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Indicators
Introduction
1.Participation in early childhood education
2. Achievement levels
3. Secondary school retention
4. Attainment levels of school leavers
5. Tertiary participation
6. Tertiary qualifications
7. Discussion
Data Sources
References
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Indicators
| PARAMETER | MEASURE |
|---|---|
| Enrolment in early childhood education | Proportion of Māori girls enrolled in early childhood education |
| Achievement levels | National levels of achievement for Māori girls at age 10 |
| Secondary school retention | Proportion of Māori girls staying at school beyond leaving age Suspension rate for Māori girls |
| Attainment levels of school leavers | Proportion of Māori girls leaving school with no school qualifications Proportion of Māori girls leaving school with at least Sixth Form Certificate |
| Tertiary participation | Proportion of Māori female school leavers going on to post-compulsory education/training Proportion of Māori women enrolled in post-compulsory education/training |
| Tertiary qualifications | Proportion of Māori women gaining tertiary qualifications Proportion of Māori women graduates with degree or higher qualification |
Introduction
This chapter uses the indicators of participation, achievement, and progress in education to examine education disparities by sex and ethnicity throughout the life span. The education data was supplied by the Ministry of Education, and the population data by Statistics New Zealand. (At entry to preschool and school, parents state the child’s ethnicity and this is coded by the enrolling teacher. Tertiary students define their own ethnicity.)
1. Participation in early childhood education
Participation in early childhood education is measured here by enrolment in an early childhood service. The denominator is all Māori and non-Māori boys and girls below the age of 5. According to inter-censal population estimates produced by Statistics New Zealand, the 0-4-year-old population declined by some 9,220 children in the period 1995 to 1999, while the number who were Māori increased by some 3,980 children. This resulted in an increase in the proportion of children who are Māori.
1.1 Enrolment in early childhood education services
Position of Māori girls: In 1999, the rate of enrolments for Maori girls aged 0-4 years was 42%.
Table A1. Participation in early childhood education*, 1996 and 1999
| Māori | Non-Māori | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys | |||||
| 1996 | 1999 | 1996 | 1999 | 1996 | 1999 | 1996 | 1999 | |
| Total numbers of children aged 0-4 | 35,490 | 37,260 | 38,200 | 39,690 | 107,200 | 102,580 | 113,980 | 107,990 |
| Numbers of enrolments in early childhood education | 14,312 | 15,502 | 16,011 | 16,535 | 62,792 | 68,078 | 67,176 | 72,045 |
| % enrolled | 40 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 59 | 66 | 59 | 67 |
Source: Statistics New Zealand, estimated population figures 1996 and 1999; Ministry of Education ECE enrolment data, 1996 and 1999
Table A1 shows the rate of enrolments for Māori and non-Māori girls and boys in 1996 and 1999. Overall, 4 out every 10 Māori children aged 0-4 were enrolled compared with well over 6 out of every 10 non-Māori children. Between 1996 and 1999, Māori enrolments in early childhood education, as a percentage of all Māori children aged 0-4, changed little. There is almost no gender disparity in Māori or non-Māori enrolments. Non-Māori enrolments rose by around 8 percentage points for both boys and girls over this period. Since Māori children now make up more than a quarter of all children aged 0-4, their lower rates of participation in early childhood education in comparison with non-Māori children are of concern (see discussion section). The data indicates that a large number of Māori children are not enrolled in early childhood education.
Enrolment by type of service
Licensed early childhood services include kindergartens, playcentres, education and care services, home based services, the Correspondence School and kohanga reo. There are also licence-exempt groups, such as playgroups, in which parents are present at all sessions. Early childhood services vary in the hours that children may attend, opening hours, age from which children may attend and whether they require the involvement of parents.
Māori and non-Māori children are differently distributed across the different types of service. In 1999, kohanga reo attracted the greatest proportion of Māori enrolments (36%). The second largest proportion of Māori enrolments (26%) were in early childhood education and care centres. The third largest proportion (22%) were enrolled in kindergarten. (Ministry of Education (2000a). For non-Māori children, the greatest proportion were at education and care centres (43%), the second largest at kindergarten (28%), and the third largest at licence-exempt early childhood development playgroups (11%). )
It is important to note that participation in early childhood education is voluntary, and because children are often enrolled in more than one service, the data is almost certainly inflated. (Ministry of Education (2000a); Smith et al.(2000).) Results from the NZ Childcare Survey 1998 indicate that 60% of children aged 0-4 years were in at least one form of early childhood education or care (Department of Labour and NACEW:1999, 21). However, Māori children may be less likely than non-Māori children to have multiple enrolments, as the largest proportion of Māori pre-schoolers who access early childhood education are in kohanga reo which offer full-day care.
Enrolment by age
Data on enrolment by age provides a more detailed analysis of participation by Māori and non-Māori children. For both Māori and non-Māori, the older the child, the more likely he or she is to be enrolled in some form of early childhood education.
