Editing Native schools (section)

=== English language teaching ===

Section 21 of the Native Schools Act 1867 states:<blockquote>No school shall receive any grant unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the Colonial Secretary by the report of the inspector or otherwise as the Colonial Secretary shall think fit that the English language and the ordinary subjects of primary English education are taught by a competent teacher and that the instruction is carried on in the English language as far as practicable Provided always that it shall be lawful for the Colonial Secretary to contribute to the maintenance or salaries of such Native teachers as shall conduct Native Schools in remote districts when it may be found impossible to provide English teachers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Native Schools Act 1867 (31 Victoriae 1867 No 41) |url=http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_act/nsa186731v1867n41290/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407144024if_/http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_act/nsa186731v1867n41290/ |archive-date=7 April 2022 |access-date=2018-08-19 |website=www.nzlii.org}}</ref></blockquote>The Native Schools Code published in 1880 stated that "the Native children must be taught to read and write the English language, and to speak it" and also<blockquote>It is not necessary that teachers should, at the time of their appointment, be acquainted with the Maori tongue; but they may find it desirable to learn enough Māori to enable them to communicate with the adult Natives. In all cases English is to be used by the teacher when he is instructing the senior classes. In the junior classes the Maori language may be used for the purpose of making the children acquainted with the meanings of English words and sentences. The aim of the teacher, however, should be to dispense with the use of Maori in school as soon as possible.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>

In 1906 the Inspector of Native Schools, William Bird, reported to the Inspector-General of Schools:<blockquote>

I should like to impress upon both teachers and committees the necessity for encouraging the children to talk English on the playground, and to see that this is done as much as possible. There are many schools in which this habit is regularly practised, and it is very encouraging to hear the young Maori children calling to one another in English as they chase each other about the playground. I may inform teachers that it has been alleged that an important distinction exists in this very respect between the Maori children attending a Board school and those attending one of our own Native schools—namely, that the former speak English in the playground, while the latter speak Maori. I hope that teachers will do their best to give this statement a practical denial, and to take every care to impress upon the children the necessity of practising outside school the lessons they learn within it.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=31 March 1906 |title=Education: Native Schools |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/AJHR1906-II.2.2.3.7 |journal=Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives |volume=Session II, E2 |pages=11–12 |via=Paperspast}}</ref></blockquote>

Although children were to be encouraged to speak English, there was never an official policy banning children from speaking Māori. However, some native school committees made rules to that effect,<ref name="Rules">{{Cite news |date=29 January 1908 |title=Educating the Maori: the Native School system |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19080129.2.7 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505200540/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19080129.2.7 |archive-date=5 May 2022 |access-date=6 May 2022 |work=New Zealand Herald |via=Paperspast |quote=Maori committees are very enthusiastic sometimes. They make such rules as "Only English to be spoken in the playground."}}</ref> a practice that persisted well into the 20th century. This contributed to the decline in the general use of Māori.<ref>Ka'ai Mahuta, Rachael, "[https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/te-kaharoa/index.php/tekaharoa/article/view/117/108 The impact of colonisation on ''te reo Māori'': A critical review of the State education system]", ''Te Kaharoa'', vol. 4, 2011, pp. 203–204, 207–211</ref>