What is Te Whāriki?
Te Whāriki is Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood curriculum, first issued in 1996 and revised in 2017 by Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga (the New Zealand Ministry of Education). It is bicultural by design — every strand and principle is expressed in both English and te reo Māori, grounded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori world view) and the partnership between Māori and the Crown enshrined in Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi).
Where many early childhood frameworks describe what children should learn, Te Whāriki describes the woven mat — whāriki — that a learning community lays down for its children: the principles, strands, and goals that hold the curriculum together. The metaphor is intentional: a whāriki is woven from many strands, none of which can stand alone, and each setting weaves its own pattern.
The five Mana strands
The curriculum is structured around five interwoven strands, each named for a dimension of mana — the standing, authority, and prestige that grows in a child as they learn and belong:
- Mana atua — Wellbeing. The health of the child is protected and nurtured.
- Mana whenua — Belonging. Children and their families experience an environment where connecting links with family and the wider world are affirmed.
- Mana tangata — Contribution. Opportunities for learning are equitable, and each child's contribution is valued.
- Mana reo — Communication. The languages and symbols of children's own and other cultures are promoted and protected.
- Mana aotūroa — Exploration. Children learn through active exploration of their environment.
Why we include Te Whāriki on Learning Curve
Te Whāriki is one of very few national early childhood curricula co-authored with indigenous knowledge holders rather than translated onto them. For families and educators outside Aotearoa, it offers a working model for how relational and cultural dimensions of early learning can sit alongside the developmental concerns that more familiar frameworks (such as EYFS or Stanford SHQ) emphasise.
On this page the indicators are shown in their English-side framing. Te reo Māori-language indicators within Te Whāriki are surfaced separately on the companion Māori (Te Whāriki) page, preserving Māori concepts verbatim where a single English word cannot carry the meaning.
Source: Ministry of Education. (2017). Te Whāriki: He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: NZ Ministry of Education.