The co-opting of hauora into curricula

Currently, the Māori word hauora is translated in New Zealand curricula as health and wellbeing or as health and physical education for Māori-medium education. “Hauora, wellbeing” is also an underlying concept within Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum, where it is claimed that it offers a “Māori philosophy of health unique to New Zealand”. The use of Māori words and concepts in English-medium curricula is a source of tension, in as much as this usage involves a claim to represent a shared Māori perspective. Understandings of hauora need to go beyond their simplified interpretations within curricula.