Secondary school geography in Aotearoa New Zealand is being reviewed and refreshed. The rethink of policy, curriculum and assessment aims to improve education outcomes for learners and respond to the requirements of the Education and Training Act 2020, which honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi in education. Within the change process, geography teachers will rewrite their curricula to integrate mātauranga Māori (indigenous Māori knowledge), te ao Māori (the Māori world), colonisation and power. This reimagining of curriculum and assessment incorporates aspects of decolonising geography.
Decolonisation is a reflective journey that reassesses the colonial assumptions behind a settler-colonial system, such as geography education, and (re)engages with indigenous knowledge systems. Decolonising geography reflects on, decolonises and (re)Indigenises curriculum, knowledge creation, geographic practices, and subject-specific pedagogies. Decolonising geography also requires teacher self-reflection on positionality and assumptions and how these influence their understanding of geography.
This presentation outlines my PhD research into how Aotearoa New Zealand secondary school geography teachers are decolonising geography during this period of educational change. My research bricolage uses critical and decolonising methodologies in a sequential explanatory approach. The research aims to support non-indigenous geography teachers, like me, to reconsider their curricula through the lenses of decolonisation and mātauranga Māori, and share responsibility for incorporating mātauranga Māori into school curricula.
I will present the findings of my survey of geography teachers. I will discuss geography teachers’ decolonisation and indigenisation of curricula and pedagogies, and the need for further partnership with Māori, learning of mātauranga Māori, and self-reflexivity. I will offer implications for teachers’ praxis, initial teacher education, and educational policy. The presentation adds to international and localised discussions of decolonising and indigenising geography, and questions how non-indigenous teachers can safely engage with indigenous knowledges alongside indigenous peoples.