Ensuring Māori student success and inclusion of te aō Māori through initial teacher education

Teacher commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi is emphasised within the latest Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession (Education Council, 2017). Teachers must explicitly demonstrate commitment to tangata whenuatanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This mandate is encouraging for Māori education needs and aspirations. We describe the use of a culturally sustaining teacher practice framework to examine Māori education policy implementation implications within an initial teacher education te ao Māori course. We explain how course content, delivery and assessment aspects can be critiqued and policy implications identified to illustrate the usefulness of the framework for teacher educators and practising teachers. We demonstrate how the framework can be a useful tool for teacher educators to examine culturally sustaining practice in preparing themselves and student teachers to work effectively with indigenous learners.