Priority Outcome 5:

What are we seeking to achieve?

The Ministry and education providers need to ensure that every Māori student is supported to achieve to their full potential. This is the aim of Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success. The strengthening of identity, culture and Māori language are critical ingredients for the success of Māori students in education. Most Māori students access education through the medium of English with a small proportion accessing Māori-medium education.

In order to improve the success of Māori students in mainstream education, teachers need to have high expectations of their students, and engage them through cooperative and interactive teaching relationships that respond to the needs and capabilities of every student. As part of the wider workforce strategy, teachers and specialists need to have the skills and knowledge to work with Māori students in ways that enable them to succeed in education.

Teaching and learning of and through te reo are recognised as vital to the maintenance and enhancement of te reo as an official language of New Zealand, as well as playing a key part in education success for Māori. The Ministry has a key role in ensuring that Māori and non-Māori students have access to learn te reo, as well as in supporting the Māori-medium education network.

Māori-medium education provides choice for parents and students. High quality Māori-medium education is dependent on teachers who strive for teaching excellence alongside lingual and cultural fluency. This means ensuring that Māori-medium education is well managed, supported and monitored to ensure that students achieve.

Māori and iwi are the repositories of expertise and excellence in te reo Māori, with a key role in informing, designing and supporting the implementation of initiatives to advance Māori education.

Māori students need to be well informed and supported to make effective transitions from school to tertiary education and to complete higher level qualifications. Tertiary education providers need active relationships with iwi, and to consult with iwi when developing education and research programmes. Although Māori have the highest tertiary participation rate of any ethnic group, they are more likely to be engaged in non-degree level courses than other ethnic groups.

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How will we demonstrate success in achieving this?

We will know we have achieved this when we see changes such as:

• Māori students achieving their potential through education
• policy development and implementation tailored to Māori needs and approaches
• increasing numbers of high quality te reo teachers entering the teaching profession.

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What will we do to achieve this?

Supporting high quality teaching for Māori:

The Ministry will identify those schools where achievement levels for Māori are high to find out what is making a difference and encourage collaboration between schools to share this practice. The Ministry will focus on professional development for effective teaching and leadership practices, including extending the reach of the professional development programme, Te Kotahitanga, to achieve a lift in education performance for Māori. We will ensure that all professional development for principals and teachers incorporates the principles underpinning Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success.

The Ministry will maintain a strong focus on te reo when addressing teaching supply and professional development issues. Wānanga and iwi may be able to support the teaching, education, language and professional development of Māori and non-Māori teachers. We will explore options to increase the accessibility to te reo for students, looking at distance learning and the use of ICT.

Ministry performance will be measured by:

• increasing applications for initial teacher education from appropriately qualified te reo speakers
• feedback from principals on staff capability following professional development
• increased access to te reo for every student, regardless of their school or location
• increased engagement and achievement of Māori students in English-medium schools.

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Increasing accountability for Māori achievement:

The Ministry will ensure schooling accountability frameworks and governance arrangements identify the need for strengthened provision of education to Māori. We will work with the TEC to strengthen the focus on Māori participation and achievement at higher levels of tertiary education.

Ministry performance will be measured by:

• quicker, more focused support to schools through better information and clearer identification of need
• more responsive training for boards of trustees
• increased participation and completion rates for Māori in tertiary education in qualifications at level four and above.

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Supporting the Māori-medium network:

The Ministry will develop and monitor high quality Māori education provision to assist Māori to achieve educational success as Māori. This will involve careful consideration of network provision, effective teaching, curriculum, assessment and qualifications, engaged families and whānau, and school leadership.

Ministry performance will be measured by:

• the completion of a review of current network provision, value for money and current governance and management structures
• the completion of a review of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and in-service professional development provision and financial incentives
• the implementation of Te Marautanga o Aotearoa to support schools to develop a curriculum that reflects the local and regional needs and aspirations of communities
• the development of Māori-medium National Standards and tools to support literacy and numeracy in years one to eight
• the expansion of effective parents, whānau and iwi programmes that support the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy
• the development of a leadership programme for Māori-medium principals and aspiring principals that runs parallel to the Kiwi Leadership Framework for English-medium.

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Ensuring informed decision-making:

The Ministry will work with Māori and iwi to ensure that policy development and implementation of education initiatives increase Māori educational achievement.

Ministry performance will be measured by:

• feedback from Māori and iwi on relationships with the Ministry and schools.