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The first stage of Western influenced schooling in New Zealand began with the arrival of the Missionaries in 1814. Within this period, education was within the authority of Christianity, and its provision by the missionaries, was characterised by a strong Christian ontology and knowledge. The most influential missionary groups in establishing schooling were the Church Missionary Society (CMS) from the Church of England, the Wesleyans, and the Catholics (Breward, 1967). A common priority to all these missionaries was the religious education of the indigenous Māori people. This education had not only a spiritual purpose but also a cultural and political purpose and was recognised by political authorities as a key tool of colonisation where “commerce, ‘civilisation’ and

Christianity would advance together” (Porter, 1999, p. 235). This was attested to early when the Secretary of State for the Colonies asserted that, “the prevalence of the Church of England in those colonies is the best security that Great Britain can have for their fidelity and attachment to her Constitution and Interest” (Knox, 1876, cited in Porter, 1999, p. 223).

Thus, colonisation was “aided by religion” where “Christian missionary work supported the

colonial enterprise … acting as the agent of a cultural imperialism” (Woodhead, 2009, p. 5).

Missionary schools were integral to this plan by providing the means by which indigenous people would gain “religious understanding”, and thus “cultural change” (Porter, 1999, p. 236). As Porter explains, “the introduction of English and vernacular literacy” were “essential foundations of Bible study, religious understanding and cultural change” (1999, p. 236). It was widely believed that through Christianity, with its educational institutions and practices, Māori would become ‘civilised’ and thus supportive and a part of British culture and aspirations. This alignment of religion and culture through education for planned cultural change was in essence a political policy of assimilation to be achieved through Christianity.

The legitimacy of assimilation rested upon the belief in a “racial hierarchy” in which the British believed themselves to be the superior and most ‘civilised’ race (Simon, 1994, p. 50). Assimilation and the “civilisation”of the Māori people were therefore seen as “an act of enlightened generosity”, informed by humanitarian values and a British colonial history that was increasingly seen with disgrace (Belich, 2001, p. ix). Thus, with secular political philosophical support and with the

approval of the first governors, the missionaries founded schools for Māori, that later extended to

the children of the settlers. These missionary schools were essentially “a means of evangelisation and training in Christianity” (Davidson, 2004, p. 64). The religious authority of the Churches was “inevitable” as there was “little precedent” of Government responsibility for schooling in the British Isles (Campbell, 1941, p. 24). These missionary schools were in effect community schools because as “one learnt to read in order to read the Bible, and was taught by reading the Bible, there was little difference between the congregation gathered together to worship and the community assembled in ‘school’” (Barrington & Beaglehole, 1974, p. 3).

For the Māori, Christianity and the Churches were seen not only for their spiritual characteristics but also as a source of knowledge and as a means to material progress. Because reading the bible was central to religious education, religious education was seen as a means of literacy that provided

“the superiority of European culture in their teachings [and] … linked European skills and

technology to Christianity” (Simon, 1994, p. 51). Thus, Māori actively participated in the

Missionary schools and educational endeavours seeking access to “Pākehā wisdom” (Simon, 1994, p. 51).

Schooling during the Missionary period was consistent with the established European ontology. It contained a predominately-religious purpose upon the belief that a person’s ultimate purpose was salvation and religious education was integral to saving ones soul. Both Protestant and Catholics shared these beliefs when it came to schooling. Catholicism, with its origins in St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, regarded schooling as inseparable from religion: religion must “permeate all other branches of education. It could not be taught adequately at home or in Sunday school, but had to be

taught in school every day” (van der Krogt, 1993, p. 19). Catholicism also emphasised the

importance of religious education “both temporally and eternally” (van der Krogt, 1993, p. 19). The Protestant belief concerning the relationship between religion and schooling did not differ widely from Catholicism at this time where the all-encompassing role of Christianity in schooling was not questioned. As Turley and Martin (1981) state:

What was beyond dispute to most teachers then was the presence of a religious dimension in education. This

was not something appended to the school’s curriculum or isolated in a compartment of life. Religious

assumptions undergirded their whole approach to the task (Turley & Martin, 1981, p. 4).

However, Christian ontology was not static and within the new colonial context of New Zealand it evolved beyond traditional ontological beliefs. New Zealand differed remarkably from England in regard to economic opportunities and social class structure where the passive acceptance of ‘one’s lot’ as part of some Godly order lost some of its importance in an environment where through one’s

ability and effort one could determine one’s worldly success. Additionally, Māori were not

passively converting to a monolithic Christian ontology. The Māori development of Christianity

was quite different from the established Western Christian belief structure, as Belich states, “a

Māori conversion of Christianity was apparent from the first” (1996, p. 219).

In summary, the concept of undifferentiated schooling explains the relationship between religion and schooling within the Missionary period. Particularly evident is the strong link between culture and religion in determining a political purpose for religion and schooling. With the beginning of the colonial period in 1840, the dominance of the Missionaries over schooling was replaced by a

stronger institutionalisation of schooling as church provided education was recognised by the state through the 1847 Education Ordinance.