Māori university graduates: indigenous participation in higher education

Māori, the indigenous population of New Zealand, are gaining university qualifications in greater numbers. This article describes the history of Māori university graduates, their current situation and the implications for indigenous futures. Section one provides a brief overview of historical policies and practices that, similar to those used on other indigenous populations, resulted in the widespread exclusion of Māori from university education until the 1970s and 1980s. Section two describes findings for Māori university graduates (n?=?626) from the Graduate Longitudinal Study New Zealand (GLSNZ). Results show that nearly half (48.4%) were the first member of their immediate family to attend university. Humanities/education (50.8%) was the most common domain of study followed by commerce (17.7%), science/engineering (15.4%), health sciences (10.9%), law (2.8%) and PhD study (2.4%). More Māori graduates were females (71%). One-third of graduates were parents, and being a parent was associated with a lower likelihood of studying science and engineering compared to those participants without children. The most common areas/fields that participants wished to work in post-graduation were education and training (28.3%), health care and medical (17.4%) and government (11.8%). Despite increases in higher education participation and completion, parity remains an issue. Similar to previous indigenous research findings, Māori are under-represented as graduates (7.1% of the total sample) and in particular as postgraduates (5.8%) considering that Māori constitute 14.9% of the New Zealand population. Contemporary indigenous graduates are critical for indigenous development. Over the next 10 years, the GLSNZ will follow graduates and provide insights into Māori graduate outcomes.     

Equity for Māori and Pasifika Students: The Objectives and Characteristics of Equity Committees in a New Zealand University

Approaches to achieving and managing equity for Māori ¹ 1. Indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand. and Pasifika ² 2. Used collectively to refer to the people or students from the islands of the Pacific who have identified as coming from, or having their ethnicity originate from, there; used in Statistics New Zealand Census reports. tertiary students differ among the eight universities in Aotearoa ³ 3. Māori word for New Zealand. /New Zealand. Achieving equity in educational attainment for Māori and Pasifika tertiary students is stated as a key objective in nearly all of the universities’ mission statements or charters, and equity committees have been set up to ensure equitable outcomes. These committees are generally made up of junior academic or administrative staff members. In contrast, managing the university's equity plan is the role of those in senior academic positions within the university. This article investigates the perspectives of six equity leaders at an urban university in one of the country's largest cities on the objectives and characteristics of equity committees and the influence of the dominant paradigm in achieving equity.     

Māori science education in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract    This article reports on the first two phases of a multiphase science education development project in predominantly Māori kura (school communities) in the central region of the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. The development project in its entirety employs an action research methodology and by so doing endeavors to support the improvement of science education delivery in accordance with school community aspirations. The full project (a) establishes the current situation in Year 1–8 science education in the communities; (b) identifies developmental aspirations for stakeholders within the communities and identifies potential contributors and constraints to these aspirations; (c) implements mechanisms for achieving identified aspirations; and finally; (d) evaluates the effectiveness of such mechanisms. In its focus on the first two phases, this article incorporates the analytical lenses of Kaupapa Māori Theory and Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological model. It concludes by outlining some priorities to consider for science education development based on the outcomes of our preliminary discussions.

āwhina: a programme for Māori and Pacific tertiary science graduate and postgraduate success

In New Zealand, Māori (indigenous New Zealanders) and Pacific students tend not to attain the same levels of educational success as Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent). Addressing this problem is a particular challenge in the sciences. The kaupapa (values-base) of Te Rōpū Āwhina (Āwhina) is to produce Māori and Pacific professionals to contribute to Māori and Pacific development and leadership through the creation of an inclusive off- and on-campus whānau (extended family) environment where high expectations, aspirations and achievement, collective success, and reciprocity are normalised. This paper reviews theories and practices of recruitment and retention relevant to Māori and Pacific students at tertiary level, presents the rationale for Āwhina in the Faculties of Science and Architecture and Design at Victoria University of Wellington, and assesses the impact of the whānau. Based on analyses of quantitative measures of student achievement, and biennial surveys of student responses from the first 6 years of Āwhina, it is suggested that the results are consistent with improving Māori and Pacific graduate and postgraduate achievement and retention. Potential implications for efforts to reduce disparities in tertiary education in New Zealand and elsewhere are summarised.     

Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand

The major challenges facing education in New Zealand today are the continuing social, economic and political disparities within our nation, primarily between the descendants of the European colonisers and the Indigenous Māori people. These disparities are also reflected in educational outcomes. In this paper, an Indigenous Māori Peoples' solution to the problems of educational disparities is detailed. Te Kotahitanga is a research and professional development project that seeks to improve the educational achievement of Māori students in mainstream secondary schools. Students ‘voices’ were used to inform the development of the project in a variety of ways: firstly to identify various discursive positions related to Māori student learning; secondly, to develop professional development activities, and thirdly, to create an Effective Teaching Profile. The paper concludes by identifying how implementing the Effective Teaching Profile addresses educational disparities.     

Navigating between Māori particularism and economic universalism in adult literacy provision in Aotearoa New Zealand: the case of a Wānanga

This paper examines tensions between adult literacy policy in Aotearoa New Zealand and the philosophies and mission of one post-school institution, a Wānanga, an institution focused on the education of Māori, Aotearoa New Zealand's indigenous people. It uses policy documents, interview data and complexity thinking to explore the tensions created by a Wānanga's task to navigate between Māori particularism and economic universalism.     

Kaupapa Māori,Philosophy and Schools

Abstract

Goals for adding philosophy to the school curriculum centre on the perceived need to improve the general quality of critical thinking found in society. School philosophy also provides a means for asking questions of value and purpose about curriculum content across and between subjects, and, furthermore, it affirms the capability of children to think philosophically. Two main routes suggested are the introduction of philosophy as a subject, and processes of facilitating philosophical discussions as a way of establishing classroom ‘communities of inquiry’. This article analyses the place of philosophy in the school curriculum, drawing on three relevant examples of school curriculum reform: social studies, philosophy of science and Kura Kaupapa Māori.     

Examining the potential of critical and Kaupapa Māori approaches to leading education reform in New Zealand’s English-medium secondary schools

This paper discusses expectations, policies and practices that currently underpin education within the New Zealand context. It acknowledges the ongoing failure of this policy framework to positively influence reform for Indigenous Māori students in regular, state-funded schools and highlights the need for extensive change in the positioning and expectations of educators if Māori learners are to realize their true potential. The paper then considers leadership models to reimagine and lead a transformative educational reform that aims to include the aspirations and contributions of all members of the school’s communities, especially those who have historically been marginalized. Finally it considers the implications of this model for international application.     

Science in the Māori‐medium Curriculum: Assessment of policy outcomes in Pūtaiao education

This second research paper on science education in Māori‐medium school contexts complements an earlier article published in this journal (Stewart, 2005). Science and science education are related domains in society and in state schooling in which there have always been particularly large discrepancies in participation and achievement by Māori. In 1995 a Kaupapa Māori analysis of this situation challenged New Zealand science education academics to deal with ‘the Māori crisis’ within science education. Recent NCEA results suggest Pūtaiao (Māori‐medium Science) education, for which a national curriculum statement was published in 1996, has so far increased, rather than decreased, the level of inequity for Māori students in science education. What specific issues impact on this lack of success, which contrasts with the overall success of Kura Kaupapa Māori, and how might policy frameworks and operational systems of Pūtaiao need to change, if better achievement in science education for Māori‐medium students is the goal? A pathway towards further research and development in this area is suggested.     

