Quality Of Teacher Training For Maori Students
Teacher education providers need to better equip beginning teachers to teach Mäori students, according to a Te Puni Kökiri report The Quality Of Teacher Training For Teaching Mäori Students released today by Mäori Affairs Minister, Parekura Horomia.
Te Puni Kökiri talked to teacher education providers, school principals, beginning teachers, teacher trainees and Mäori parents to determine how well they equip graduates to teach Mäori students effectively.
Mäori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia says that while some examples of good practice were found, generally most teacher education providers have a lot of work to do to ensure trainees develop the skills needed to teach Mäori students.
“Teachers play an essential role in shaping and developing student abilities, knowledge and attitudes. However low levels of achievement by Mäori in schools is not new and this report provides recommendations to help the education sector meet Mäori students’ needs. ” he says.
Mr Horomia said Te Puni Kökiri and the Ministry of Education have similar aims based around ensuring Mäori students can achieve to the best of their ability and both agencies need to assist providers to make improvements.”
Copies of The Quality Of Teacher Training For Teaching Mäori Students can be viewed at www.tpk.govt.nz.
Recommendations from the report
1. Teacher education
programmes:
extend their current curricula
pertaining to Mäori to include more practical content that
will prepare trainees for the reality of the contemporary
New Zealand classroom;
provide teacher trainees
with opportunities to gain more practical experience in
teaching Mäori students;
set up formal and
routine processes for suggestion and feedback from primary
and secondary schools on the content of teacher-trainee
education programmes in regard to teaching Mäori
pupils;
require graduating teacher-trainees to
meet a prescribed set of competencies for teaching students
who are Mäori;
require teacher educators to
undertake professional development focused on improving
their Mäori language skills and their understanding of the
Mäori world view.
2. Teacher training providers be
advised of the four expectations that Mäori educators
believe are a vital part of a teacher education programme –
namely:
having components that assist or
encourage trainees to understand Mäori students’ cultural
influences;
examining the social and cultural
differences between teachers and Mäori pupils;
training in teaching techniques that offer learning
experiences relevant to Mäori students’ own contexts;
and
encouraging trainees’ belief that their
teaching can make a difference for students.
3. Teacher training programmes recognise and target the demographics in NZ society, where Mäori students comprise a significant and growing proportion of the school-aged population.
4. The NZ Teachers’ Council (replacing the Teacher Registration Board) play an important role in setting requirements for quality teacher training courses - to enable graduates to teach Mäori pupils more effectively.
5. A more creative approach be adopted to recruit more Mäori into teaching.