Relationships with Other Schools

Schools that have increased the participation of Māori parents and whānau have worked with other schools on Māori education. They have developed networks, shared information and expertise, undertaken staff development and training together, and developed co-ordinated approaches. The two following suggestions emerged from discussions with schools.

Develop networks

Some schools visit other schools to see what they do in relation to Māori education and to share information on how to deal with issues. Explore whether your school and others in the same area can conduct consultation with Māori parents and whānau together. This will help to achieve a consistent approach to common issues and reduce the consultation load on the community.

In one Waikato town, the whānau groups of several schools network. This has enabled them to work with the schools and to get representatives onto school boards.

Develop a collective community strategy for teaching te reo Māori

One of the main concerns voiced by schools and Māori parents was the need for schools to provide clear information to parents about te reo Māori programmes. There is also concern that opportunities for te reo Māori education often do not flow on from primary to secondary education. This means that students' educational choices are narrowed.

There is need for co-ordination at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels to provide a range of options to parents and students for the development of bilingual, partial immersion, total immersion, and kura kaupapa programmes.

Here are two examples of schools working together to provide a wider choice of te reo Māori education in their areas:

In one South Island region, the Māori teachers are developing a region-wide strategic plan for Māori education.

In one North Island provincial city, primary and intermediate schools were competing to provide appropriate Māori language education for pupils. As the result of discussions with the principals of three of the primary schools and the local intermediate, one primary school now offers total immersion classes through to form 2 and the other two provide partial immersion classes that feed into the local intermediate. This meets the needs of the Māori parents in the area, some of whom favour total immersion while others prefer bicultural education.