The Philosophical Dimensions of Pākehā Positionality: Implications for Teaching in Secondary Schools in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract Secondary school teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand are accountable to the 2026 Standards for the Teaching Profession , which centre on Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership. In its current form, the standards seem to expect a form of cultural competency from teachers that ignores the colonial foundations of schooling. This paper explores how Pākehā teachers, rather than attempting cultural competency, can strengthen our anticolonial literacy by attending to positionality. Pākehā positionality—in and beyond education contexts—has been widely discussed, but few texts have explicitly considered the philosophical assumptions inherent in positionality and how teachers’ self-awareness of these assumptions can bolster a commitment to Te Tiriti. Drawing from Indigenous and decolonial theories, I offer a conceptual analysis of settler ontological and epistemological assumptions and their relationship to schooling. Inspired by the metaphors of itulagi (Vaai & Casimira, 2017) and the triangulation of meaning (Meyer, 2008), I offer two sets of reflexive questions for Pākehā teachers to gauge how our enacted philosophical assumptions perpetuate or disrupt coloniality in the classroom. I argue that, when we understand the philosophical dimensions of our positionality, we can be more effective Tiriti partners, inviting our students and colleagues to challenge the deeper colonial frameworks of schooling to make space for multiple ways of knowing and being.