Te reo Māori in language nests, New Zealand

Te reo Māori is the Māori language.

It is a language of New Zealand. In a kōhanga reo, the grown-ups speak Māori with the children. The children play, learn and talk in Māori every day.

Te reo Māori means "the Māori language." It is the language of Māori people in New Zealand, and it is an official language of the country.

Te Kōhanga Reo means "the language nest." A kōhanga reo is a warm, safe place where young children, from babies up to about six years old, are cared for alongside their families and are surrounded by the Māori language, customs and values. Families are part of their children's learning and help run each nest.

Te reo Māori is the language of Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Māori Language Act 1987 declared it an official language and created the Māori Language Commission, now Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori.

Te Kōhanga Reo, "the language nest," is described by its National Trust as, at its core, a whānau (family) development and language revitalization movement grounded in Māori cultural principles. Mokopuna, the children, are totally immersed in Māori language, customs and values, and the movement works from a Māori view of the world. It was designed for whānau with tamariki from birth to six years old, an age group seen as the most effective for bringing the language back. Since the first nest opened in 1982, the Trust says, its driving aim has been to revitalize te reo Māori, with its own curriculum and its own qualification for the people who work in the nests.

Long ago, fewer and fewer children were learning Māori.

Māori leaders worried the language could be lost. So families and elders met together. They made a plan to help it grow again.

For most of the 1900s, the New Zealand government discouraged people from speaking Māori openly. By the late 1970s, the language was in serious decline, and Māori leaders saw that it could be lost if nothing was done.

In 1972, more than 30,000 people signed a petition asking for te reo Māori to be taught in schools. Then, in 1979, representatives from most iwi (tribes) met in Wellington to plan how to keep the language for future generations. They decided to start with the youngest children.

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, the Māori Language Commission, writes that for most of the 20th century the New Zealand government discouraged and banned the open speaking of te reo Māori and made it socially unacceptable. By the late 1970s, the Kōhanga Reo National Trust records, te reo Māori was in serious decline, there were very few Māori broadcasting services, and Māori were more likely than non-Māori to leave school without a qualification.

Campaigners pushed back. On 14 September 1972 a petition signed by more than 30,000 people asked Parliament for te reo to be taught in schools; that date became Māori Language Day and later grew into Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, Māori Language Week. A national hui (meeting) in Wellington in 1979, with representatives of most iwi and hapū, and another at Ngāruawāhia the following year, identified Kōhanga Reo as an immediate and urgent response. At a 1980 wānanga (gathering for learning), elders agreed that the time had come for Māori to take control of the language's future and plan for its survival.

The first kōhanga reo opened in 1982.

It was near the city of Wellington. Soon there were more and more nests all over New Zealand!

In 1981 the government's Department of Māori Affairs agreed to try out the idea. On 13 April 1982, the first kōhanga reo opened at Pukeatua, in Wainuiomata near Wellington. Four more soon followed: three in the Wellington region and one at Ōrākei in Auckland.

The idea spread fast. By December 1983 there were 170 kōhanga reo across the country, and within a few years there were more than 300. The number reached its highest, 819, in 1994.

The Department of Māori Affairs, then following a philosophy called Tū Tangata, agreed in 1981 to pilot Kōhanga Reo as a total-immersion preschool program. A small working group, Sir James Henare, Tilly Reedy and John Rangihau, coined the name Te Kōhanga Reo. The first opened on 13 April 1982 at Pukeatua, Wainuiomata, followed by Waiwhetū (Lower Hutt), Kōkiri (Seaview) and Maraeroa (Porirua) in the Wellington region and Ōrākei in Auckland; the Trust counts 50 opened by December 1982.

Growth was rapid: the Trust's timeline, citing a 1988 government review, counts 170 kōhanga reo by December 1983; there were over 300 within a few years, and the number peaked at 819 in 1994. The Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust was established in 1982 to 1983, with a small secretariat funded by the Department, and formally incorporated on 4 January 1984; Kara Puketapu, Secretary for Māori Affairs, engaged Dame Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi to lead and promote the movement nationwide.

In a kōhanga reo, everyone speaks Māori, all day long.

Families help to run the nest. Grandparents, parents and children learn together. The most important thing is that the children are happy and healthy.

