The Importance of Our Treaty

and why we need to work on relationships

Whāinga ako: Lesson Goals

Identify what causes conflict in a group (class, friendships, society).

Recognise the importance of agreements in resolving disputes.

Understand the Treaty of Waitangi as an example of an agreement that wasn’t upheld.

Create a class treaty

Kupu matua - Keywords

Rights Vs Priviledges

Human Rights Sort

In groups sort these things into Rights and Privileges

Alternatively this can be done as a class - teacher calls out items and they are sorted on the white board.

Mahi - Work

Think, Pair, Share

Think about a time when you’ve seen or been part of a conflict—what caused it?
What kinds of things lead to arguments in a classroom or a workplace?
How do people usually try to fix these conflicts?

As a class agree on TWO common causes of conflict and ONE way to resolve them.

What are our rights?

When conflict and disagreement occurs our rights as humans can become threatened. This is even more so when there is a person (or people) who are being treated unfairly.

In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was created to protect people from unfair treatment.

These rights include:

You have the right to live, and to live in safety and freedom
You have the right to own things and nobody has the right to take these from you without good reason

Human Rights

Have a look at this document (hold onto it, you need it later)

KAHOOT! for human rights is here.

A Peace Agreement That Failed?

The Treaty was supposed to protect Māori rights, but because it wasn’t honoured, Māori lost land, power, and opportunities.

What Māori Expected: A fair partnership protecting their land and rights.

What Happened Instead:

The Treaty was poorly translated, leading to different understandings.
The British did not uphold the agreement.
Māori lost land and sovereignty, leading to wars and lasting tensions.

Discussion:

What happens when one side in an agreement doesn’t keep their word?
What would have been different for Māori if the Treaty had been respected?
Can you think of other times when people’s rights have been ignored in history?
If you made a deal with someone and they broke it, how would you respond?

The Three Ps of Te Tiriti

Treaty Principles (2).pdf

The three Treaty principles were developed by the Waitangi Tribunal and the New Zealand government in the 1980s and 1990s as a way to interpret and apply the Treaty of Waitangi in modern contexts.

This way the government could start addressing all the injustice that had been happening to Māori people.

Hold onto this sheet because you will need it for the next task.

Human Rights Court | Te Kāhui Tika Tangata

Teacher picks any member of the class. This students rights might have been broken: They are Māori and have been told that they cannot speak their language at school.

Your job (in groups) is to be the defense lawyers. The student will also speak to defend themselves.

You have 5mins to take a look at the document which outlines human rights AND the treaty principles
You must pick what rights you think have been violated. You can highlight these on your sheet.
You have 10 minutes to write a defense for the pupil. Make it persuasive- you are FIGHTING for this person with your words (but no swears).
Pick someone to be your speaking lawyer. They will read out the persuasive writing.

Court is in session...

Your teacher is the judge. When they call for silence you must listen or you will be thrown out of court.

The first person to speak is the pupil who has been denied the use of their language in school. Then each group will have a chance to speak.

Your Rights at School

You have all kinds of rights as a student at school. One of these is:

You have the right to go to school and everyone should go to school. Primary schooling should be free. You should be able to learn a profession or continue your studies as far as you wish. At school, you should be able to develop all your talents and you should be taught to get on with others, whatever their race, religion or the country they come from.

What rights should all students have in a classroom?
What responsibilities do you have as students?

Creating a Class Treaty

Te Tiriti - Classroom Treaty

Based on what you have discussed over these lessons, decide on what things your class should agree on to ensure that everyone's rights are respected and responsibilities are kept.

You can brainstorm this as a class or as groups.