‘We are family’: Māori success in foundation programmes

This paper considers the question: What constitutes an optimal learning environment for Māori learners in foundation programmes? Using Kaupapa Māori methodology, nearly 100 adult Māori (Indigenous) students in Aotearoa/New Zealand were interviewed from a range of tertiary providers of foundation programmes. State-funded foundation programmes that scaffold adults into tertiary education are a partial response to Ministry of Education concerns about unsatisfactory high school statistics for some sections of the community. Connecting with Māori voices enabled the researchers to gain a deeper awareness of the reality of study experiences for these adult learners. It is argued that academic participation and success for adult Māori learners is increased when the learning and teaching environment mirrors the connectedness and belonging of a whānau (family) environment.     

New Zealand Māori-medium teacher education: an examination of students’ academic confidence and preparedness

Little research has been concerned with gauging Māori–medium teacher education students’ academic confidence in bilingual settings making the development of appropriate curricula and broad policy a difficult task. Drawing on a convenience sample of 84 primary teacher education students on a three-year B.Ed Māori-medium program, this study uses self-reported measures to assess students’ academic confidence and preparedness in English and Māori. Results suggest that the students are less academically confident in Māori than in English, and that this discrepancy is most pronounced in academic speaking and reading. Consequently, it is proposed that curriculum developers place emphasis on the development of both Māori academic speaking and reading throughout the course of Māori-medium teacher education programs. Finally, it is argued that standardised assessments that track both confidence and preparedness, and the productive and receptive abilities of Māori-medium teacher education students throughout university would bolster the regeneration of Māori-medium education in New Zealand.     

Voice and Biliteracy in Indigenous Language Revitalization: Contentious Educational Practices in Quechua,Guarani, and Māori Contexts

This article considers instances of biliterate educational practice in contexts of indigenous language revitalization involving Quechua in the South American Andes, Guarani in Paraguay, and Māori in Aotearoa/NewZealand. In these indigenous contexts of sociohistorical and sociolinguistic oppression, the implementation of multilingual language policies through multilingual education brings with it choices, dilemmas, and even contradictions in educational practice. I consider examples of such contentious educational practices from an ecological perspective, using the continua of biliteracy and the notion of voice as analytical heuristics. I suggest that the biliterate use of indigenous children's own or heritage language as medium of instruction alongside the dominant language mediates the dialogism, meaning-making, access to wider discourses, and taking of an active stance that are dimensions of voice. Indigenous voices thus activated can be a powerful force for both enhancing the children's own learning and promoting the maintenance and revitalization of their languages.     

Māori in the Kingdom of the Gaze: Subjects or critics?

For Māori, a real opportunity exists to flesh out some terms and concepts that Western thinkers have adopted and that precede disciplines but necessarily inform them. In this article, we are intent on describing one of these precursory phenomena—Foucault’s Gaze—within a framework that accords with a Māori philosophical framework. Our discussion is focused on the potential and limits of colonised thinking, which has huge implications for such disciplines as education, among others. We have placed Foucault’s Gaze alongside a Māori metaphysics and have speculated on the Gaze’s surveillant/expectant strategies with some key Māori primordial phenomena in mind, such as ‘te kore’ (nothingness) and ‘āhua’ (form). We posit the Gaze as an entity and thus aim to render it more relevant to Māori, so that it can be addressed appropriately. We also (but relatedly) preface that discussion by theorising on some of the challenges that confront us as Māori authors in even referring counter-colonially to the Gaze. Whilst we do not seek to destabilise the Gaze by positing it as a metaphysically based entity, we do hint at the possibility that critical indigenous philosophy may even for a short time bring the Gaze into focus for Māori. By introducing an awareness of an alternative (Māori) metaphysics, we may have unsettled the self-certainty of the Gaze.     

Supervising research in Māori cultural contexts: a decolonizing,relational response

We have collaborated for 25 years as indigenous Māori and non-Māori researchers undertaking research with Māori families, their schools and communities. We have endeavored to meet our responsibilities to the Māori people (indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand) and communities with whom we have researched, as well as meet the requirements and responsibilities of our academic institutions. In this paper, we reflect on the implications of these responsibilities for our work as supervisors of master’s and doctoral students (Māori and non-Māori) who seek to draw on decolonizing methodologies as they undertake research in Māori cultural contexts. We draw on the experiences and interactions we have had with four different postgraduate students whose research on improving educational outcomes for Māori students has required them to engage and participate in Māori cultural contexts.     