Table A2 shows that in 1996, the Māori/non-Māori disparity in enrolments increased for each age group, and became substantial at ages 3 and 4. Fewer than two out of every three Māori children were enrolled at age 4, compared with almost all non-Māori children.
Data collated by Te Puni Kökiri (Te Puni Kökiri (2000b).) indicate that despite rapid growth in Māori enrolments, the overall Māori/non-Māori disparity in enrolments of 3-year-olds widened over the years 1991 to 1998. In 1991 it was 26 percentage points, and in 1998 it was 32 points. Taken together, these statistics show that enrolments for 3-4-year-old Māori are lower than for non-Māori and this discrepancy has increased over time.
Table A2. Early childhood education participation by age, 1996
| Age group | % participating in ECE | |
|---|---|---|
| Māori | Non-Māori | |
| Under 1 year | 11 | 13 |
| 1 year | 27 | 30 |
| 2 years | 42 | 51 |
| 3 years | 62 | 89 |
| 4 years | 64 | 102* |
* The 2% surplus is most likely the result of multiple enrolments. There may also be an effect from mis-matching between the numerator and denominator.
Source: Ministry of Education July 1996 ECE enrolment data: Statistics NZ 1996 Census population data.
Assessment at entry to school
School Entry Assessment (SEA)/Aro matawai: Urunga-a-Kura (AKA), introduced in 1997, is the first nationally standardised set of assessment procedures available for teachers to use to collect information on the skills, knowledge and understandings of children when they begin school. (See Gilmore (1999).) It consists of three resources, in both Māori and English, which assess emergent literacy, use of oral language, and numeracy. SEA/AKA is not mandatory, and is not based on a simple random sample.
Because the data is not based on a simple random sample, it is not possible to calculate sample errors. The Ministry of Education reports that while the indications are that the data is representative of the population, they would regard this information source as indicative only. Table A3 shows the average scores for Māori girls and boys and for non-Maori girls and boys.
Table A3. School Entry Assessment average scores, 1997
| Māori | Non-Maori | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys |
| Numeracy | 16.0 | 14.8 | 19.9 | 19.0 |
| Oral language | 10.4 | 10.0 | 11.6 | 11.2 |
| Reading literacy | 8.9 | 8.0 | 11.4 | 10.5 |
Source: Ministry of Education.
Table A3 shows that in all three areas, there are disparities in the scores on the basis of both ethnicity and gender. The average scores on these school entry assessment tests are highest for non-Māori girls. Māori girls and boys have lower average scores than non-Māori girls and boys, with Māori boys having the lowest scores overall. The weakest areas for Māori students are reading literacy and numeracy, while oral language is a comparative strength, although still lower on average than for non-Māori students.
Overall, what the SEA/AKA data show is that, on average, Māori students begin their compulsory schooling experience with lower levels of numeracy, oral language skills and reading literacy in comparison with their non-Māori peers. Numeracy and reading literacy are skills that are enhanced by participation in early childhood education.
2. Achievement levels
Educational achievement indicators measure the performance levels either of groups of children or of countries. They may be measures of individual competence, as in the School Entry Assessment, or average scores from standardised tests of school achievement in particular subjects, international testing programmes, or national examinations. (Education Review Office (1999).) The results of these tests are given as average scores for the various groups of children in relation to the national mean. Averages do not provide information on the spread of scores within each group, and they can be unduly influenced by a small number of very low or very high scores. Furthermore, while the average scores for some groups of students may be lower than others, individual students within a group may score very highly.
New Zealand has now taken part in five of the international studies of school achievement conducted by the IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement). The 1990 IEA study on reading literacy provided the data for the first part of the measure used to examine achievement levels at age 9-10 (Table A4). The 1994 IEA study on mathematics and science, known as the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) provided the data for the second part of the measure (Table A5).
2.1 Reading literacy
In 1990 the IEA conducted a study of reading literacy in 177 primary schools and 125 secondary schools using a stratified two stage cluster design. (See Wagemaker (1993). Data collection for the next study, the Participation in Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), will take place at the end of 2001.) Samples were drawn from two grade levels, to pick up 9-year-olds and 14-year-olds. In New Zealand the grade levels were Year 5 (Standard 3) and Year 10 (Form 4). Because the data is not based on a simple random sample, it is not possible to calculate simple standard errors. The scores are based on an international scale with a mean of 500 and a standard deviation of 100.
Position of Māori girls: The average level of achievement for Māori girls at age 9-10 in reading literacy, as measured by the 1990 IEA study, was 510.
Table A4. IEA average scores, age 9-10, 1990
| Māori | Non-Maori | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys |
| Year 5 | 510 | 483 | 549 | 531 |
Table A4 compares the achievement levels of 9 and 10-year-old Māori and non-Māori girls and boys in reading literacy in 1990. Consistent with the pattern identified in the school entry assessment data (Table A3), non-Maori girls have the highest average score, and non-Maori boys the second highest, with Māori girls and boys scoring third and fourth respectively.
