Te reo Maori is part of the curriculum in New Zealand primary schools. The level of te reo taught varied from school to school but children must be able to read words in Maori and pronounce them correctly.
Deputy president of Western Bay of Plenty Principals Association and principal of Brookfield School Robert Hyndman said there would be a higher demand for the language in schools with higher numbers of Maori students than schools with a lower percentage of Maori students.
He believed there were benefits of learning a second language, as it "boosted brain development", but said there were problems with introducing te reo Maori into all schools.
"The issue is we need skilled teachers to lead it and I think a lot more schools would do that if there were more good Maori teachers around."
"Fifty per cent of our students [at Brookfield School] are Maori and our teachers are ... using not just words but sentences and phrases in Maori and I think this a really good thing because it shows our Maori children their language and culture is valued."
But he said it was unrealistic to have every child in the country fluent in Maori, and he did not believe this to be Dr Sharples' intention.
Principal of Fairhaven School in Te Puke, Paul Hunt, said he had not thought a lot about whether te reo Maori should be taught in schools but there were a lot of issues to work through before this could happen.
"[Whether it's a viable language] has been a big debate within the board of trustees and they will need to have a good look at that but before anything happens we will need to have a discussion with the community and have a look at the school structure," he said.
The Fairhaven School roll is about 35 per cent Maori. The school teaches taha Maori, tikanga Maori and "a bit of te reo Maori", Mr Hunt said.
Dr Sharples said he was leading the development of a new Maori Language Strategy to guide government policy.