This letter takes on Jessie Moss of NZEI, one of the ideologues behind the push to replace academic excellence with emotional ideology and religious instruction in New Zealand schools and kindergartens.
Understand the roots of this new DEI religion.
Share this letter if you believe education should be secular, academic, and equal for all.
Open Letter to Jessie Moss (NZEI Professional Education Adviser)
Dear Jessie,
I write this letter as a concerned parent, community member, and citizen of New Zealand.
I live on Waiheke Island, where I have personally witnessed the religious instruction of preschool children at Waiheke Kindergarten under the guise of cultural education. Children there are taught karakia to named atua — such as Tūmatauenga, the god of war — and encouraged to water the pou, which are meant to represent sacred ancestors. These are not simply educational exercises. They are acts of reverence presented to children as daily ritual. Children are performing acts to please the atua.
This is not coming from local Māori educators, who are generally respectful and clear about the difference between tikanga and religion. This is coming from non-Māori teachers, mostly white women, who appear to be caught up in a kind of ideological fervour. They call themselves “kaiako” and drop Māori words like “akonga” and “tamariki” into every second sentence when preparing documents intended for parents and the Education Review Office (ERO), not for the benefit of children, but to elevate their own cultural standing. It is performance, point scoring and it is indoctrination.
In the article you recently wrote for The Spinoff, you assert that educational attainment should not be the key objective for our schools. Instead, you suggest a system focused on emotional wellbeing, cultural inclusion, and connection. You do not once mention excellence, discipline, academic freedom, or rigour. You substitute them with slogans.
You describe yourself — or allow others to describe you — as a teacher. But despite claiming to be a “registered teacher,” there is no public record of a Bachelor of Teaching, Diploma of Teaching, or university graduation. Your name does not appear in the publicly searchable Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand register. There is no LinkedIn profile or academic CV. To the best of our knowledge, you hold no verifiable qualifications in education.
When I studied child development and psychology at the University of Auckland and Teachers College, we were taught how children understand the world — and it wasn’t through abstract terminology and anthropomorphism. Whatever did you study when you attended some unnamed tertiary institution? CRT?
The fact that the Ministry of Education defends this by suggesting that four-year-olds understand the term anthropomorphic is insulting. My four-year-old son believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I did not teach him these concepts myself — they came from the culture around him, and he absorbed them unquestioningly. The same is true for any supernatural concept introduced in an early childhood setting.
We are told that these karakia are just stories. But leading Māori academics are very clear: they are religion. Professor Margaret Mutu has stated:
It also violates common sense.
I find it both patronising and racist when white educators like you infantilise Māori children, as though they cannot thrive under the same academic expectations as others. Māori children — like all children — deserve a serious education. One that prioritises knowledge, not slogans.
You claim that colonial models of education don’t serve Māori. But education itself is a so-called colonial model. There was no formal schooling in pre-European Māori society. There was no written language, no syllabi, no schooling system. The 1877 Education Act offered free, compulsory, secular education to all children in New Zealand — boys and girls, Māori and Pākehā. Māori leaders supported this. They wrote letters to government requesting schools and requesting that instruction be delivered in English. Their requests were clear, dignified, and full of good sense.
It is deeply ironic that those Māori ancestors — with no university degrees or bureaucratic titles — had more educational wisdom than many of today’s self-declared “tangata Tiriti.”
The worldview you present throughout your article is now widely recognised: it is the language of DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), derived from American critical race theory. This ideology teaches that people are permanently defined by group identity, and that outcomes must be equalised through group preference. It prioritises equity over equality. It blurs truth with experience. It replaces merit with grievance.
You may not call yourself a Marxist, but your educational philosophy fits squarely within the neo-Marxist framework. It divides children by race. It downplays objective achievement. It politicises learning.
Worse, it sneaks spirituality into ECE and primary schools by disguising it as culture.
What has happened on Waiheke Island is not unique. I’ve spoken to families and teachers from around New Zealand who report similar experiences — the white women who call themselves “kaiako” and who impose karakia and reverence to atua in daily routines. These are not Māori-led decisions. These are decisions led by activist teachers influenced by white guilt, DiAngelo-style self-flagellation, and fashionable ideologies dressed up as virtue.
