Education

Early childhood education

The school years

Progression from school to post-compulsory education and training (PCET)

Participation in formal tertiary education

Subject choice

Māori language learning

Māori participation in the teaching force

The past decade has been characterised by increasing levels of participation by Māori girls and women at all levels of education. The number of enrolments of Māori girls in early childhood education services has grown, young Māori women are now more likely to remain in school to senior levels, and the number of Māori women tertiary students has doubled.

However, comparable improvements for non-Māori women and girls have meant that the gap in educational achievement between Māori and non-Māori women has not closed. Table 5 shows that, in 1996, Māori women aged 15 and over remained less likely than their non-Māori counterparts to hold a school qualification, were about half as likely to have a tertiary qualification and were far more likely to have no qualifications.

Table 5 Qualification status of Māori and non-Māori women aged 15 years and over, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1997a
Note: Percentages do not add up to 100% as the 'Not Specified' category is excluded.

Early childhood education

Attendance at quality preschool programmes has a major impact on a child's acquisition of knowledge and skills (Prime Ministerial Task Force on Employment 1994). Access to early childhood education services also affects the ability of women with young children to participate in the labour force.

Between 1990 and 1997, the number of enrolments of Māori girls in early childhood education services grew by 33% from 11,000 to 14,700. Within this, the number enrolled in te kōhanga reo rose from 5,000 to 6,400, an increase of 28%. Despite this growth, only 41% of Māori girls participate in early childhood education, compared to 64% of non-Māori girls.8 Due to dual enrolments, rates of participation in early childhood education services can only be considered 'apparent' or 'estimated'. Participation rates may therefore be inflated.

Figure 13 shows that te kōhanga reo is the single largest early childhood education provider for Māori girls, accounting for 43% of enrolments of Māori girls in early childhood services. Kindergartens and childcare centres were the next most popular early childhood services, each having 22% of enrolments of Māori girls in 1997. Between 1990 and 1997 the proportion of enrolments of Māori girls in kindergartens dropped, while the proportion regularly attending childcare centres increased.

Figure 13 Proportion of enrolments of Māori and non-Māori girls in early childhood education by service type, 1997

Source:Ministry of Education 1998a
Note: ECES - Early Childhood Education Services: TKR - Te Kōhanga Reo

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The school years>

Achievement

Until recently, there has been very little information available on the achievement of Māori children in their primary and intermediate schooling years. However, results from recent research indicate that low levelsof participation by young Māori women in maths and science in senior secondary and tertiary education are consistent with patterns of achievement in primary schools. Figure 14 shows that, as early as Year 4 (Standard 2), differences between the mathematics achievement of Māori and non-Māori are evident. While Māori girls do better than Māori boys in middle primary school, the gap narrows at secondary school. On the other hand, non-Māori boys and girls achieve at similar levels, and these levels are higher than those of their Māori peers. A similar pattern is evident in science. ( The Third International Mathematics and Science Study which was conducted during October 1994 (Ministry of Education 1997a).)

Secondary school participation

Since 1986, young Māori women have been consistently more likely than young Māori men to remain at school beyond the compulsory school leaving age. 10 School is compulsory for children aged 6-16 years. The school leaving age was raised from 15 to 16 years in 1993. The same pattern of gender participation is true for non-Māori. A significant improvement in the retention rates of Māori has occurred over the past decade, particularly for 16 and 17 year-olds. Factors which have contributed to improved Māori school retention include: raising the school leaving age, fewer employment opportunities for unskilled school leavers, and changes made to income support criteria.

However, the retention rates of young Māori women still fall well below those of young non-Māori women. In 1998, 75% of young Māori women aged 16 remained at school, compared to 92% of their non-Māori peers. The proportion of young Māori and non-Māori women staying on at school improved considerably during the late 1980s and early 1990s, but with declining unemployment the proportion leaving school early stabilised in the 1990s (Table 6).

Table 6 Estimated percent of young Māori and non-Māori women enrolled at school beyond compulsory leaving age, 1991–1998

Source: Ministry of Education 1997a, 1998a

Secondary school achievement

Māori who are at school at the senior levels are less likely than non-Māori to sit national examinations. In 1997, 69% of young Māori women who entered secondary school in 1994 sat their School Certificate exams, compared with 94% of young non-Māori women.

