The greatest single issue in Maori Education is under achievement. Maori children are over represented in all the ‘negative’ educational statistics – reading recovery, school suspensions and leaving the school system without qualifications. Maori are also over represented in the ‘negative social statistics – health, justice, employment and family, 73% of all Maori births in 1997 were ex-nuptial. These statistics are both factual and damning.
The greatest single issue in Maori Education is under achievement. Maori children are over represented in all the ‘negative’ educational statistics – reading recovery, school suspensions and leaving the school system without qualifications. Maori are also over represented in the ‘negative social statistics – health, justice, employment and family, 73% of all Maori births in 1997 were ex-nuptial. These statistics are both factual and damning.

Sir Howard Morrison in a keynote address to the New Zealand Principals Federation Conference in Rotorua (Aug 1999) said: “it is long overdue that we not only recognise we have a ‘brown’ problem, but that we do something about it.” He lays the blame with the lack of strong Maori leadership. “We have not had Maori leaders of any calibre since the natural demise of those who served in the 28th Maori Battalion who came back and led their people.”

Richard Prebble in his book “I’ve Been Writing” (1999), quotes a 1988 American Study “Social Structure and Criminal Victimisation” (Smith & Jajoura), which found a significant association between juvenile crime and single parent families. The same study found the popular assumption of an association between crime and race to be false. The study also found that poverty is not a factor. Prebble claims the key factor in crime is “the failure to form and maintain an intact family.” P 33.

Given the factual background of the under achievement of Maori children, what can schools do to correct this situation in a general sense. Several practical ideas spring to mind:
- Compensatory, concrete literacy intervention for targeted Maori children.
- ‘Book Flood’ and ‘Books in the Home’ type programmes.
- Positive role model programmes.
- Homework centres, homework tutors and mentors.
- Parent education efforts.
- Early intervention programmes.

All of those ideas are within the realms of possibility for schools to implement and there is little excuse for not trying.

An idea beyond the realms of the schools would be a “Sesame Street” type of daily programme aimed at Maori children incorporating the highly visual and motivational power of television. The television expertise and educational media talent certainly exists in New Zealand to successfully launch such a programme. The funding should be a responsibility of the state perhaps in conjunction with the major Maori Trusts. Indeed, the funding could be part of the Treaty Settlement process.

However, I believe all of the above ideas, while practical and of benefit are really bandaid solutions. The real solution, like the problem is far more complex. It is societal and socio-economic and beyond the ability of schools and the eduction system to solve. Quite simply, I as a school principal, can not give a Maori child (or any other child for that matter), a stable, two parent family, who are employed, who have positive aspirations and values and by virtue of their employment have the economic resources to provide good nutritional health care, books and language experiences, that most middle class New Zealand families accept as the norm.

In analysing the academic achievement of children at Matipo School, as required for Equity Reports, over the last ten years, I have compared the results for maths, reading and spelling scores for three cohort groups – Maori, girls and all pupils, in the Year 4, 5 and 6 class bands. In almost every area, for every class band, our Maori pupils have performed equal or better then the other two cohorts. I don’t claim to have statistically significant clinical data to prove this, but this has certainly been the general trend over 10 years. On the few instances when this wasn’t the case, the low number of Maori children in that particular cohort slewed the sample to make it not accurate (ie: if there were only 4 Maori children in that age cohort, and 3 were failing, it invalidates the result).

Why then, do Maori children do so well at our school? Our school ethos or kaupapa is child centred. We individualise the teaching as much as possible, we are well equipped and resourced, we have a number of special needs programmes in place, we put a stress on values education and provide many ‘valued added’ or enrichment activities and have specifically targeted Maori children. However, as tempting as it is to use the above to claim credit for the success of our Maori pupils, the fact is (in my opinion) that our Maori pupils succeed because they come (in the main) from middle class, two parent families. Their parents are employed, have disposable income and correspondingly, have opportunity to provide better housing, nutrition, health care and educationally beneficial experiences for their children. They have middle class type values and expectations for themselves and their children. Education is valued and supported.

It is my contention that educational achievement is related to social class. The fact that so many Maori underachieve in education is not due to their “Maoriness” but to their social class. This is why schools are limited in what they can do to alleviate the educational under achievement of Maori. The answer lies in a socio-political solution. A stronger economy, better leadership both politically and within Maori and more Maori economic development programmes which create real employment opportunities together with the efforts of schools, educational television, and getting away from a ‘white oppressor’ mentality to a more positive, progressive development mentality, may contain the solution to the problem of under achievement of Maori pupils.