Ink
I am the ink. I signed the promise
I saw it happen, I was there
I signed for tino rangatiratanga
Ōritetanga, partnership and care
I did not write "one size fits all"
where Māori knowledge wasn't seen,
where standardised assessment tasks
couldn’t know what learning means
I did not re-assign the power
I did not remove iwi voice
Make consultation a box to tick.
I did not ensure there was no choice
I did not pave the way for Native Schools,
Where tools of assimilation were offered.
I am not the ink in "Charter Schools”
Where funding flows to private coffers
I did not write the policies where
"We'll tell you what’s already decided,"
is window-dressed as consultation
Yet no avenue for hui provided.
I AM the ink that's flowing through
the teachers who will always teach
with Te Tiriti as their guide
Who weave te ao Māori through their reach
I am the ink in teacher's choices
To teach tikanga and te reo,
To amplify all student's voices,
Despite what coalition wants to show.
I flow through school Boards who refuse
To drop Te Tiriti from their charter,
Who won't accept the government's view
that Te Tiriti should not matter.
I am the ink in every call
For equitable funding, voice, and power,
For education systems that install
Restoration in this urgent hour.
I am the ink that takes the Crown to task:
In every classroom, every policy choice,
To honor what rangatira agreed
That tangata whenua have their voice.
I'll be the ink that will not fade
Tattooed in archives, claims, and court,
That education's guiding frame
is Te Tiriti o Waitangi in full report.
I am the ink. I signed the promise
A promise that will guarantee
More equitable outcomes
for ALL of our Tamariki
The Equity Through Education Centre at Massey University is a group of educational researchers and practitioners working to promote a fair and equitable education system in Aotearoa New Zealand.