Improved Maori education shows gap is closing

On the eve of Waitangi Day, Hekia Parata runs a rule over Maori education.

OPINION: In any given year about 13,000 Maori turn 18. In 2008, the year this Government came into office, 6003 Maori 18 year olds had the minimum qualification necessary for further education or training.

In other words, less than half of all Maori teenagers were leaving our education system with NCEA Level 2 or an equivalent qualification. Six years later 8947 of the Maori who turned 18 had the same qualification. That means almost 3000 more young Maori embarked on adulthood with the tools they needed to succeed.

Principals, teachers, parents, kids and the wider community all deserve credit for this remarkable turnaround. As a result of their combined efforts Maori educational achievement has increased almost 50 per cent in six years.

The Government's contribution to this turnaround has been to raise expectations and to focus attention more sharply than ever before on raising achievement for all students, particularly those who have not fared well in our education system.

That does not mean that we are less interested in other kids. We care passionately about all students. We want all students to have the opportunity to achieve to their potential, both for their benefit and for our benefit as a society. As a small trading nation a long way from its markets we cannot afford to squander our talent.

However, the bottom line is that we are not satisfied with a system that has historically failed to meet the needs of a significant minority of students, a disproportionate number of whom are Maori or Pasifika.

Helping realise the potential of those students has meant shifting the lens of our education system to the names and specific needs of these young people.

What we want for Maori kids is what we want for all kids – personalised pathways that excite and engage their interest. We don't want kids giving up on school because they don't feel they belong or don't think there is anything in it for them.

The good news is that teachers, principals, teachers, parents and the wider community have risen to the challenge.

We have given schools the tools they need to identify student needs more quickly and schools are using them.

What tools? Standardised tests? Those tools have not helped improve student achievement. Schools knowing their students more and improving our teaching so that students are critical thinkers and use what they have is what has improved student achievement. Using inquiry to think about how and what they learn, where to get information from and how to present information is what has improved their achievement.

We have given parents more information about the performance of their children and their schools and they are using that information to engage in informed discussion with teachers and schools.

Sorry team - I still dont understand NCEA results and how internal and exams work in this system and I'm a teacher.

We have established more pathways, such as trades' academies, that provide real choices for students who don't see university as an option but who also want skills and a better future.

We have established the Count Me in programme to re-engage students who haven't seen the options for them.

We are trialling a new Year 9 Plus initiative that will assign educational champions to at-risk students earlier in their education.

Do all students have access to these programmes? What about students from small rural communities? What do the stats tell us about those students?

And we are working every day with students, whanau and iwi to ensure young Maori get the education they need. The same is true for young Pasifika as it is for all Kiwi kids.

The gains in Maori education have been replicated for Pasifika students. Between 2008 and 2014 the number of Pasifika 18-year-olds with NCEA Level 2 or an equivalent increased by 46 per cent to 5147.

This has shown in our school trends also, when Maori tamariki improve so do Pasifika - what's good for Maori, is good for all!

However, while there has been dramatic progress in recent years we are not satisfied. The overall results for Maori and Pasifika still lag behind those of other population groups. The achievement rate for all 18-year-olds in 2014 was 81.2 per, an increase of almost 14 per cent over six years. That compares to 67.7 per cent for Māori and 75 per cent for Pasifika.

The gap is closing faster than it ever has, but we will not be satisfied till all kids, Maori, Pasifika, Pakeha, all New Zealanders are being given the opportunity to develop to their potential.

Hekia Parata is the Minister of Education.

Have to tautoko your enthusiasm with improving student achievement here whaea Hekia - I agree that learning has improved and that we need to continue to focus on this but your methods can sometimes undermine that.

Like the fact that you closed Moerewa High School eventhough the achievement level of those students had sky rocketed and they were performing at and above the standards - why would this happen when students are succeeding?