Mathematics curriculum development and indigenous language revitalisation : contested spaces

This paper examines the development of two iterations of mathematics curricula over a 15-year period for classrooms teaching in te reo Māori, the endangered Indigenous language of Aotearoa New Zealand. Similarities and differences between the two iterations are identified. Although parameters set by the New Zealand Ministry of Education about what the curricula would look like and how they would be developed were not always commensurate with Māori aspirations, analysis suggests that Māori were able to use opportunities to ensure that their agendas for language development and revitalisation were achieved. Spaces were made available because of the government’s ideological assumptions, but were used by Māori to achieve their ideological aims. However, neither iteration was smooth, with Māori having to determine how to operate within these contested spaces. The result of Māori requirements to have language recognised as an important issue was that both process and product of curriculum development were affected