The 3 Ps - te Tiriti o Waitangi

Learning at Dunstan High School will consider and honour our Treaty Obligations under te Tiriti O Waitangi. This includes the 3 Ps that define the Principles of the Treaty. Those include:

  1. Participation - Participation means emphasise positive Māori involvement at all levels of education.

  • working to strengthen home-school relationships

  • Māori participating in school decision making

  • School environment reflecting the biculturalism of Aotearoa

  • aspirations of Māori whānau reflected in school planning

  • equity for Māori


  1. Protection - Protection means actively protecting Māori knowledge, interests, values, and other tāonga. Identity, language, and culture are important expressions of what it means to be a culturally located learner. As classroom teachers we are able to implement these principles every day. Normalising te reo not only in your classroom, but in staff meetings, the staff room, on duty, at assemblies and in other areas. Adding a Māori perspective to topics and inquiry is an opportunity for us to weave tikanga and Māori view point into everyday situations.

  • valuing, validating and protecting local knowledge (place-based learning)

  • normalising te reo Māori

  • learning and including tikanga school-wide

  • equity for Māori


  1. Partnership - Partnership involves working together with iwi, hapū, whānau and Māori communities to develop strategies for Māori education. Partnership encourages and requires Māori to be involved at all levels of the education sector, including decision-making, planning, and development of curriculum. Partnership relies on us welcoming and having genuine relationships with our Māori community.

  • engaging with Māori community

  • inquiry- place based learning-finding out about the Māori origins of your rōhe, mountains, rivers, history

  • having Māori representatives on boards of trustees

  • equity for Māori

  • power sharing

Other ways of describing our commitment to te Tiriti O Waitangi is by understanding each of the Treaty Articles and what they mean.

  1. Kawangatanga

  2. Tino Rangitiratanga

  3. Ōritetanga

  4. Wairuatanga