Languages in New Zealand: Population, Politics and Policy

ROGER PEDDIE

Introduction

In the last months of 2002, a major public debate about immigration erupted in the media and in the Parliament of New Zealand. Sparked by minority party leader Winston Peters, the debate centred on the sharply-increased numbers of Asian migrants who had settled in New Zealand in recent years (see later in the chapter). While strong feelings were expressed, and various 'statistics' were presented, the issues revolve around two main areas. First, there are concerns about cultural differences in a country where a common rhetoric holds that 'real New Zealanders' are white/Anglo English-speaking peoples, with some acceptance that Mäori also have some stake – provided they do not want too much of 'our' resources or (even worse) some form of independence from 'us'. Second, when migrants come here they should not only accept 'our' culture, but should very definitely speak 'our' language – English.

This chapter, while acknowledging that language is never fully separated from culture, examines the languages policy and practice of New Zealand, particularly as these apply to the primary school sector. After this introduction, there are five further sections. The first examines the current situation of languages, using figures from the 2001 census, and updates from Statistics New Zealand to document the languages 'profile' in New Zealand. It also introduces some of the key issues concerning languages, both nationally and internationally in the first decade of the twenty-first century.

The chapter then analyses some very important moves by community language and professional interest groups in the 1980s and 1990s, who worked hard, but unsuccessfully, to develop a national languages policy in New Zealand. It refers to the more successful development of a languages policy in Australia, and offers some reasons why a comprehensive national policy has not, to date, been developed in New Zealand.

The next section presents recent data on language learning in New Zealand schools and (much more briefly) other institutions in an attempt to establish the extent of such learning and to see if there is a 'logic' or rationale for it, given current social and national needs. There are brief comments on the range and selection of languages, particularly in respect of possible 'languages policy' issues raised in the previous section.

The recent and highly significant Second Language Learning Project (SLLP), implemented in 1995–98, is summarised in the section that follows, which is based on a comprehensive evaluation of the SLLP carried out in 1997–98 by a team headed by the author (Peddie et al., 1998).

These sections together demonstrate the complexity of trying to reach straightforward decisions about language policy in what is a highly contested field, and the chapter ends by examining a possible way forward. It accepts that the continuing neo-liberal policy of decentralisation and minimal government spending (evident in several governments and coalitions since the mid-1980s) will mean that a comprehensive and well-funded national policy on languages is most unlikely to emerge. But it also argues that central government still needs to adopt a clearly articulated 'strategy' over at least the next five years to ensure that New Zealand's rich language resources are sustained, further developed, and recognised as a significant social, cultural and economic asset.

Language and Languages in New Zealand

New Zealand is increasingly a multi-ethnic and multilingual society, and its linguistic 'balance' has shifted quite sharply since the mid-1980s. In turn, this shift has led to some fierce political and community debates about who should be 'allowed' to migrate to New Zealand. This section gives a brief overview of the language scene in New Zealand, based primarily on data from the national census in 2001, but with additional information drawn from other sources (Statistics New Zealand, 2002a).

New Zealand is still thought of by many as quite a 'British' country. The truth is that New Zealanders come from an increasingly wide variety of backgrounds. In 2000 (though earlier numbers have fluctuated), New Zealand accepted comparatively many more migrants than Australia did (NZ Immigration Service, 2001a; DIMIA, 2001). Significant numbers of these people have come from Asian or other non-English-speaking backgrounds. They have added to the richness of the culture of a small nation that was already moving – some would argue, very slowly – towards an acceptance of its main bicultural heritage; between the tangata whenua (people of the land), the Mäori, and the Anglo-European (often referred to as Pakeha). The data in Table 1.1, drawn from the 2001 Census of New Zealand, give a summary indication of the major groupings in New Zealand in that year. It should be noted that all ethnicities were recorded, which is why the total number of responses is more than twice the total population.

Tables such as this one need very careful interpretation, particularly when making comparisons with earlier census data, as the census ethnicity question in 2001 was changed from the one used in 1996 (Statistics New Zealand, 2002b). While the figures above are in some cases (reportedly) very close to the 'true' numbers of individual residents, others are quite obscure. The 23,500 who said 'European' and the 16,500 who said 'British' are arguably likely to include a number of New Zealand-born Pakeha/ European, and perhaps some South Africans still holding British passports; whereas the 35,000 who said 'English' are quite likely to have been born in England. The latter situation is likely also to be true for the more than 13,500 'Scottish' and the nearly 12,000 'Irish'. For those groups who do not commonly intermarry (e.g. the Chinese), or who are very new arrivals (e.g. the Koreans), the figures in the...