2.2 Mathematics and science
In 1994 New Zealand took part in the IEA Third International Mathematics and Science Study, known as TIMSS. (See Ministry of Education Research Division (2000); Garden (1997).) This study used a different sampling frame from the IEA reading literacy study but a similar sample design. It drew its samples from the two grades at which most 9-year-olds were located (Years 4 and 5 in New Zealand) and the two grades at which most 13-year-olds were located (Years 8 and 9 in New Zealand).
Position of Māori girls: The average level of achievement for Māori girls at age 9-10, as measured by the 1994 TIMSS scores, was 446 for mathematics and 478 for science.
Table A5. TIMSS average scores, age 9-10, 1994
| Maori | Non-Maori | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys | |
| Mathematics | 446 | 405 | 484 | 487 |
| Science | 478 | 432 | 524 | 523 |
Table A5 shows that non-Māori students scored more highly, on average, than their Māori peers in both mathematics and science. There were gender differences within ethnic groups, with Māori girls scoring more highly than Māori boys on both tests. Similar gender disparities are found in other countries. Non-Māori girls performed better than Māori girls and non-Māori boys performed better than Māori boys. The difference between the two samples of girls was narrower than the difference between the two samples of boy although the t-values indicate the differences are statistically significant in both cases. (The t-values were estimated to be significant if greater than 1.96. The t-value for Māori girls versus non-Māori girls was 4.0%, while that for Māori boys versus non-Māori boys was 5.8%.
3. Secondary school retention
Secondary school retention is measured as the proportion of students who were enrolled at age 14 and are still in school after their sixteenth birthday (the school leaving age). The measure used here is the proportion of Māori girls enrolled at age 14 who are still in school at age 16, 17 and 18. As an additional piece of information, the suspension rate for Māori female school students has been included, and compared with suspension rates for Māori boys, non-Māori girls and non-Māori boys.
3.1 Staying at school beyond school leaving age
Position of Māori girls: In 1999, 71% of Māori girls enrolled in secondary school at age 14 were still enrolled when they were aged 16. The comparable figure for those aged 17 was 45%, and for those aged 18 it was 10%.
The New Zealand school leaving age was raised from 15 years to 16 years in January 1993. However, Figures A1 and A2, covering the years 1986-1999, show that rates of retention to age 16 and age 18 began to rise well before 1993, for both Māori and non-Māori.
Figure A1. Age 16 enrolments as a proportion of age 14 enrolments two years earlier, 1986-1999(The retention measure excludes migration adjustment.)
Source: Ministry of Education enrolment data.
Figure A2. Age 18 enrolments as a proportion of age 14 enrolments four years earlier, 1986-1999
Note: The scale in Figure A2 differs from that presented in Figure A1.
Source: Ministry of Education enrolment data.
Figure A1 shows that non-Māori females have the highest rates of retention in terms of the percentage of 14-year-olds still at school at age 16. The retention rate for all groups of students increased markedly from 1986 to 1992 and 1993, but has since remained broadly steady.
With respect to Māori girls, 48% of those who had been in school in 1984, aged 14, were still in school in 1986, aged 16. This proportion rose to around 72% in the years 1991-1995, fell slightly in the next two years, and rose again to 71% in 1999. The pattern was similar for Māori boys, although their rates of retention have been lower than for Māori girls every year since 1986 – except 1989.
At age 18, as Figure A2 shows, the picture changes. In 1999, a greater proportion of Māori boys aged 18 (12%) than Māori girls aged 18 (10%) were still in school. It may seem that because Māori boys appear to have a greater school retention rate at age 18 than girls do, the boys are doing better. However, this higher rate of retention may indicate that on average, Māori boys take longer to get to the same class level as Māori girls. (McDonald (1988).) In terms of qualifications obtained, at age 18 Māori girls are more likely than Māori boys to have left school with qualifications.
3.2 Suspension from school
Position of Māori girls: In 1999/2000, 9.9 of every 1,000 Māori girls enrolled in primary, intermediate or secondary schools were suspended from school.
Table A6. School suspensions per 1,000 enrolled students, 1999/00
(June Year )
| Māori | Non-Māori | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys |
| 9.9 | 23.1 | 1.9 | 7.1 |
Table A6 covers the period from July 1999 to June 2000 only. This is because new rules on suspension, the Education (Suspension) Rules, came into force in July 1999.
