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E kii ana te whakaoho whānau, ko te whānau tonu te tumu
herenga tangata i roto i ngā iwi. Ko tā te whakaoho whānau he
whakapakari i te whānau kia kaha ake ai ki te kaupare i ngā
putangakētanga me ngā pahekekētanga o tēnei ao hurihuri.
He maha nga āhuatanga taupatupatu, whakatangatanga i nga
here. E anga hāngai mai ana ki te iwi Māori i ēnei rā te maha noa
atu o ngā āhuatanga ā iwi hei whakatangatanga i te herenga kaha
o te whānau.
Ko tētahi mahi mā ngā iwi, he whakahauhau i te whānau ki
te whakapakari i a rātou. A, mehemea e whai tikanga ana, ki te
whakaara ake i ngā aria e pā ana ki te whānau, hei tumu kaupapa
Māori, hei whakatōtika, hei hāpai i te ara whakatinana. Mā tēnei
ka taea e ngā mema o te whānau, o te hapū me te iwi, te ārai atu
i ngā raruraru whakahēmanawa i a rātou.'
('He Tāhūhū mō te Tau Ruamano': 1990:8)

This paper examines the development of an innovative response
by the indigenous Māori of New Zealand to the dual crises of
educational underachievement on the one hand and to the loss of
language, knowledge and culture on the other. In particular this
paper considers the critical intervention and change role played
by 'Kaupapa Māori' theory and practice, the significant component
of which is centred on the use of traditional and contemporary
notions of 'whānau' (extended family) values, practices and
structures.
Since 1982 Māori people have developed several alternative
education innovations within a variety of educational sites from
pre school (Te Kōhanga Reo), primary schools (Kura Kaupapa
Māori), secondary schools (Whare Kura), through to the tertiary
institution level (Whare Wānanga). All of these initiatives have
been based on Kaupapa Māori' as the underlying philosophy
and practice of change and intervention.
These educational and schooling 'resistance initiatives' (c.f.
Giroux: 1983:72) have developed not only as 'proactive' measures
concerned for the revitalisation of Māori language, knowledge
and culture, they are also 'reactive' responses to an increasing
disillusionment by Māori of state schooling, the result of a
growing critical appreciation of Pākehā dominant schooling. In
this latter sense there has been a political penetration of the
structural impediments entrenched within state schooling which
maintain the inequalities suffered by disproportionate numbers
of Māori pupils as an outcome of their state schooling experience.
For example the structural role of unequal power relations, the
structural role of ideology and hegemony, the structural role of
class positioning, are increasingly being recognised and confronted
by Māori. This emerging critical consciousness, associated
with the emotionally charged issues surrounding the continuing
assimilation of language and culture, and the deepening
educational crises related to the high and disproportionate levels
of underachievement have given significant momentum to the
Kaupapa Māori praxis as a strategy for change.