2026 New Zealand election: Māori education, te reo Māori and support for tamariki

For a whānau balancing work, household expenses and the future of their children, education policy is about more than school funding. It also concerns whether tamariki can learn in te reo Māori, whether Māori-medium pathways are properly supported, and whether Māori whānau have a meaningful voice in decisions affecting their children.

There are three important areas to compare:

1. Māori-medium education: access to kōhanga reo, kura kaupapa Māori, wharekura and pathways into further education.
2. Te reo Māori: funding, teacher supply, curriculum, language revitalisation and the status of te reo in public education.
3. Support for children at school: learning support, teacher numbers, attendance, school costs, lunches, wellbeing and additional help for children who need it.

One important distinction for the 2026 election: a party's historical record, its current government decisions and its promises for the next parliamentary term are not necessarily the same. I'll distinguish these rather than treating older policies as new election commitments.

1. How the parties compare

The following comparison covers the main parliamentary parties and their documented 2026 commitments. It is not a ranking: it shows where their approaches differ.

Information checked against 2026 election policy material available on 1 November 2026.

Te Pāti Māori

Māori-led education and governance focus

• Māori-medium education: Supports Māori-led education solutions and strengthening Māori governance.
• Te reo Māori: Proposes making te reo Māori a core subject through to Year 10 and embedding mātauranga Māori in learning.
• Children's support: Supports expanding school lunches, free public transport for students and free school counselling.
• Māori participation: Explicitly supports Māori decision-making and governance in education.

Its published education commitments are particularly relevant to whānau wanting Māori authority over education decisions, rather than simply more Māori content within a Crown-designed system. Education & TrainingTe Pāti Māori: policies and record 2026

Green Party

Te reo investment and broader child support

• Māori-medium education: Supports Māori language revitalisation and Māori educational inclusion.
• Te reo Māori: Has proposed $50 million annually for te reo Māori initiatives.
• Children's support: Proposes restoring and extending Ka Ora, Ka Ako school lunches to another 400 schools.
• Workforce: Proposes universal trainee payments for students training to become teachers and other essential workers.

The Green approach combines language investment with practical assistance for children and families. Election policy tracker: what the parties are promising

Labour Party

Classroom assistance and household costs

• Māori-medium education: Its historical record includes investment in Māori education, but its current 2026 announcements need to be distinguished from previous government programmes.
• Te reo Māori: Its current headline education announcements do not set out a comparable new dedicated te reo funding commitment.
• Children's support: Promises 1,000 additional teacher aides, backed by $80 million over four years.
• School costs: Promises locally made healthy school lunches from Term 1 2028, cheaper uniforms and restored rural school buses.

For a working household, the teacher-aide proposal is worth examining if a child needs additional classroom attention. Labour also has a separate Māori employment and skills programme. Labour's 2026 Election PoliciesRelease: Labour to provide more help in the classroomElection policy tracker: what the parties are promising

National Party

Achievement, attendance and structured learning

• Māori-medium education: The Government has funded some Māori-medium expansion and workforce development, although it has also reprioritised existing Māori education funding.
• Te reo Māori: Budget 2025 included teacher te reo and tikanga training and Māori-medium resources.
• Children's support: Promises Learning Support Coordinators for all schools with Year 1–8 students from 2028, additional teacher-aide hours and expanded early intervention.
• School policy: Emphasises literacy, numeracy, assessment, attendance and a revised secondary qualification system.

An important distinction is that National's current Government has made specific investments in Māori education, but has also changed the legal obligations on school boards concerning Te Tiriti. Teaching the basics brilliantlyMāori educationEducation and Training Amendment Act 2025

ACT New Zealand

• Māori-medium education: Its current education messaging emphasises parental choice and the wider academic curriculum rather than a distinct Māori-led education system.
• Te reo Māori: ACT's position in the October 2026 Māori candidates' debate was that learning te reo should remain a choice rather than become compulsory.
• Children's support: Its education proposals include more affordable school uniforms and changes to classroom discipline.
• Māori participation: Its approach to Treaty interpretation and the role of Treaty institutions differs substantially from parties advocating stronger Māori governance.

The distinction here is between supporting individual choice to learn te reo and making language revitalisation a broader education-system priority. Te reo splits the parties as kōhanga reo wait for an answerElection policy tracker: what the parties are promisingPolicies for Party vote - NZ Election 2026

New Zealand First

• Māori-medium education: The available 2026 education policy summaries do not establish a comparable new Māori-medium expansion commitment.
• Te reo Māori: Its approach should be assessed alongside its wider position on Treaty institutions and Māori political representation.
• Children's support: Its education commitments should be checked against its full party manifesto; the available summaries do not establish a specific comparable learning-support package.
• Māori participation: The party has supported abolishing the Waitangi Tribunal once historical claims are resolved.

That last proposal is relevant if you consider the Treaty settlement and accountability system part of Māori participation in decisions. Te reo splits the parties as kōhanga reo wait for an answerElection policy tracker: what the parties are promisingPolicies for Party vote - NZ Election 2026

2. What is actually happening in Māori education?

It helps to look beyond promises and examine the current situation.

Māori-medium education in 2025

28,382

Students in Māori-medium education

3.3%

Of the total school population

362

Schools with Māori-medium students

95.7%

Of Māori-medium students identifying as Māori

Source: Ministry of Education, July 2025 statistics. Māori language in schooling

This shows that Māori-medium education is growing, but remains a relatively small part of the overall school system.