“Suspension” is the formal removal of a student from school until the board of trustees decides the outcome. “Exclusion” means the formal removal of a student aged under 16 from school for a specified period. “Expulsion” means the formal removal of a student aged 16 or over from the school. “Stand-down” is the formal removal of a student from school for a specified period. The purpose of the rules is to ensure that individual cases are dealt with in a fair and reasonable manner. (These provided boards with guidelines on managing difficulties with student behaviour. They gave boards increased flexibility to impose conditions when a student is permitted to return to school, or to extend a suspension with conditions. They also provided boards with the option of a stand-down, which allows a student to be removed for a specified period (no more than 5 days in any term or 10 days in a school year).)
The suspension rate for Māori girls (9.9 per 1,000 students enrolled) is around five times as high as the rate for non-Māori girls, who have the lowest rate (1.9 per 1,000). Māori boys have the highest rate of suspension (23.1 per 1,000 students enrolled). This rate is more than twice that for Māori girls, and more than three times the rate for non-Māori boys (7.1 per 1,000).
4. Attainment levels of school leavers
The qualifications with which students leave school affect their ability to proceed to tertiary education and employment. They also affect earnings capability and job security. The two measures for this indicator are the proportion leaving school with no qualifications, and the proportion leaving with at least Sixth Form Certificate.
4.1 School leaving qualifications
Position of Māori girls: In 1999, 31.8% of Māori girls left school with no qualification, and 46.4% left with at least Sixth Form Certificate.
Table A7. Percent of school leavers by highest qualification, 1996 and 1999
| Year | Qualification | Māori | Non-Māori | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys | ||
| 1996 | No qualification | 35.3 | 42.6 | 12.2 | 16.9 |
| School Certificate only* | 24.4 | 22.9 | 15.1 | 18.6 | |
| At least Sixth Form Certificate** | 40.3 | 34.5 | 72.6 | 64.6 | |
| 1999 | No qualifications | 31.8 | 38.3 | 10.7 | 15.6 |
| School Certificate only* | 21.8 | 22.2 | 13.7 | 17.7 | |
| At least Sixth Form Certificate** | 46.4 | 39.6 | 75.7 | 66.7 | |
School Certificate only is defined as gaining a School Certificate examination grade in at least one subject, or gaining 12 or more credits at Level 1 or above.
At least Sixth Form Certificate is defined as gaining at least one or more subjects for Sixth Form Certificate, irrespective of the grade awarded. This includes any higher school qualification.
Source: Ministry of Education.
So far, this chapter has documented the lower rates of participation of Māori children in early childhood education, the lower average rates of achievement at ages 9-10, the lower rates of retention at secondary school and the higher rates of suspension for Māori students in comparison with their non-Māori peers. These lower rates of participation, achievement and retention are reflected in the lower qualifications of Māori school leavers (Table A7). However, Māori girls are on average leaving school with higher qualifications than Māori boys.
No qualifications
Table A7 shows that for 1996 and 1999, Māori students were more likely than non-Māori students to leave school with no qualifications, with Māori boys being the most likely of all students to leave school with no qualifications. However, between 1996 and 1999, the percentage of students leaving school with no qualifications has declined for all groups, with the percentage of Māori students in this least-qualified group showing the biggest decline.
School Certificate only
In both 1996 and 1999, Māori students were more likely than non-Māori students to leave school with “School Certificate only” as their highest qualification. In 1996 Māori girls were more likely than Māori boys to have “School Certificate only” as their highest qualification, whereas by 1999 Māori boys were slightly more likely to be in this category. This reflects the increased percentage of Māori girls leaving school with higher qualifications than School Certificate.
There are disparities by sex and ethnicity in whether students attempt a particular examination and whether they gain sufficient grades at the required level to go further with their education. School Certificate data on candidates and grades obtained shows that in 1999, 42% of Māori girl candidates and 36% of Māori boy candidates sitting School Certificate obtained A, B, or C grades. For non-Māori girls, the comparable percentage was 67% and for non-Māori boys it was 60%.
At least Sixth Form Certificate
An increased proportion of all groups are going on to attain “at least Sixth Form Certificate”. Using this measure, in the three years from 1996 to 1999, Māori girls have made the greatest progress of all the population groups. However, in 1999, their rate of attainment of higher school qualifications remained below that of non-Māori boys and girls. Māori boys have the lowest rate of attainment, although they too made progress between 1996 and 1999.
The attainment of “at least Sixth Form Certificate” shown in Table A7 can be further broken down to examine rates of attainment of University Bursaries and University Scholarships. University Bursaries have traditionally provided access to degree level study, whether at university, polytechnic, or private training establishments. University Scholarships are awarded to top scholars in the Bursaries examination. There are both single subject awards and scholarships for high performance across subjects.
In 1999, 5% of Māori girls and 4% of Māori boys left school with University Bursary, compared with 26% of non-Māori girls and 20% of non-Māori boys. Overall, these percentages have changed little since 1996.
5. Tertiary participation
The final sections of this chapter look at the participation and attainment of students in tertiary education. The first indicator, tertiary participation, is examined using the following measures: the proportions of school leavers going on to post-compulsory education and training, and the proportions of all those aged 15 and over enrolled in post-compulsory education and training or tertiary education institutions.
