17 The Hui Taumata Matauranga

The application of the framework to Mäori educational achievement is currently under consideration and there are some signs that it may be a useful model. Meanwhile the 107 recommendations that came out of the Hui Taumata Mätauranga suggest there much more to do with unresolved issues across a range of concerns and levels. Nonetheless the Hui Taumata Mätauranga, has been a positive step towards exploring the issues and to establishing a process for addressing them. Three major gains are likely to be felt:

• gains in Mäori educational achievement
• gains in the establishment of a working relationship between Mäori and the Crown
• gains in concerted Mäori planning for independent action

In the end, the most important product of the Hui, gains in education aside, may be the endorsement of a relationship between Mäori and the Crown - a relationship that is less preoccupied with the grievances of last century, and more committed to planning a secure future for the generations ahead. In that process there will be tasks for the State, tasks for Mäori, and tasks best managed by joint action.

Professor Mason H Durie

Te Pütahi a Toi

School of Mäori Studies

Massey University

2001