Every kōhanga reo follows four main ideas, called the four pou, or pillars. First, everything in the nest each day happens in te reo Māori. Second, the family makes the decisions and runs the nest. Third, the family is responsible for it. Fourth, it looks after the health and wellbeing of the children and their families.

The families even employ the staff. Kōhanga reo also have their own curriculum, Te Whāriki a Te Kōhanga Reo. Its main idea is to help each child become able and eager to learn.

The Trust sets out Ngā Pou e Whā, the four pou (pillars) of Te Whare Kōhanga: total immersion in te reo Māori in daily operations; whānau decision-making, management and responsibility; whānau accountability; and the health and wellbeing of mokopuna and whānau. Whānau are the employers of kōhanga reo staff, and the National Trust acts on their behalf in negotiations with the Crown.

The nests have their own child-centered curriculum, Te Whāriki a Te Kōhanga Reo, whose core principle is to empower the child to learn, built on Māori values such as mana, manaaki, aroha and whakapapa. The movement also shaped the national early-childhood curriculum: Te Whāriki (1996) was developed by Helen May and Margaret Carr of the University of Waikato with Tamati Reedy and Tilly Reedy of the Trust, who gifted its Māori principles, strands and central metaphor, the whāriki (woven mat), to the wider sector. Since 1984 the Trust has also trained whānau, now offering qualifications up to degree level.

Many children from the first nests are grown up now.

Some of them are parents! Their own children go to kōhanga reo too. Now there are Māori-language schools for big children as well.

Since 1982, more than 50,000 children have attended a kōhanga reo, and many of them are now parents of a new generation of kōhanga reo children.

The nests led to more. Māori-immersion primary and secondary schools were set up, and the Education Act 1989 gave te reo Māori a place in New Zealand's education law. In 1987, the Māori Language Act made Māori an official language. At the 2023 Census, 18.6 percent of people of Māori descent said they could hold a conversation in te reo Māori.

The Trust counts more than 50,000 children who have attended a kōhanga reo since 1982, many now parents of second-generation kōhanga reo children. Its success led to Māori-immersion primary and secondary schools (kura and wharekura), and the role of Māori language in education was enshrined in the Education Act 1989. The Māori Language Act 1987 answered the WAI 11 claim, lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal in 1985, which argued that the language is a taonga (treasure) the Crown was obliged to protect under the Treaty of Waitangi; the Tribunal found in the claimants' favor.

The 2023 Census counted 978,246 people of Māori descent, 18.6 percent of whom could hold a conversation in te reo Māori. Not every challenge is past: in 2011 the Trust filed an urgent claim, Wai 2336, and in 2013 the Waitangi Tribunal's report, Matua Rautia, found that the Crown's early-childhood funding, quality measures and regulations had failed to sustain kōhanga reo's needs, breaching the Treaty principles of partnership and equity. The Trust says it continues to work with the Crown on the report's recommendations.

Today there are more than 400 kōhanga reo in New Zealand.

More than 8,000 Māori children go to them. Other centers teach in Māori too.

In 2025, New Zealand's Ministry of Education counted 412 kōhanga reo. That year 8,263 Māori children attended them, up from 8,036 in 2024. About 17 out of every 100 Māori children in early learning went to a kōhanga reo.

There are other places too: in 2025, 62 more early-childhood centers that are not kōhanga reo taught partly or fully in te reo Māori. The National Trust organizes kōhanga reo across ten regions of the country.

Ministry of Education figures from the 2025 early childhood census (week of 23 to 29 June) show 412 kōhanga reo, two fewer than in 2024, attended by 8,263 Māori children, up from 8,036. In 2025, 17 percent of all mokopuna Māori in early learning attended a kōhanga reo and 4 percent a te reo Māori bilingual or immersion service that was not a kōhanga reo; there were 62 such services, six more than the year before.

The Ministry notes its 2025 reports were redeveloped to improve data quality, with historical figures updated where possible. The National Trust describes more than 400 kōhanga reo operating across ten regions, its districts, which run from Te Tai Tokerau to Te Wai Pounamu. The Trust acts on behalf of kōhanga reo whānau in negotiations with the Crown.