12. Question No. 12—EducationHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of EducationQuestion No. 12—Education12. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of Education: Does he agree with the Prime Minister's comments in response to questions about white privilege in relation to education that It's not part of our Government agenda" and "It's not something that we're teaching"?Hon JAN TINETTI (Associate Minister of Education) on behalf of the Minister of Education: Yes.Hon Paul Goldsmith: How does the Minister explain this Te Hurihanganui blueprint document guiding that programme in schools which says "Building critical consciousness means reflecting critically on the imbalance of power and resources in society and taking anti-oppressive action to do something about it for the better. It means recognising white privilege"?Hon JAN TINETTI: White privilege is not part of the New Zealand Curriculum. I would like to inform the member though that the education system in the past hasn't worked for everyone in this country. It is inequitable. One of the biggest reasons for this is systemic racism. Te Hurihanganui is one resource that works with communities to address this. Te Hurihanganui is a professional resource for teachers. Let me help the member understand the difference between teaching children curriculum and building and supporting teacher competence and capacity. Te Hurihanganui is about critical thinking understanding who teachers are the impact of their behaviour on students and understanding others' world view—SPEAKER: Order! Order! First of all the response is getting too long. This an area of discussion which a couple of weeks ago led us to some problems and one of the things that my team has agreed is to ask people just to contemplate both in their answers and in their interjections the effect that it will have on the House if this area gets wound up in the way that it's threatening to do.Hon Paul Goldsmith: If teaching white privilege isn't part of this Government's agenda why are teachers going to Ministry of Education accord teacher-only days where they are invited to "take a minute to list your own privileges. This might include things like white privilege which we've been talking about a lot recently."?Hon JAN TINETTI: Teachers are required to teach the New Zealand's Curriculum to our children. White privilege is not part of that. However injustice inequality and privilege are themes that are explored in some teaching resources to build cultural competency amongst our teaching workforce. Not talking about these concepts does Pākehā a disservice and Māori children will continue to grow up thinking their position at the bottom of the heap is their fault rather than the systems that keep them there.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Aren't we far more likely to successfully address inequities privileged or otherwise by dealing with the truancy crisis in our schools than by transposing American culture wars into our classrooms?Hon JAN TINETTI: On behalf of the Minister: that member needs to understand some of the underlying causes that are causing truancy.David Seymour: Can the Minister please help the New Zealand public and parents understand how Te Hurihanganui is a resource for teachers about white privilege it's a resource provided to teachers and yet teachers are not teaching white privilege? How does the Minister reconcile those facts?Hon JAN TINETTI: Te Hurihanganui is a professional development programme for educators. It was co-designed to address bias strengthen equity and accelerate educational achievement and wellbeing of Māori. At a practical level building the community's knowledge and experience might include things like New Zealand's history colonisation and its effects.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Has she corrected the Prime Minister so she knows that under Labour it is part of the agenda and we are teaching it?Hon JAN TINETTI: In the context of the Prime Minister's sayings and not the shortened version that the member has taken no."