There is also a significant difference between Māori-medium education and learning te reo as a subject in an English-medium school.

For example, in July 2025:

• 28,382 students were in Māori-medium education.
• 266,199 students were involved in Māori-language education in English-medium schools.
• 65.6% of all school students were not involved in Māori-language education.

Māori language in schooling

What has National's Government funded?

Budget 2025 included:

Investment	Amount
Te reo and tikanga training for teachers	$14.7m
Online STEM learning for Māori-medium education	$10m
Wharekura learning resources	$4.5m
Māori-medium curriculum advisers	$4.8m
Māori Studies subject development	$2.1m
Additional Māori-medium classrooms	Up to $50m capital

These are meaningful allocations, but there is an important qualification: some of the funding was obtained by reprioritising existing Māori education resources.

In particular, the Government discontinued 53 Resource Teacher: Māori positions and the Wharekura Expert Teachers Programme as part of that reprioritisation. Māori education

This gives you two different things to consider: the new investments and what existing support was removed to fund them.

3. Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori participation in school decisions

This is an important difference between the parties, because education policy is not just about what happens in the classroom. It is also about who has authority to decide what children learn and how schools respond to Māori communities.

One significant change has already happened.

The Education and Training Amendment Act 2025:

• Removed the explicit requirement for school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
• Made educational achievement the highest-priority objective for school boards.
• Retained requirements to seek equitable outcomes for Māori students.
• Requires reasonable steps to provide teaching and learning in te reo Māori when requested by parents or caregivers.
• Requires reasonable steps to reflect New Zealand's cultural diversity in school policies and practices.

Education and Training Amendment Act 2025

Here is the broad distinction between the approaches:

Party	General approach to Māori participation
Te Pāti Māori	Māori-led education authority and stronger Māori governance
Greens	Te Tiriti, Māori inclusion and language revitalisation
Labour	Partnership and Māori participation, with current commitments to be assessed individually
National	Equity for Māori learners within a national education framework
ACT	Individual choice and a more restrictive approach to Treaty obligations
NZ First	Supports changes to Treaty institutions, including abolishing the Waitangi Tribunal after historical claims are resolved

These are differences in policy direction, not a measure of how effectively each party would implement its proposals.

4. What matters for your household financially?

As a working parent, there are some practical differences worth considering alongside cultural and educational policy.

Household concern	Policies worth examining
School lunches	Greens, Te Pāti Māori and Labour
Learning difficulties or additional needs	Labour's 1,000 extra teacher aides; National's Learning Support Coordinators
Uniform costs	Labour and ACT
School transport	Labour's rural bus proposal; Te Pāti Māori's free student transport
Māori-medium school access	Te Pāti Māori's Māori-led education proposals and National's existing classroom investment
Teacher capability in te reo	National's existing teacher training investment; Greens' proposed language funding
Whānau involvement in decisions	Particularly relevant to Te Pāti Māori and Green proposals

One thing I would pay particular attention to is whether a policy is funded and when it starts. A promise to restore lunches in 2028, for example, does not reduce your grocery bill this year.

5. Questions worth asking candidates before voting

These questions can help distinguish a broad political promise from something that would make a tangible difference to your whānau.

1. Māori-medium access: How many additional kōhanga reo, kura kaupapa and wharekura will you fund, and where?
2. Kaiako: What will you do about the shortage of qualified Māori-speaking teachers?
3. Te reo Māori: Will you fund language revitalisation as a long-term commitment, rather than a short-term programme?
4. Learning support: How quickly can a child with additional learning needs access a specialist or teacher aide?
5. School affordability: What will you do to reduce the costs of lunches, uniforms, stationery and transport?
6. Te Tiriti: Will you restore or strengthen Treaty obligations in education legislation?
7. Māori decision-making: Will iwi, hapū, Māori education providers and whānau have actual decision-making authority, or will they simply be consulted?

These questions also help reveal whether a party has measurable commitments, a delivery timetable and an identified budget.

6. My suggested sources for checking the manifestos

These are useful places to check the original policies rather than relying only on campaign advertising.

• Policy.nz – 2026 party policy comparison
• The Conversation – 2026 election policy tracker
• Ministry of Education – Māori Education Budget 2025
• Education Counts – Māori language in schooling
• Te Pāti Māori – Education and Training

7. A useful way to assess your decision

I would keep three separate measures when comparing parties:

• Cultural and educational aspirations: Does the party support te reo Māori, mātauranga Māori and strong Māori-medium pathways?
• Practical outcomes for tamariki: Will it provide teachers, learning support, meals, transport and affordable schooling?
• Māori authority: Does it support meaningful Māori participation and decision-making under Te Tiriti?

A party can support better classroom achievement without supporting Māori educational autonomy. Equally, a party can make strong commitments to Māori governance without yet demonstrating how it will deliver the classroom workforce and resources needed.

It is worth examining all three rather than assuming one automatically delivers the others.

One further comparison could be especially useful: how the parties' policies affect Māori working households through wages, tax, housing, healthcare, childcare and everyday living costs.

You can also explore these next:

Compare household costs

Wages, tax, groceries, housing and transport

Compare Te Tiriti commitments

Māori representation, governance and tino rangatiratanga

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