The location and dislocation of Pacific knowledge and experience in New Zealand social studies (1997–2007)

This article revisits the New Zealand social studies curriculum statement (Ministry of Education, 1997) in terms of the location of Pacific knowledge and experience. The "revised" school curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007) is reviewed and compared in terms of Pacific knowledge. The main argument of this article is that teacher decision making is a political process that has become an even stronger determinant for whether or not Pacific topics will be included in school social studies programmes, given that national curriculum directives for such topic inclusion no longer exist. Such a dislocation raises questions and concerns relating to teacher decision making. The paper presents a rationale for the inclusion of Pacific knowledge and experience, for teacher consideration. It explores two approaches that might encourage teachers to include Pacific knowledge via social studies.