Appendix 3: Important initiatives or projects relevant to Māori education

The Ministry of Education (the Ministry) states that all of its programmes and initiatives are designed to attend effectively to Māori learners. The programmes on the following list are highlighted as having special relevance.³²

Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success: The Ministry's approach to improving the performance of the education system for and with Māori. Ka Hikitia says this is a key aspect of having a quality education system where all students are succeeding and achieving.

Te Whāriki: The Ministry produced the bicultural early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, in 1996. Te Whāriki is closely aligned to the concepts of ako and whānaungatanga. ECE providers are expected by regulation to provide a curriculum consistent with the "curriculum standard: general" in the Education Act 1989.

He Kākano: The Ministry, in partnership with Waikato University and Te Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, set up He Kākano in October 2010 with funding of $7 million for two years. He Kākano is a direct response to the priorities in Ka Hikitia. It is a strategic school-based professional development programme with an explicit focus on improving culturally responsive leadership and teacher practices to ensure that Māori learners enjoy educational success as Māori. The strategic intent of the project is to improve the emotional, social, cultural, and academic outcomes of Māori children. He Kākano offers a practical approach to address these changes.

Student Achievement Function: The Student Achievement Function was originally established to lift numeracy and literacy for students in the Ministry's three priority groups by improving teachers' and schools' practice. Through the Student Achievement Function, the Ministry employs expert practitioners to work in identified schools to promote cultural changes to help to raise achievement.

Positive Behaviour for Learning: The Positive Behaviour for Learning programmes include parenting programmes in collaboration with Māori non-governmental organisations. The programmes contribute to the work carried out by the Ministries of Education, Health, Justice, and Social Development as part of the Addressing Drivers of Crime initiative.

Te Kotahitanga: This project was initiated by researchers but has been supported by the Ministry in subsequent years. Te Kotahitanga has been carried out in five phases since 2002 and is now in about 50 schools. The experience of Māori students informed the development of the Effective Teaching Profile, which teachers then implemented in the classroom. The Effective Teaching Profile embraces the concepts of ako, manaakitanga, and whānaungatanga. The model relies on feedback from participants to inform subsequent teaching. Achievement gains for Māori and other students have been increasingly significant during the five phases.

ECE participation projects: These are community-led participation projects for ECE in selected areas. The Ministry's Targeted Assistance for Participation programme is targeted to "areas identified as having the greatest need and where we stand to make the biggest impact in ECE participation".³³ The programme funds several Māori bilingual ECE providers.

Youth Guarantee programmes: Secondary and tertiary education agencies are responsible for Youth Guarantee programmes, which aim to improve the educational achievements of targeted 16- and 17-year-olds through a range of free vocational courses. The concept has been piloted in Manukau, and the Government has committed $84 million over four years to Youth Guarantee programmes.

Tau Mai e – the Māori Language in Education Strategy: The Ministry's strategy identifies "priorities, logic and investment plans" and explains how the Ministry will know whether its investment in te reo in education is making a positive difference.

Targeted Student Engagement and Attendance Programme: This flagship programme aims to ensure that secondary school students are enrolled in and attend school, including Māori students (who are over-represented in truancy rates).

32: Noted in correspondence from the Chief Executive of the Ministry to the Auditor-General, dated 22 July 2012.

33: Ministry of Education (2011), "The Participation programme creates 455 ECE child spaces", The New Zealand Education Gazette, 4 July 2011.