Ka hikitia- Ka Hāpaitia,

Education provision responds to learners within the context of their whānau.
We will support Māori learners and their whānau to be informed and demanding decision-makers, with high expectations of our education services.
We will also support Māori learners and their whānau to plan and pursue the education pathways that they aspire to.

Measures

1. Māori learners have high levels of attendance and participation in our education services.
2. Māori whānau have regular and positive engagements with our education services.

Outcomes Te Tangata

Māori are free from racism, discrimination and stigma in education.
Māori learners and whānau have identified racism as a major barrier in our education system. We will address this, provide equitable access to services, and in ways that promote fairness and are respectful and culturally appropriate so that Māori learners and their whānau have a strong sense of belonging.

Measures:

1. Māori learners and whānau feel a strong sense of belonging in our education system and are free from racism.

Outcomes Te Kanorautanga

Māori are diverse and need to be understood in the context of their diverse aspirations and lived experiences.
Our education services will recognise and provide for Māori diversity. Our education workforce will have the right skills and capacity to support all Māori learners, including those with disabilities and learning support needs, to achieve excellent outcomes.

Measures

1. Māori learners are achieving excellent and equitable education outcomes.
2. Our education workforce looks more like the population that it serves. It is skilled in engaging with Māori learners and whānau.

Outcomes Te Tuakiritanga:

Identity, language, and culture matter for Māori learners.
Our education services will support the growth and development of the Māori language.
We will support the identity, language and culture of Māori learners and their whānau to strengthen belonging, engagement and achievement as Māori so that Māori learners can actively participate in te ao Māori, Aotearoa and the wider world.

Measures

Māori learners and whānau tell us they see and feel their identity, language and culture on a daily basis in our education services.

Outcomes Te Rangatiratanga:

Māori exercise their authority and agency in education.
Our education services will support whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori to exercise agency and authority over the education of Māori learners at all levels of the education system.
We will support Māori to make decisions about the education of Māori learners. We will account to whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori for the education services we provide.

Measures:

Whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori are participating in and making decisions about the education of Māori learners.

He Māpuna te Temaiti

is a resource designed for kaiako that promotes proactive, intentional approaches to supporting the development of children's social and emotional competence in the Early Years.

There is a companion document for primary and secondary schools, Teaching for Positive Behaviour. The Self assessment tool is similar to the PB4L self-assessment tool https://pb4l.tki.org.nz/PB4L-School-Wide/.

This is a useful place to review how embedded effective practice is in place with respect to supporting social and emotional competence in all learners. (Students may need additional supports but this is effective practice for ALL) .

Self assessment tool for teachers

Supporting Social and Emotional Competence in Early Learning Inquiry and Self-assessment

(Click the download PDF icon at the bottom of this linked page )

Māori Potential Approach

The Māori Potential Approach is a policy management system by Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry of Māori Development) that aims to empower Māori to achieve their full potential as Māori, contributing to both the Māori and New Zealand communities.

Core Belief:
All Māori possess inherent capability and potential to succeed.
Emphasis:
Focuses on leveraging the talents, skills, and knowledge of Māori learners, families, communities, and educators to promote success.
Shifting Focus:
Moves away from a deficit model (focusing on problems and disparities) towards an asset-based approach (building upon strengths and successes).
Partnerships:
Recognizes the importance of partnerships between various stakeholders, including learners, whānau, iwi, educators, and community organizations, to support Māori education.

Check your own theories against research.

Timperley, Wilson, Barrar and Fung (2007) Teacher Learning and Professional Development Best Evidence Synthesis (BES) examines many examples of teacher PLD across the curriculum, including literacy. They state that "... inquiry is about challenging teachers’ thinking in ways that promotes their own learning as well as that of their students. For this to happen, teachers need to examine their taken-for-granted practices critically in the light of evidence about students’ learning. They should also explore relevant research literature that can challenge their thinking and offer new teaching possibilities" (ERO, May 2011)

This element of examining requires us to uncover something the BES describes as prevailing discourses OR also known as theory of action.

Harriette Thurber Rasmussen describes a theory of action as “your best thinking made explicit… Your rationale for choosing one strategy over another…your course of action… (using) … evidence that it’s working, or not.”

In the BES, teachers’ prevailing discourses were an indication of their current theories about students and their belief in their students’ ability to learn. In one study, these theories or discourses were based on an assumption that some students were unable to learn due to factors beyond the teachers’ control, such as home background or inherent ability. Professional development providers challenged this assumption by producing evidence that contradicted it, showing that students could learn faster if taught differently.

Deficit thinking

Russell Bishop, Mere Berryman, Sarah-Jane Tiakiwai and Cath Richardson as a part of the ‘Te Kotahitanga’ research project (2003) found that a key element in the maintenance of underachievement was the discourse of deficit thinking that prevailed amongst many teachers. They noted in their conclusions;

The Māori students, those parenting these students and their principals (and some of their teachers) saw that the most important influence on Māori students’ educational achievement was the quality of the in-class face-to-face relationships and interactions between the teachers and Māori students.

In contrast, the majority of teachers suggested that the major influence on Māori students’ educational achievement was the children themselves and/or their family/whanau circumstances, or systemic/structural issues. This deficit theorising by teachers is the major impediment to Māori students’ educational achievement for it results in teachers having low expectations of Māori students. This in turn creates a downward spiralling, self-fulfilling prophecy of Māori student achievement and failure. (Bishop et.al. 2003: 4-5)

Putting the Māori Potential approach into practice

As discussed above, teachers need to become aware of their own beliefs, and challenging their (at times, deficit) assumptions.

You can learn more about theories of action and how to use a coaching model to work on teacher practice in this presentation here, developed as part of the RTLB Literacy Project in 2024.

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