Partnership in Service

Overview

Students investigate how mahitahi (collaborative action), leadership, and partnership shaped the experience of the Māori Battalion during the Second World War. Through photographs, letters, and Treaty-based perspectives, they will analyse evidence, construct a short timeline, and make a supported conclusion about the relationship between Māori service, identity, and te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Learning intentions

• We are learning to analyse historical sources for perspective, purpose, and evidence.
• We are learning to explain how mahitahi, leadership, and partnership influenced the Māori Battalion’s experience.
• We are learning to connect historical experiences with Treaty-based ideas, including partnership and participation.
• We are learning to communicate a conclusion using specific evidence.

Success criteria

• I can identify what a source shows, who created it, and whose perspective it represents.
• I can use at least three pieces of evidence from different sources.
• I can place key events in a logical timeline.
• I can explain one way mahitahi, leadership, or partnership shaped the Battalion’s experience.

Curriculum links

• Social Sciences — understanding how people, places, and systems function and change.
• Social Sciences Years 9–10 — analysing data and sources, making decisions, and evaluating significant events and challenges.
• Social Sciences Years 9–10 — understanding how societies function and change, including New Zealand’s place in a globalised world.
• Social Sciences Years 9–10 — exploring political ideas, governance, human rights, and the constitutional significance of te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Lesson structure (55 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Hook and prior knowledge. Teacher displays a wartime photograph and asks, “What might partnership look like when people are serving together, and what questions should we ask before interpreting this image?” using the opening photograph and inquiry question. Students complete a quick think-pair-share, distinguishing observation from assumption.

2. 5–12 min · Context teaching. Teacher briefly explains the formation and service of the 28th Māori Battalion, the importance of iwi and whānau connections, and the unequal political and social context Māori experienced during the period. Clarify that mahitahi means working together towards a shared purpose, while Treaty-based analysis requires attention to different perspectives and the principles of partnership and participation. Students record three key terms and one question on the source-analysis and timeline worksheet.

3. 12–17 min · Modelling source analysis. Teacher models a “ notice, locate, interpret, question” process with one photograph from the source-analysis modelling slide. Ask: What can we see? Who produced or preserved this source? What might its purpose be? What is missing? Students suggest one cautious inference and support it with a visible detail.

4. 17–35 min · Collaborative source investigation. Teacher places students in five groups of four and gives each group a source set containing photographs, letters, and short Treaty-based perspectives. Assign roles: facilitator, evidence finder, timeline organiser, and reporter. Students analyse each source on the source-analysis and timeline worksheet, recording creator or speaker, context, perspective, useful evidence, and links to mahitahi, leadership, or partnership. They then select at least four events or ideas and create a short, evidence-based timeline. Encourage groups to identify both cooperation within the Battalion and tensions or limits in the wider relationship between Māori and the Crown.

5. 35–46 min · Group share and challenge. Teacher displays the reporting prompts in the group-sharing and discussion slides. Each group presents its timeline and one conclusion, naming at least two sources as evidence. Listening students note one agreement, one different interpretation, or one unanswered question. Teacher probes with: “Whose voice is strongest here?”, “Does this evidence show partnership, or only cooperation?”, and “What power relationships affected this experience?”

6. 46–52 min · Synthesis discussion. Teacher facilitates a whole-class discussion connecting military service to citizenship, recognition, rights, and Treaty-based expectations. Students use the stem, “The Māori Battalion’s experience shows that mahitahi and partnership were/ were not the same because…” and contribute a reasoned response. Teacher highlights that sources may present honour, solidarity, discrimination, sacrifice, or political complexity simultaneously.

7. 52–55 min · Exit assessment. Teacher directs students to complete the final section of the source-analysis and timeline worksheet and displays the exit prompt in the plenary and exit question slide: “How did mahitahi, leadership, or partnership shape the Māori Battalion’s experience? Use two different sources.” Students submit a three-to-five sentence response before leaving.

Resources

• the Māori Battalion inquiry slide deck
• the source-analysis and timeline worksheet
• Five curated source sets: photographs, letters, and Treaty-based perspectives
• Projector or interactive display
• A3 paper or large timeline sheets
• Coloured pens or highlighters
• Timer
• Sticky notes for questions and interpretations

Assessment

• During modelling, check whether students distinguish observation from inference and can identify a source’s perspective.
• During group work, circulate with a checklist: accurate source reference, consideration of perspective, clear timeline sequence, and links to mahitahi, leadership, or partnership.
• Assess the exit response for a clear conclusion, two relevant pieces of evidence, and an attempt to explain significance rather than simply describe events.

Differentiation

• Provide a vocabulary bank and sentence starters such as “This source suggests…”, “The creator’s perspective may be influenced by…”, and “This is evidence of mahitahi because…”.
• Give students who need support a reduced source set with highlighted passages or image prompts; allow oral recording of the conclusion before writing.
• Pair confident readers with students requiring reading support, while ensuring each student has a defined role and contributes evidence.
• Extend capable students by asking them to compare a celebratory source with a critical or Treaty-based source and explain why their interpretations differ.