5.1 Secondary school students going directly on to post-compulsory education and training
Position of Māori women: Of Māori women who left school in 1997, 26.3% were enrolled in some form of tertiary education by July 1998. An additional 10.9% were enrolled in a Training Opportunities Programme (TOP).
Table A8. Estimated percentages of 1997 school leavers enrolled in tertiary education by July 1998
| Tertiary Sector | Māori | Non-Māori | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women | men | Women | men | |
| College of Education | 1.0 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 0.4 |
| Polytechnic | 13.9 | 12.4 | 19.2 | 19.0 |
| University | 9.4 | 6.6 | 27.0 | 22.8 |
| Wananga | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| PTE* | 1.5 | 0.5 | 4.5 | 1.6 |
| Total | 26.3 | 20.4 | 52.8 | 43.8 |
| Plus TOP** | 10.9 | 11.7 | 2.7 | 3.0 |
| Total including TOP | 37.3 | 32.1 | 55.5 | 46.8 |
TOP = Training Opportunities Programmes
Source: Ministry of Education.
Note that columns may not add due to rounding
Table A8 shows the estimated13 percentages of 1997 school leavers who were enrolled in various forms of tertiary education and training in July 1998, broken down by ethnicity and sex. Overall, non-Māori school leavers are more likely than Māori school leavers to be enrolled in some form of tertiary education and training, and women are more likely than men to be enrolled. For both Māori and non-Māori, women are more likely than men to proceed directly from school to some form of tertiary education.
The greatest ethnic disparity according to institution is in enrolment at university, with non-Māori school leavers more likely to be enrolled at university than Māori school leavers in 1998, and female Māori and non-Māori school leavers more likely than their male peers to be enrolled at university. In 1998, polytechnic courses (excluding TOP courses) absorbed the largest proportion of enrolled Māori, particularly women.
Other data show that the overall national trend is for an increasing proportion of all groups to enrol in some form of tertiary education upon leaving school. While rates of participation are lower for Māori than for non-Māori, looking at tertiary enrolments apart from TOP courses, and comparing 1997 school-leavers with those who left in 1995, Māori women had the greatest increase in participation (up 4.1 percentage points), followed by non-Māori men (up 3.9 points), non-Māori women (up 3.4 points) and Māori men (up 3.1 points).
5.2 Participation in post-compulsory education and training
While the previous measure of participation examines the percentage of school leavers who are enrolled in tertiary education and training the year after they leave school, it is also important to consider the rates of participation for all age groups. This is particularly important for Māori women, who are more likely to participate in tertiary education from the age of 30 and upwards.
Position of Māori women: In 1999, 9.2% of Māori women aged 16 and over were enrolled in Tertiary Education Institutions.
Table A9. Enrolment in Tertiary Education Institutions, by age group, 1999
| Age | Māori | Non-Māori | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women | Men | Women | Men | |
| 18-21, % enrolled | 20.1 | 14.8 | 41.5 | 34.9 |
| 22-29, % enrolled | 11.2 | 8.4 | 13.6 | 12.3 |
| 30-39, % enrolled | 9.3 | 5.7 | 7.8 | 5.7 |
| 40 and over, % enrolled | 5.1 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 1.5 |
| Total 16 and over, % enrolled | 9.2 | 6.2 | 7.8 | 6.4 |
| Total 16 and over, number enrolled* | 17,017 | 10,820 | 101,666 | 78,846 |
A relatively small number of enrolled students 16 and over – 268 Māori women, 262 Māori men, 277 non-Māori women and 253 non-Māori men – were enrolled in TOP, Skill Enhancement and Skill Pathways courses.
Source: Ministry of Education tertiary enrolment data.
Table A9 gives data on enrolments in Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) by age group, ethnicity and sex in 1999. Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) are essentially the universities, polytechnics, wananga, and colleges of education. Among all those aged 16 and over, Māori women had the highest percentage of their population (9.2%) enrolled in a TEI.
The greatest concentration of tertiary students is found in two age groups: those aged 18-21, and those aged 22-29. In the 18-21 age group, Māori women are half as likely to be enrolled as non-Māori women, who have the highest proportion enrolled. There is a similar disparity between Māori and non-Māori men.
In the 30-39 age group, 9.3% of Māori women were enrolled in TEIs in 1999, up from 6.6% in 1994. Maori women had the highest participation rate in this age group. Both in overall rates of participation and at ages 30-39 and 40 and over, Māori women were more likely to be enrolled in TEIs in 1999 than any other group. Māori men had overall rates of participation almost equal to those of non-Māori men, and for age 30-39, rates for both groups of men were exactly the same.
