Te Ataarangi teaching group chair Rahera Shortland, a veteran teacher of te reo Māori, says the time is right to introduce compulsory Māori language into the school curriculum. Ms Shortland started the first Māori immersion class in a mainstream school at Auckland Girls Grammar, and says developments such as Māori language week have paved the way for wider acceptance.

“I think there’s more tolerance towards the language (now),” says Ms Shortland. “The main barrier to rolling out compulsory Māori would be finding enough teachers.”

A survey of 500 people by Research New Zealand has found that 38 per cent of New Zealanders support the idea of teaching te reo Māori in schools becoming compulsory. The support for compulsory teaching of te reo Māori in schools is highest among those in the 15-34 year age group at 50 per cent, and lowest among those in the age group 55 years and over, at 24 per cent.

More females than males support the idea (42 per cent as against 35 per cent). Only four per cent of respondents could not make up their minds and answered ‘don’t know’.

Not surprisingly, the support for compulsory teaching of te reo Māori in schools was highest among Māori and Pacific People at 71 percent, compared with 32 per cent for New Zealand Europeans.

There was no difference of note by area, which shows that the support for the compulsory teaching of te reo Māori in schools is national rather than regional. Read the results of the survey and accompanying media release here.