Keynote Speaker:

Abstract:
White Spaces Rebranded: The New Face of the Same Old Racism

In the tiny one-room Pātaua School in the 1950s, 15 or so predominantly Māori students recited times tables and phonics charts daily. “A is for Antelope, L is for Llama,” we would chant—words from worlds we’d never seen. Phonics, maths textbooks, School Certificate-style grading, a narrowed curriculum with literacy and numeracy as the holy grail—we’ve done them all. They all failed to deliver education that sustained any identity beyond the white, colonial worldview. Over time, our thinking and practice shifted, recognising the damage that racist ideology inflicted on Māori and other minoritised learners. We introduced choice and flexibility and developed a deeper awareness of the purpose of education in a constantly changing world. It was a start!

Now—here we go again. Manufacture a crisis of Māori “under-achievement” as if this coalition just discovered it. Bring back the antelopes and llamas. Reduce achievement to percentages that describe how effectively we assimilate Māori children into white space definitions of success. Wave white supremacist “solutions” in the faces of our mokopuna Māori and tolerate the harm and alienation that will follow—because these are not the mokopuna of the coalition politicians making these decisions.

But they are mine.