Maori Students school achievements
AUTHOR: Judy Turner
The Education and Science Select Committee has just released their findings from their inquiry into making the schooling system work for every child.
The terms of reference the committee chose were to determine what the minimum standards of achievement are, the size and composition of the group of students failing to meet these standards, which current policies contribute to the failure of these students and what sort of changes could improve outcomes.
It is not that NZ schools are doing a terrible job. In most of the international studies that we participate in, we are shown to have a pretty good education system. But where we score really badly is when the gap between high performers and low performers is measured. We have one of the biggest gaps!
Maori and Pacific students are over-represented in this group who seem to be failed by our education system.
Professor Mason Durie describes the disparity between the achievement of Maori and non-Maori as long-term education debt. While he argues that constant improvement should be the aim for all groups of students, he points out that if we don't address Maori under-achievment, Maori will continue to be a wasted resource for NZ.
Those who freak out at the thought of "race-based funding" need to think seriously about the clear demographic fact that in 2005 28% of new-born NZ'ers were Maori. If we don't all take a pro-active interest in educational outcomes for Maori, we will all suffer the consequences as this group become major players in the strength or weakness of our economy in the future.
The report from the Select Committee makes this comment ...
"International comparisons show that monocultural countries have less variation in students' achievement than multicultural counties. The over-representation of tangata whenua in the tail presents a particular challenge to NZ's education system. Teaching methodologies and training must acknowledge the diversity of NZ's population, and foster in teachers the ability to 'walk in the shoes' of all their students".
Current surveys of successful Maori students has highlighted that they attribute their success to the quality of relationship they have with their teachers, having teachers who had high expectations of them, and regular school attendance.
Te Kotahitanga is a programme that aims to improve Maori achievement in mainstream schools by changing teachers' practice. The approach depends upon teachers rejecting 'deficit theorising' which explains and accepts lower achievment by Maori.
There are a range of more flexible models for Maori education that need to be made more readily available to Maori students. This is not a soft option with low standards of achievment, but based on an understanding that Maori are not failing school, school is failing them.
To read the Select Committee report yourself, go to
http://ourhouse.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/CF276ACB-OC68-46EB-A