“Education Ministry heading for bankruptcy” says Te Ururoa Flavell

Te Ururoa Flavell; Education Spokesperson for the Maori Party

Monday 12 February 2007

Te Ururoa Flavell, Education Spokesperson for the Maori Party, today spoke out about yet another instalment of dispiriting statistics, describing the under-performance of the education system with respect to Maori.

Research released today by Professor Russell Bishop revealed that Ministry of Education school leaving tables showed that in 2005, 53% of Maori boys left school without even level one of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), compared with 20% of Pakeha boys.

“Nothing New” says Flavell

“Maori educators have been asking the state to respond to this systemic failure, for close to fifty years now” said Te Ururoa Flavell.

“In 1960 the Hunn Report revealed the failure of the Education Department to provide equal educational opportunity for Maori” said Flavell.

“Last year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur described the “underlying institutional and structural discrimination that Maori have long suffered”; recommending that “more resources should be put at the disposal of Maori education at all levels, including teacher training programmes and the development of culturally appropriate teaching materials”.

“Yet, today’s paper reminds us, nothing has changed” said Flavell. “If this was a business, it would have been declared bankrupt long ago”.

One Law for all?

The 2005 report on New Zealand Schools describes the fact that for candidates achieving an NCEA qualification at Year Eleven; only 34% of Pasifika candidates in Year 11 achieved an NCEA qualification; 40% of Maori; 65% of Asian and 72% of Pakeha.

“How can anyone read results like this without recognising the absolute bias that is evident in our current school system?” said Flavell. “These figures depict the grave levels of injustice and disparities that our education bureaucracy continues to perpetuate”.

“It is an injustice against Maori and Pasifika students that the system fails to address, year after year” said Flavell. “In the Education and Science Select Committee I asked the Ministry of Education to provide us with a copy of their master plan to address Maori under-achievement. I’m still waiting”.

What will make the difference?

“The growth and success of kohanga reo, kura kaupapa Maori; wharekura and wananga give us hope that the experience, will and determination of tangata whenua can be used to change these depressing statistics” said Flavell.

“The problem is that we also know that the great majority, some 91.6% of all Maori students, are in mainstream primary and secondary schools. In real numbers, that’s 148, 800 students as of 1 July 2005” said Flavell.

“The arbitrary limit in restricting the growth of kura kaupapa Maori to only five new kura per year has been a long-standing concern for Maori” said Mr Flavell. “We will be interested to see whether the review anticipated for the establishment of new kura will respond to the call from Maori to support Maori-immersion education”.

“We have to ask - is this level of disparity acceptable in New Zealand? Where is the fairness in a system that fails Maori and Pacific students year after year after year?” asked Mr Flavell.

“The Ministry of Education is on notice – they must provide some answers” ended Mr Flavell.

In 2005, Māori students in year 11, who attended schools where teaching was in te reo Māori for between 51 to 100% of the time, had a higher rate of attaining NCEA qualifications than Māori in other schools.

Source: Ministry of Education. "Ngā Haeata Mātauranga - Annual Report on Māori Education 2005".

ENDS

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