You claim to support inclusion. Yet your version of inclusion excludes those who hold to a secular, academically focused, pluralist model of education. Your form of inclusion demands conformity to a belief system. That is not inclusion. That is coercion.
Sincerely,
Judy Gill
Share this letter if you believe education should be secular, academic, and equal for all.
Open Letter to Jessie Moss (NZEI Professional Education Adviser)
Dear Jessie,
I write this letter as a concerned parent, community member, and citizen of New Zealand.
I live on Waiheke Island, where I have personally witnessed the religious instruction of preschool children at Waiheke Kindergarten under the guise of cultural education. Children there are taught karakia to named atua — such as Tūmatauenga, the god of war — and encouraged to water the pou, which are meant to represent sacred ancestors. These are not simply educational exercises. They are acts of reverence presented to children as daily ritual. Children are performing acts to please the atua.
This is not coming from local Māori educators, who are generally respectful and clear about the difference between tikanga and religion. This is coming from non-Māori teachers, mostly white women, who appear to be caught up in a kind of ideological fervour. They call themselves “kaiako” and drop Māori words like “akonga” and “tamariki” into every second sentence when preparing documents intended for parents and the Education Review Office (ERO), not for the benefit of children, but to elevate their own cultural standing. It is performance, point scoring and it is indoctrination.
In the article you recently wrote for The Spinoff, you assert that educational attainment should not be the key objective for our schools. Instead, you suggest a system focused on emotional wellbeing, cultural inclusion, and connection. You do not once mention excellence, discipline, academic freedom, or rigour. You substitute them with slogans.
You describe yourself — or allow others to describe you — as a teacher. But despite claiming to be a “registered teacher,” there is no public record of a Bachelor of Teaching, Diploma of Teaching, or university graduation. Your name does not appear in the publicly searchable Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand register. There is no LinkedIn profile or academic CV. To the best of our knowledge, you hold no verifiable qualifications in education.
When I studied child development and psychology at the University of Auckland and Teachers College, we were taught how children understand the world — and it wasn’t through abstract terminology and anthropomorphism. Whatever did you study when you attended some unnamed tertiary institution? CRT?
The fact that the Ministry of Education defends this by suggesting that four-year-olds understand the term anthropomorphic is insulting. My four-year-old son believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I did not teach him these concepts myself — they came from the culture around him, and he absorbed them unquestioningly. The same is true for any supernatural concept introduced in an early childhood setting.
We are told that these karakia are just stories. But leading Māori academics are very clear: they are religion. Professor Margaret Mutu has stated:
- “The atua are our ancestors. They are real. Their mana flows through us via whakapapa. To honour ourselves, we must honour the atua.”
- “The atua are part of the environment, the universe. We descend from them — they are not myths, they are genealogical reality.”
It also violates common sense.
I find it both patronising and racist when white educators like you infantilise Māori children, as though they cannot thrive under the same academic expectations as others. Māori children — like all children — deserve a serious education. One that prioritises knowledge, not slogans.
You claim that colonial models of education don’t serve Māori. But education itself is a so-called colonial model. There was no formal schooling in pre-European Māori society. There was no written language, no syllabi, no schooling system. The 1877 Education Act offered free, compulsory, secular education to all children in New Zealand — boys and girls, Māori and Pākehā. Māori leaders supported this. They wrote letters to government requesting schools and requesting that instruction be delivered in English. Their requests were clear, dignified, and full of good sense.
It is deeply ironic that those Māori ancestors — with no university degrees or bureaucratic titles — had more educational wisdom than many of today’s self-declared “tangata Tiriti.”
The worldview you present throughout your article is now widely recognised: it is the language of DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), derived from American critical race theory. This ideology teaches that people are permanently defined by group identity, and that outcomes must be equalised through group preference. It prioritises equity over equality. It blurs truth with experience. It replaces merit with grievance.
You may not call yourself a Marxist, but your educational philosophy fits squarely within the neo-Marxist framework. It divides children by race. It downplays objective achievement. It politicises learning.
Worse, it sneaks spirituality into ECE and primary schools by disguising it as culture.
What has happened on Waiheke Island is not unique. I’ve spoken to families and teachers from around New Zealand who report similar experiences — the white women who call themselves “kaiako” and who impose karakia and reverence to atua in daily routines. These are not Māori-led decisions. These are decisions led by activist teachers influenced by white guilt, DiAngelo-style self-flagellation, and fashionable ideologies dressed up as virtue.
