no policy solutions to offer themselves. "Life's easy when you're able to throw rocks from the side. Actually, we're the ones... in the arena, making the tough decisions across planning, across education, across infrastructure, across red tape, across fiscal policy to get this economy back on track." Bishop said the poll numbers reflected a "tough winter" but stressed that the election was not until next year: "People want the economy to be fixed. And I get that. But there is no silver bullet." He said any talk of replacing Luxon as leader was "just silly". Luxon: Palestine question is "not a race" Luxon declined to say whether the caucus would discuss the question of Palestinian statehood on Tuesday, but acknowledged there would be "nuances and differences" within the team. Foreign Minister Winston Peters on Monday confirmed Cabinet would come to a formal decision in September over whether to recognise a state of Palestine at an upcoming United Nations summit. All three opposition parties have castigated the government for failing to make a decision, pointing out that New Zealand is now out-of-step with its like-minded partners: Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and France. But Luxon said the complex question needed careful consideration. "It's not a race," Luxon said. "It deserves a serious weighing up of our position, and that's exactly what we're going to do." Luxon declined to say whether he would be comfortable with either coalition partner opting to "agree-to-disagree" on the decision. "I'm not going to get into hypotheticals... It's all very easy to jump to a bumper-sticker outcome or decision and not think through the consequences." Pressed on what conditions could be attached, Luxon said he would not presuppose a position but made clear Hamas would have to release hostages and disarm: "There is absolutely no role in any future Palestinian state for a terrorist organization like Hamas."
