Mid-term review

Progess in implementing Ka Hikitia - Managing for Success

Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success was approved by Cabinet in 2008. At the launch of the strategy, Cabinet directed the Ministry to report back in March 2011 with a mid-term review of progress in implementing Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success.

The Ministry has conducted the review and provided substantive reports on the findings to the Minister of Education and Cabinet. These reports provided a set of recommendations to step up intensity in implementing Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success. Work is now underway to put the recommendations into action.

Summary of key findings

Since 2008 some incremental improvements in Māori learner results have been achieved including:

• Participation in early childhood education – 89.4% in 2010 up from 87.9% in 2006
• NCEA Level 2 qualifications – 47.9% in 2009 up from 39.6% in 2007
• Retention rate of Māori learners to 17 years old – 45.8% in 2009 up from 40.3% in 2008
• Access to special education early intervention services – 21.1% in 2009/10 up from 19.3% in 2008/09
• More Māori are enrolling in bachelor degrees – 9.7% in 2009 up from 9.2% in 2008
• Māori language education participation remains steady – 19-20% over 2008-2010.

Some pockets of success are occurring in individual early childhood education centres and schools. The Education Review Office (2010) report schools who give effect to Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success have made statistically significant gains for their Māori learners. This report is available on the ERO website.

Promising progress is also occurring in local initiatives and programmes such as the Promoting ECE Participation and Counties Manukau projects, Te Kotahitanga, He Kākano, and the Secondary Literacy Project. The outcomes from these projects in areas with high Māori populations indicate work programmes are focused in the right direction and gains will exponentially increase.

Since 2007, 39 additional relationships have been established between iwi and the Ministry – there are currently 53 relationships. As a practical expression of Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success, the Ministry has developed Whakapūmautia, Papakōwhaitia, Tau Ana – Grasp, Embrace and Realise. This is a guide to conducting excellent education relationships between iwi and the Ministry of Education. Further information about this guide is in the Ministry's Statement of Intent 2011 - How we will effect change.

But…overall progress is unacceptably slow and a plan for accelerating the pace has been designed

The information below shows that for every 100 Māori children who start school in 2011 (approximately 15,500 children), their experience is likely to track as follows based on education system data:

• 89 will have participated in early childhood education prior to school
• 87 will go to school in the North Island
• 60 will attend a decile 1 – 4 school
• 17 will enter Māori-medium education
• 18 will not have achieved basic literacy and numeracy skills by age 10
• 3 will be frequent truants by years 9 and 10
• 5 will be stood-down from school¹
• 34 will leave secondary school without a qualification
• 16 will become disengaged from education, employment or training by age 17
• 48 will leave school with NCEA Level 2 or better
• 20 will leave school with a university entrance standard
• 10 will attain a bachelor level degree by age 25.

Ineffective education provision in early childhood, primary and secondary schooling has had an impact on the ability for Māori to participate to their full potential in appropriate tertiary and career pathways. This means that a disproportionate number of Māori learners are not receiving the level of knowledge and skill needed for successful participation in a 21st century society and economy.

Increasing the rate of intensity

To drive a more intense approach to implementing Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success, the Minister of Education agreed to:

• Faster integration of Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success into national flagship policies and programmes.
• All future advice on the national flagship programmes to Ministers must include how Māori learner’s identity, language and culture has been incorporated into programme design, delivery, measures and evaluation.
• Capitalise on productive relationships with iwi to explore their ideas and develop some practical examples for change that focus on raising achievement.
• Consolide and expand programmes that work in the early childhood and schooling sectors.
• The need for a coordinated action plan by all education sector agencies to increase system performance at a faster rate.
• A further progress report from the Ministry to Cabinet on the implementation of Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success in May 2012.

Stretch targets

The table below presents the 1, 2 and 5 year targets that the Minister of Education will measure success for Māori learners against:

Monitoring and reporting

Monitoring and reporting on progress against the increased Ministerial and Cabinet expectations, including the targets, will be incorporated into the Measurable Gains Framework (MGF).

Further information

For further information please email KaHikitiaMailbox@minedu.govt.nz

Footnotes

¹The age-standarised suspension rate for Māori school students is nearly four times as high as that for Pākehā.
² This indicator refers to all students – not exclusively Māori students.