You claim to support inclusion. Yet your version of inclusion excludes those who hold to a secular, academically focused, pluralist model of education. Your form of inclusion demands conformity to a belief system. That is not inclusion. That is coercion.
Sincerely,
Judy Gill
BSc, DipTchg
Waiheke Island
Waiheke Island
Judy Gill is a parent, former teacher, and a staunch advocate for secular education.
24 comments:
And our leaders can’t see what is happening -or don’t want to see! They are allowing further racial divide by not putting an end to the rorts. No wonder people are leaving the country.
Is Jill seriously suggesting that education is supposed to benefit children? What a novel idea.
Absolutely spot on. Well said Judy. This is being posted to my facebook page now.
Sadly Judy, they do not care for actual educational acheivement outcomes.
They are ideologues and their absolute is what is first and forever foremost to them.
My father was a teacher/principal for his entire career and he never would have bowed to this ideological clap trap as he beleived in 'education'. He, like me today can not understand why or how people who call themselves educators allow ideology to replace academic achievement.
To me, the people that do this are not educators and are therefore unfit for their roles as such.
They say the fish rots from the head but quite a large part of the body has embraced the rot and this is why today NZ sits toward the bottom of the OECD in educational achievement in simple things like basic reading etc.
What a sad, silly, unnecessary outcome to have fallen to, all because sad, silly, unnecessary people think they have the answers which in hindsight they clearly do not!
I'm going to predict that these far left nut cases like Jessie moss are just on the stupidity popularity movement bandwagon. I'm unsure if she actually believes this nonsense, but unfortunately at the moment, it's popular. Ask any Greek if they actually believe that Zeus actually exists and will perform magic powers for them -and they just laugh. Unfortunately maori believe this rubbish and they have managed to con a number of dim witted others that these imaginary gods actually do exist.
Yes, I agree it's dangerous and these type of idiots should not be allowed anywhere near kids, but they are.
Hopefully the next far left fad comes along where it's cool to walk around clucking and flapping your arm like a chicken while clucking at the moon.....dimwits like Jessie moss will move on. Especially now she's been found out.
Great work Judy.
Trust us. We are from the government and here to help!
If Standford's ETA Bill no 2 is not altered to guarantee secular education ( as is necessary) by removing Treaty references, then He Puapua is inevitable.
It is very important that people such as Judy Gill speak up. I, too, have commented on the views of Jessie Moss - here:
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2025/04/david-lillis-shakespeare-in-english.html
David Lillis
Well done Robert. I'll look out for it.
Yes, a great letter Judy, well done! Regrettably, the fixation on the Treaty and the religious based knowledge systems of Maori are firmly embedded in the Education and Training Act 2020, and the Amendment Bill currently before the House to review parts of that Act don't intend to change those directives, despite National's election campaign suggesting otherwise. Admittedly, ACT have said they don't like it, but have had to acquiesce and await the review of all legislation with Treaty references - although that now appears to have all the hallmarks of an orchestrated white wash. For those wanting to know more of the background to Judy's letter, this one-sided piece, by Jessie Moss, likely tells you all you need to know. https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/ideology-is-pushing-maori-knowledge-out-of-the-curriculum/ I don't know about you, but NZ is supposed to be secular and Moss's style of indoctrination (an ideology currently endorsed by our Government) will do our children no favours whatsoever in them each attaining their highest possible standard of educational achievement.
People, you need to get motivated and to tell the powers that be that this is not good enough. The future of our country depends on it!
Excellent article, Judy.
Truly - It is appalling that a whole generation of young New Zealanders are being indoctrinated with a racist, separatist belief.
Welcome to New Zimbabwe of the 21st century.
I just listened to Erica Stanford being interviewed by Heather D P on ZB.
Guess what. She has utterly convinced herself that the education system under her control is absolutely on track and delivering the best possible outcomes for all tamariki.
Go figure.