Moderating New Zealand’s National Standards: teacher learning and assessment outcomes

Across the globe, standards-based assessment systems are increasingly promoted as a means of improving student outcomes and fulfilling accountability requirements. Within such systems, social moderation is presented as a mechanism for improving the dependability and utility of assessment information. Research emphasises that social moderation processes provide professional learning opportunities; yet this learning tends to be perceived as a by-product rather than a goal of moderation. Situated within the context of New Zealand’s recently implemented National Standards, this article reviews the literature and presents an alternative configuration of the role of social moderation. It foregrounds the professional learning that will be required if these moderation processes are to improve the dependability of National Standards assessment information and contends that reconfiguring teacher professional learning as a goal rather than a by-product of moderation should not only improve dependability and strengthen teacher assessment capability but also assist with lifting student outcomes.     

Looking back to the future: Māori and Pakeha mother-child birth stories.

Māori adults have earlier first memories than adults in any culture studied to date. To test the role of early memory socialization in this advantage, Māori (n= 15) and New Zealand European (or Pakeha, n= 17) mothers told birth stories and stories of shared past events to their children (3-4 or 7-8 years). Compared to Pakeha mothers, Māori mothers elaborated more in the birth stories, relative to their elaborations in stories about shared past events, and included more references to relational time and internal states in their birth stories. These data provide the first empirical evidence that Māori children experience a richer narrative environment than Pakeha children for significant events in their past.     

Mäori in the Science Curriculum: Developments and possibilities

The aim of this paper is to examine the current state of development of Mäori science curriculum policy, and the roles that various discourses have played in shaping these developments. These discussions provide a background for suggestions about a possible future direction, and the presentation of a new concept for Mäori science education (note that in this paper this phrase refers to science that incorporates Mäori language and/or knowledge, rather than Mäori participation in science education).     

No ‘self’ left behind? Part-time distance learning university graduates: social class,graduate identity and employability

Higher education (HE) is regarded as a pathway to upward social mobility for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Social mobility is itself seen as important both for individual and national prosperity and is a key driver of government funding for HE. While access to HE has substantially increased over the past number of years, the evidence suggests that social inequalities continue to be reproduced, with working-class students more frequently accessing lower status institutions and courses. This in turn can impact negatively on their labour market outcomes. This paper offers a critical appraisal on the employability discourse. Drawing on a survey of 268 distance graduates from an Irish university, together with 5 individual interviews, findings indicate that distance graduates are likely to be from lower socio-economic backgrounds and have delayed participation in university education for reasons relating to social class. Although mostly in employment, they are motivated to participate in HE by their concerns regarding their long-term employability. The literature identifies that our employability is something we negotiate with others. This paper posits that, for distance graduates, in addition to this process of convincing others, the graduate must also convince themselves of the value of their own achievement. Transitioning to graduate employment, and developing a graduate identity, can therefore be a slow internal and external process of negotiation.     

Exploring the Role of Identity in Māori Heritage Language Learner Motivations

Substantially less is known about the motivations of indigenous heritage language learners than the motivations of learners of colonial languages. This study explores the motivations of Māori indigenous New Zealanders and the identity-related motivations they have for learning their heritage language. Interviews with 19 Māori language learners revealed that identity was a central motivation for both initiating the task of language learning and sustaining the behaviour. Rather than applying intrinsic/extrinsic dichotomies to understand Māori motivations, a relational framework was articulated. Māori, who are described as relationally oriented, were commonly motivated to learn the language as a means of building relationships with others in their cultural ingroup. There were also expectations that Māori were able to perform cultural roles using the language. This study confirmed that the pressures on indigenous learners to maintain a language for cultural continuation are quite separate from the motivations of learners of colonial languages.