Turning 17 and passing bursary examinations remain the benchmarks for entry to a degree course for younger students. However, growth in the number of students aged 40+ has been particularly strong in the 1990s. Tertiary providers are increasingly catering to mature students(Ministry of Education (1999).). Data shows that for the population aged 16 and over, the proportion enrolled in TEIs increased over the years 1994 to 1999.
However, the greatest gains, proportionate to population, were made by Māori women. Their participation rate increased from 7.0% in 1994 to 9.2% in 1999.
Among all Māori women enrolled at TEIs in 1999, the three most popular fields of study were education (18% of enrolments) and commercial/business (also 18%), followed by humanities (15%). For Māori men, the three most popular fields were commercial/business (16%), humanities (15%) and industrial trades/crafts (11%). Commercial/business was also the most popular field for non-Māori women (23%) and non-Māori men (25%). For non-Māori women, education came second (15%), followed by humanities (13%). The second most popular field for non-Māori men was natural and applied sciences (11%), with industrial trades and crafts third (10%).
6. Tertiary qualifications
Two measures of the attainment of tertiary qualifications are used: the total proportion gaining a tertiary programme award, and the proportion of graduates with a degree or higher qualification.
6.1 Tertiary programme awards
Position of Māori women: In 1998, 2.6% of all Māori women aged 16 and over gained a tertiary programme award, and 30.6% of these awards were degrees or post-graduate awards.
Table A10. Tertiary programme awards gained,*1994 and 1998
| Māori | Non-Māori** | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women | Men | Women | Men | |
| 1994 % of those aged 16+ gaining any award* | 1.6 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Of those gaining awards, % gaining award at degree or post-graduate level* | 23.6 | 24.4 | 47.1 | 50.3 |
| 1998 % of those aged 16+ gaining any award* | 2.6 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 1.6 |
| Of those gaining awards, % gaining award at degree or post-graduate level* | 30.6 | 31.5 | 52.7 | 54.9 |
* Percentages gaining awards have been adjusted for multiple awards.
Non-Maori Category Excludes international students and those who did not state ethnicity
Source: Statistics NZ, estimated inter-censal population data; Ministry of Education, tertiary programme awards data.
Table A10 shows the percentage of Māori and non-Māori men and women who gained a tertiary award in 1994 and 1998, and the percentage of those gaining a tertiary award who gained a degree or post-graduate level award. There has been an increase from 1994 to 1998 in the percentage of all groups who gained some type of tertiary award. The group that experienced the greatest gain has been Māori women: in 1998, they were more likely than any other group to gain a tertiary award(Note that comparisons between groups may be affected by the different age structures of the Māori and Non-Māori populations.)
The proportion of awards to Māori men and women at degree level or above grew by a similar extent from 1994 to 1998, but the higher proportion of Māori women gaining tertiary awards overall means that more Māori women (1,464) than Māori men (910) are now gaining degrees or post-graduate awards. Non-Māori women are in a similar situation.
7. Discussion
7.1 Early childhood education (ECE)
It is clear that the major disparity in early childhood education comes at ages 3 and 4, when only around 6 out of every 10 Māori girls and boys are enrolled in an ECE service, compared with at least 9 out of every 10 non-Māori girls and boys (see Table A2). There is little research focusing on Māori families and ECE enrolment. However, research by the National Advisory Committee on the Employment of Women (NACEW) and the Department of Labour provides some information about likely reasons for this disparity. In 1998 they jointly sponsored a national survey on the use of early childhood education and care and after school care for children 0-14. The survey was conducted as a supplement to the Household Labour Force Survey. (Department of Labour & NACEW (1999); Department of Labour (1999).)
Demand for ECE
Apart from the 1998 childcare survey, there has been little research on demand for ECE and care arrangements in general, or among Māori parents in particular. (Department of Labour & NACEW (1999).) However, there are indications that there is unmet demand for ECE and care services for Māori children as well as for non-Maori children.
The NZ Childcare Survey 1998 reported that 53% of Māori preschool children were using some form of ECE and care outside the home, compared with 66% of European/Pakeha preschool children. This disparity is narrower than the disparity in ECE service enrolment between Māori children (41%) and non-Māori children (66%). It indicates that demand among Māori parents for ECE and care arrangements for preschool children is markedly higher than the current rate of ECE enrolment among Māori preschool children might suggest.
In the childcare survey, Māori parents, sole parents and low income parents were more likely to report problems accessing ECE and care, and to say that these problems affected their employment. Māori parents, sole parents and those with more than one education and care arrangement were also more likely to report that they wanted an increase in current hours of care for children under 5.
Cost of ECE
Cost has been highlighted as a major barrier to participation in early childhood services. The NZ Childcare Survey 1998 cited above showed that enrolment was strongly related to household income. Not only does higher income make it easier to cover the costs of using services, but also parents with higher incomes are likely to be employed for longer hours and therefore to make greater use of early childhood services. The survey found that 74% of children from high income families had enrolled in early childhood services, compared with 61% from middle income families and 52% from lower income families. (Ibid. See also Smith et al. (2000).)