BRAVO, Judy Gill. I am a retired secondary teacher, with a Primary certificate too, and post-grad degrees from University of Auckland... [thankfully in my day not defined on my certificates as a Maori outfit.] I have also had a long connection with the church [don't start me on that!]. Judy, what you detail is SO TRUE! There are at least two generations in education now fully brainwashed by Critical Race Theory [NB "Theory" unproven but great using FEAR as a tool] and ideas of Derrida and Forcault. I watched as a weak young European girl of my acquaintance was brainwashed by Maori lecturers in Early Childhood Ed, Auckland University in the 80s with the result she has since tattooed dribble marks on her chin as a non-Maori.
Use of the word 'leaders', suggests 'followers'.
I no longer consider politicians of any brand 'servants to the public', my personal example numerous emails remain unanswered.
If my circumstances were different, I would leave yesterday. I would suggest 'six degrees of separation' are not needed by many New Zealanders, who know of persons leaving or left, of a wide age range, of wide skill sets, seemingly to not want to return.
I hope you have copied Stanford in on this Judy.
Spot on, Judy. It encourages me to see people like you making a stand. As a parent, I begin to have hope again.
Judy, have you sent this to Erica Stanford, and Luxon ?
We need a very clear comment from both of them so we know where they stand on this issue.
Then we need parents to stop sending their children to schools until the teachers stop this crap.
Followed by other teachers telling every student that what they had previously been told was absolutely wrong.
And be supervised so that they don't start indoctrination again.
That so-called teachers choose to waste stage-of-life-critical learning opportunities for the nation's precious children with no perceivable or measurable outcome other than the service of their own wokeness is an absolute disgrace. The existence of so many woke white women (and emasculated men too) narrowly focused on their own virtue-signalling will surely bring this country down. Shame on them all!
Thank you Judy for warning us of this unbelievable undermining of true wholesome academic learning.
This is however nothing new . Since about the 1950s on wards there has been a hell bent, by academia, determination to destroy all of traditional values in education and replace them with destructive ideologies be it progressivism , socialism , Marxism , transgenderism , climate cult and now primitive animist religion.
I personally would not have a child of mine go anywhere near these preschools practising this cultist stuff. For me It is neither innocent nor harmless and quite different from Santa Claus and Easter Bunny.
It is a total violation of our basics rights to freedom of and from religion. Small children should be be singing nursery rhymes/songs learning to hold a pencil, drawing, learning the sounds and names of the alphabet , learning discipline and self control and respect for others, writing their names , counting to 20 and understanding numbers. Few preschools are doing this. It is all play , play , play and now Maori religion.
Why is it always foolish , liberal women who push this ?
I'm refusing to send my kids to school to be indoctrinated into political Maori whoo hoo.
Who else is going to join my protest ?
Judy, this is the absolutely best piece I have seen on this subject - authoritative, substantive in argument. I am a teacher of thirty years and finished Teachers Training College, Epsom just at the time, Maori activists were brought in to tell us that we were colonial oppressors who were destroying Maori and everything wrong was our fault. We left the room confused and rejecting. But since then the campaign to "convert" teachers has been persistent, insistent and largely victorious. There is a fundamental need to remove the Treaty clauses from the new Education and Training Amendment Bill. National Party politics of the weak and frightened have prevailed to date. They need to READ and INWARDLY DIGEST your letter above. Thank you for such a soundly robust piece of writing. It should be shared as widely as possible.
While I agree with Judy's letter, there are other issues I have about what children are taught. We have children taught climate change alarmism, with teachers encouraging them to skip school to protest. We also have them teaching sex education that most parents would object to. They are taught garbage about some children being born in the wrong body and that there are more than two genders.
A lifelong feminist, I am particularly ashamed of the silly tits who have latched on to this trend. ( actually, haven't called myself a feminist for decades - thought I was just a person, but can't help noticing an upsurge in stupid women.)
As a child of the 60's, I live by the motto "don't get mad, get even". Its time to stop bitching about the Maorification of New Zealand and actually do something about it. I have written a letter to Dr. Newman of the New Zealand Center For Political Research suggesting that in defense of the separation of church and state (a core requirement of a liberal democratic state) we bring a court case against the New Zealand education system's mandating Maori religious education (in the guise of harmless Maori "cultural awareness") into our secular education system. I'm prepared to put my $ where my mouth is and put in $500 as seed money toward such a court case. Anybody else with ready to stop bitching and start acting? Mr. Sandy Fontwit, Nelson
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