Differences between the two groups are wider at both the Sixth Form Certificate and Bursary levels and reflect the" maori-women-in-focus.html maori publications news-and-pubs plone.mwa.govt.nz http: education#top?>back to top

Progression from school to post-compulsory education and training (PCET)

The proportion of young Māori women schoolleavers enrolling in post-compulsory education and training (PCET) directly from school has been relatively constant throughout the 1990s. Forty one percent of the young Māori women who left school in 1996 enrolled in PCET in 1997. Young Māori women are more likely than young Māorimen to enrol in PCET directly from school, but as Table 7 shows, they are less likely than young non-Māori women to do so. Young Māori women school leavers were four times more likely than young non-Māori women to attend Training Opportunities Programmes (TOPs) (16% compared to 4%) but considerably less likely to enrol at university (9% compared to 27%).

Table 7 Proportion of Māori and non-Māori school leavers going on to post-compulsory education and training (PCET) by education sector and gender, 1996 school leavers

Source: Ministry of Education 1998b

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Participation in formal tertiary education

('Tertiary' institutions include Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education, and Wānanga.)

As noted earlier, the participation rates of Māori women in tertiary education are lower than those of non-Māori women and differences are most marked among students aged 18–24. Figure 15 shows that within the tertiary sector, Māori women are more likely than non-Māori women to attend a polytechnic (50% compared with 41%) but less likely to attend a university (38% as against 50%).

Figure 15 Distribution of Māori and non-Māori women in formal tertiary education programmes, 1997

Source: Ministry of Education 1998a

Between 1991 and 1997, the number of Māori women enrolled in formal tertiary education grew from 6,500 to 14,200 (representing 12% of all women enrolled in formal tertiary education compared with 9% in 1991). In relative terms, Māori women's participation in tertiary education grew at a faster rate during this period than that of non-Māori women, with the polytechnic sector experiencing the most rapid growth (Figure 16).

Figure 16 Growth in the number of Māori and non-Māori women in formal tertiary education programmes, 1991–1997 (%)

Source: Ministry of Education 1998b Note: Statistics for Wānanga not officially collected until 1994 so not included.

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Subject choices

Māori women are more likely than non-Māori women to study humanities, education, and social, behavioural, and communication skills (Figure 17). In contrast, Māori women are less likely to study commerce and business, areas which are currently experiencing high rates of employment growth. Moreover, non-Māori women are more than twice as likely as Māori women to study natural and applied sciences, medicine and health.

Figure 17 Proportion of Māori and non-Māori women studying selected subjects at tertiary level, 1997

Source: Ministry of Education, 1998a

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Māori language learning

Results from the 1995 National Māori Language Survey (NMLS) indicate that the Māori language is under threat of becoming a language of ritual and symbol only. Results show that 59% of Māori adults are able to speak Māori but only 8% are highly fluent speakers (Te Puni Kōkiri 1998b). Although women make up a greater proportion of Māori who speak the language (55%), Māori men tend to be more fluent than Māori women. (The NMLS interviewed 2,441 Māori adults (aged 16 years and over) nationwide.)

The NMLS also found that fluency was lowest among young adults, and that there were very few domains in which the Māori language was spoken. Schools and te kōhanga reo were second only to the marae as places where Māori was most commonly used.

Part of the Government's commitment to ensuring the survival and revitalisation of te reo Māori is through the provision of Māori-medium education programmes. In 1997, around 27,200 Māori school students Plus 4,800 non-Māori students who were also enrolled in these programmes. were enrolled in Māori-medium programmes, up from 18,000 in 1993. There is little gender difference in the number of Māori students studying in Māori-medium schools (Ministry of Education 1999). Māori-medium programmes include students who are taught curriculum subjects in Māori.

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Māori participation in the teaching force

At the 1996 Census, 3,960 Māori women teachers worked in the education sector, representing 10% of all women teachers. The key difference in the distribution of Māori and non-Māori women teachers across the education sector is that a higher proportion of Māori women teachers are concentrated in early childhood education. Table 8 shows that Māori women are less likely to be primary and secondary teachers than non-Māori women,but equally likely to teach in the tertiary sector.

Table 8 Percent distribution of Māori and non-Māori women teachers by education sector, 1996

Source: Statistics New Zealand 1998h Note: Māori conversation rates not available for 'other' Māori women teachers at the time of writing.

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