Māori women are over-represented among those households with lower incomes (see Income). The childcare subsidy for low income parents is accessed for a much higher proportion of Māori than non-Māori children (32% compared with 12%). The subsidy is accessed for 65% of children who attended kohanga reo. (Department of Labour (1999); Department of Labour & NACEW (1999).)
The second most common reason for not using ECE and care was the lack of access to informal care by someone known and trusted. It is not clear whether this was the preferred form of care, or whether it was sought because of its low cost. In the national survey, most parents paid $10.00 or less a week for ECE and care.
Location and transport
Cost may become more of a barrier if transport is also a problem - that is, if the available ECE services are difficult to reach, either because parents have no access to suitable transport, or because services are not locally available. Lack of transport affects ECE participation more for Māori children than for non-Māori children. (Smith et al. (2000); E. Clark (1995).) The children of women in rural areas, who are more likely to be Māori, have lower levels of participation than the children of those in urban areas. Major differences in participation between geographic regions also exist. (Ministry of Women's Affairs (1997); Newell (2000).) In the 1998 childcare survey, lack of suitable or flexible hours and lack of local services were the third and fourth most common problems reported in accessing ECE and care.
Benefits to children and parents
Participation in early childhood education has been shown to benefit children's school achievement. In a survey of families in the Wellington region, children from low income families with four years of early childhood education experience achieved as well as high income children for literacy and other forms of competence on entry to school. These gains endured into the early years of schooling. These findings suggest that participation in early childhood education can partly offset the effects of low family income on educational achievement. (Wylie et al.(1996); Wylie & Thompson (1998).)
Lack of attendance at an early childhood service is classified as a barrier to learning by the Education Review Office (1995). Attendance is usually recorded in the child's school enrolment form. The apparent enrolment of 100% of all non-Māori 4-year-olds means that children who have not been to a preschool of some kind are likely to be viewed by their primary schools as not sufficiently prepared.
However, the extent to which early childhood education makes a difference in other respects, for example to the preservation of te reo, to whānau, to a mother's income or education, or to the child's happiness and well-being, is largely unknown. The objectives, ages of children, hours of attendance, years in childhood education and care, staff:children ratios and pedagogical methods all differ across the various early childhood education services. The child's primary caregiver may or may not be involved. Parent education may or may not be offered.
As well as preparing children better for school, early childhood education may help to preserve te reo Māori, and enable parents to engage in paid work or study/training. If the major aim of early childhood enrolment is to prepare children better for school, the main issue is to ensure that all Māori 4-year-olds are enrolled in a form of service that will accomplish this. For the preservation of te reo, the focus should be on enrolling children as young as possible. To enable parents to engage in paid work, the focus should be on good quality childcare.
These three aims for early childhood education are all compatible. However, if parents are sick, out of work, poorly housed or in conflict with the criminal justice system, matters of voluntary participation in an early childhood service become secondary and probably insignificant to the parents involved. (E. Clark (1995).)
The mothers saying they are most in need of more and better childcare are sole Māori mothers of preschool children. There appears to be a strong Maori preference for kohanga reo, particularly for the years 0-3, but playgroups or other forms of informal service may also be required. (E. Clark (1995). The Ministry of Education advises that enrolment statistics show a drop between the number of 3-year-olds and the number of 4-year-olds enrolled in kohanga reo, and an increase in kindergarten enrolments between these ages. This suggests that there may be some switching from kohanga reo to kindergarten. Newell (2000) suggests that up to one third of families may switch from kohanga reo to kindergarten when the child turns 4.) The Māori population will remain younger than the non-Māori population for many years to come, and this will have an impact on all education services. While young Māori women are more likely to become mothers than young non-Māori women, early childbearing is not a barrier to undertaking the training programmes in te reo and early childhood education offered to parents by kohanga reo. (Rokx (1999).) Other services also provide parent education opportunities.
7.2 Primary and secondary education
The major disparities identified in relation to participation and achievement at primary and secondary school are those between Māori and non-Māori. The participation, achievement and progress of Māori girls and boys in the compulsory school sector suggests that their progress, opportunities and choices are constrained from the time of entry to school, in ways that do not constrain the performance of non-Māori students. However, these constraints interact with factors relating to gender to operate differently for girls and boys.
Recent reviews of the literature relating to different aspects of education for Māori (See Hirsh (1990), Reedy (1992), Watson (1994), E. Clark (1995), Education Review Office (1995), Jefferies (1997), Wise (1999), Cloher et al. (1999), Johnson (2000), Te Puni Kōkiri (2000b), Watane & Gibson (forthcoming).) tend to focus on Māori as an undifferentiated population. The experiences and achievements of Māori women are recorded in Selby (1992) and Bowkett (1996). There are reports of women's access to higher education in Jefferies (1997) and Carkeek, Davies and Irwin (1994) have reported Māori girls' experiences at school.
