Te Tiriti o Waitangi, School Boards, and Equitable Outcomes: A Bacchian Analysis of Recent Education Policy

Abstract In Aotearoa New Zealand, education policy has perpetuated systemic racism and inequitable outcomes for Māori since the 1840s. This article focuses on Section 127 (1) (d) (i–iii) of the Education and Training Act Education and Training Act (New Zealand). https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0038/48.0/LMS170676.html , which explicitly requires school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi by achieving equitable outcomes for Māori students. Carol Bacchi’s What’s the Problem Represented to Be? methodology is employed to critically analyse this section of the Act. The analysis emphasises the continued impact of colonisation on Māori, arguing that policy change alone is not enough to ensure equitable outcomes. Examination of the problem representations inherent in Section 127 (1) (d) (i–iii) challenges the notion that the Crown is effectively contributing to change.