Foreword

Schools that are more inclusive of the concerns and interests of Māori parents are better able to translate these into more effective programmes of learning and teaching for Māori children. These guidelines have been developed to help schools to do this by setting up and maintaining good relationships with Māori parents and communities.

Success in education is much more likely when schools, parents, and the wider community work well together. When this happens, the relationship is characterised by a strong respect and valuing of the identity, language, and culture that are important to the students and their families. It is characterised by a strong and genuine sense of partnership where the school, family, and community can apply their collective skills, energies, and abilities to support, encourage, and enhance the learning of children. It is a process that can help to create many rewards and benefits for all involved.

When there is a lack of empathy between schools and communities, frustrations and difficulties are likely to arise. Where communities, families, and schools feel powerless to effectively engage with each other, a child's enthusiasm for learning and actual achievement can be lessened, with unhappy consequences usually appearing when it is more difficult to do anything about it.

For Māori, getting a good education has always been the highest priority. It is the one thing all Māori agree is essential for making progress and making improvement. Schools have important responsibilities under the Treaty of Waitangi to make sure that Māori parents are an integral part of the school and that their children are getting the maximum benefits from what the school is providing. Parents have an important role as well in supporting this, particularly in the home, but ultimately the professional initiative and responsibility must come from the school.

Many schools already have strong relationships with Māori parents and communities. These guidelines are the result of consultation with these kinds of schools and the communities they serve. I am sure the guidelines will provide schools with plenty of information and advice about how to develop and maintain strong and productive relationships with Māori parents and communities. They are part of a series of initiatives designed to assist schools to be more responsive to Māori and to help Māori to become more involved in what happens in the education of their children.

Howard Fancy

Secretary for Education

Preface - Using these guidelines

This book is not intended to be read from cover to cover in one sitting. Rather, it is intended to be a source of ideas, a resource that can be referred to from time to time as a school develops a more inclusive relationship with its Māori parents and community.

It is likely that a few key people in each school will refer to the booklet as they develop a vision for the school. All schools have been given three copies of these guidelines, one for the board of trustees and two for school and community use.

The guidelines provide schools with ideas and valuable source material for meetings and hui as well as a checklist for self-review. They contain eight sections dealing with aspects of consultation and development.

One way a school might use these guidelines is to photocopy sections relevant to their current stage of development and use this material as a discussion document for meetings. As an example, in preparation for a meeting, the board could be given copies of the sections entitled What These Guidelines Contain and Governance and the Board of Trustees. Or the staff in a school in the early stage of development could be given photocopies of the sections on Māori Language and Culture in the School and Relationships with Iwi, Hapu, and Marae as pre-reading for a discussion on ways in which the school could develop. The section on School Activities and Interaction with Māori Parents would be useful as a starting point in consulting with Māori parents on ways in which they would like to become more involved with the school.

The guidelines will also be useful in the development of school policies. A small working group delving into various sections of the guidelines will find useful ideas and principles throughout the book.

One section that virtually every school will find immediately useful is Self-review. The National Administration Guidelines place explicit requirements on schools to plan for improving the achievement of Māori students and to carry out a self-review. The self-review framework near the end of the book will be very useful in both the planning and the review itself.

The Ministry also intends to prepare a pamphlet for Māori parents that outlines the key ideas discussed in these guidelines. The idea is to increase Māori parents' awareness of what they can expect from schools and suggest ways in which they can become more involved in supporting their children's learning.