In terms of gender disparities, there has been a shift in favour of girls on some variables for both Māori and non-Māori. This shift mirrors international trends. For example, it is now common in countries with a high level of literacy for girls on average to perform better on literacy tasks than boys. (Turner et al. (1995).) In New Zealand, Alton-Lee and Praat (2000) have reviewed the literature on gender differences in the compulsory school sector, with reference to ethnicity. They stress that education disparities involve inter-relationships of gender, ethnicity, social class, sexuality and identity, so that the important question to ask about gender disparities is 'which girls' and 'which boys':
The boys who are doing particularly badly are Māori, Pacific and Pakeha boys attending low decile schools. Similarly, the girls who are doing particularly badly are Māori, Pacific and Pakeha girls attending low decile schools…Patterns of gendered performance pervade at low levels across these patterns, by ethnicity and decile level, but vary according to the subject area and school level. (Alton-Lee & Praat (2000), p.301.)
It has been suggested with regard to the United Kingdom that the raising of the leaving age is a contributing factor to the improved performance of girls in recent years. (Delamont (1999).) Girls now stay at school long enough to attempt the examinations, whereas previously they or their families might have decided that they should leave. However, the New Zealand data on retention suggest that raising the school leaving age to 16 in 1993 has not had a large influence. A more cogent reason for staying longer in school is probably youth unemployment. What needs to be investigated is why the drivers to stay longer at school and seek higher qualifications appear to be stronger for Māori girls than for Māori boys.
School Certificate has traditionally been considered a major performance indicator by the general public. Results from this examination have dominated thinking about access to the workforce and individuals' evaluations of their own abilities. Any changes arising from the proposed National Certificate of Education Achievement will need to be monitored in the interests of Māori girls and boys.
Retention, age, and school progress
To what extent are the proportions of school leavers with various levels of qualifications a function of progress through the levels of schooling? Unless it is known what class levels the students have reached at the time they leave school, the proportions with qualifications are difficult to interpret. The progress of pupils up the levels of schooling is influenced by factors such as:
- holding pupils in early childhood services
- late entry to school
- delay of pupils' movement up class levels in the early years
- repetition of a class level at examination levels
- interruption in schooling, caused by suspension, reasons such as illness or pregnancy, or unexplained absences.
In the United States, delay in progress up the levels of schooling is an educational indicator, and the trends are monitored by gender and ethnicity. In New Zealand, information on student age by class level and by ethnicity is no longer collected from schools, so the extent to which students are being delayed and becoming over-age for each level of schooling, particularly at secondary school, is unclear. Being over-age can become a barrier to staying in school once the legal leaving age of 16 is reached. In other words, It is important to monitor all delays in progress through school, including whether Māori girls and Māori boys are over-represented among those being delayed, and if so, what the reasons are. In terms of retention, as well as looking at the proportions of age 14 students who remain in school as their chronological age increases, it is also important to monitor the retention rate of students up to age 14.
7.3 Tertiary education
Looking at Māori enrolment in tertiary education across the lifespan provides a different picture from the one gained by looking at school leaver qualifications or at patterns of tertiary enrolment directly from school. The data for tertiary participation and programme awards show that once they are out of the school system, Māori women's participation and performance in education improves markedly and the disparities with non-Māori that have persisted throughout compulsory schooling are greatly reduced. For Māori men, this is not happening to the same extent. There is a growing gap between the educational achievements of Māori men and those of Māori women, particularly in later life. For Māori women aged 30-39, rates of participation in tertiary education are now over 9%.
However, substantial disparities remain between Māori and non-Māori, for both women and men, with regard to levels of tertiary participation at ages 18-21, and resulting qualifications at degree level or above. Gaining higher qualifications in later life delays the benefits of improved employment and earning capacity which higher qualifications bring.
Difficulty in accessing suitable, affordable childcare continues to affect the ability of mothers, especially Māori mothers, to study and/or train. The NZ Childcare Survey 1998 showed that problems accessing appropriate, affordable ECE and care were a barrier to study/training for 21% of sole mothers and 12% of mothers from two-parent families. A higher proportion of Māori than non-Māori mothers reported this barrier. Overall, only 2.4% of fathers reported the same barrier, and the numbers of Māori fathers in this group were too small to be statistically significant.
Data sources
The Ministry of Education (MoE) provided data from its administrative database. It also provided data related to School Entry Assessment (SEA), the International Education Association (IEA) survey of reading literacy, and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). More information about these surveys can be found in the references noted below.
References
Alton-Lee, A. & Praat, A. (2000). Explaining and Addressing Gender Differences in the New Zealand Compulsory School Sector: A Literature Review. Wellington, Ministry of Education.
Bowkett, M. T. (1996). A Struggle Towards a Theory of Professionalism for Māori Women Educators. Unpublished Master of Education thesis. