Why the History Curriculum Rewrite Is a Lie by Omission
By Dr Harpreet Singh | drhsinghnz.substack.com | FB: @DrHSinghNZ
As a historian and an academic, I see this as an appalling assault on education and a deliberate sanitisation of our history. How the Government has been allowed to get away with outright falsehoods is beyond comprehension. This is not a curriculum; it is a lie by omission. Every New Zealander should be deeply concerned that our education system is being reshaped by right-wing ideology and political distortion.
A Curriculum Disguised as Balance
When the Government announced its new history curriculum, ACT leader David Seymour called it “balanced.” Education Minister Erica Stanford echoed the language of neutrality. But let’s be clear: this is not balance. It is a political rewrite that strips out the uncomfortable truths of colonisation and power, replacing them with a feel-good migration story and a dash of Ancient Rome. That is not education. It is deception.
What Changed and Why It Matters
The previous Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum was built on four “Big Ideas”: Māori history as foundational, colonisation and settlement as central, power shaping events, and relationships across boundaries. These ideas gave students the tools to understand why inequities exist today. ACT and National have deleted them. In their place is a narrative that “we’re all descended from people who crossed oceans” and a promise to teach Ancient Egypt, Greece, and the Victorian Age. Global history is valuable, but not when it becomes a smokescreen for erasing the nation’s own structural injustices.
The Politics Behind the Rewrite
This was no accident. The National and ACT coalition agreement pledged to “restore balance” to the history curriculum. Seymour has railed against what he calls a “victims-and-villains” narrative. Stanford has overseen the rewrite. Together, they have turned a curriculum designed for honest engagement into one that privileges the victor’s tale.
Why Critics Call It Revisionism
Scholars call this “revisionism by sanitisation.” Keep the safe facts. Delete the frameworks that explain land confiscation, language suppression, and systemic inequity. Then call the result “neutral.” It is not neutral. It is political work disguised as pedagogy. Education Review Office data showed Māori and Pacific students engaged strongly with the original curriculum. Removing their histories risks alienating those learners and perpetuating ignorance about the roots of inequality.
Lying With Extra Steps
Anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot warned that power creates “silences” in history. This rewrite is a textbook example. By omitting colonisation and power, the curriculum tells a story that looks factual but is hollowed out. Students will learn dates and names, but not why those facts matter.
What Honest History Requires
A mature society teaches both pride and pain. It holds two truths at once: achievements and atrocities, continuities and ruptures. It does not amputate colonisation from causality. It does not erase Māori foundational history to soothe political discomfort.
The Bottom Line
When ACT pushes to delete colonisation and Māori history, and National delivers under a coalition promise, New Zealand is not depoliticising education. It is repoliticising it to favour the dominant narrative. That is not balance. It is history rewritten, a lie told by omission.
If we care about truth, we must demand transparency in curriculum design, independent historian oversight, and community co-design with iwi and ethnic groups. Our students deserve the whole story, not a curated myth.
Its unthinkable that politicians [ in a democracy ] would openly act in this regressive way without wide consultation of experts. They believe they can 'ram raid' us with this garbage which clearly exemplifies their agenda to dumb down our younger generations.
We only have to look at the dire consequences of this behaviour, over past decades, amongst the voting constituents of the US.
Any PR spin that covers up the narrowing and highly politically controlled colonialist education agenda in the US is seeping into the language of this NACZer coalition. Lets NOT go there !!
Thank you for this post. If there was one thing in my mind that was reinforced it is that education must be removed from politicians grasp. Particularly NACT seem utterly incapable of doing the right thing. Surely teachers are the ones who should be setting the curriculum. Measured changes over time as required rather than out endless changes every three our six years. Teachers are the ones who clearly care about the kids. Politicians care about idealogy and frankly on the right making sure the kids are to dumb to make informed choices come election time.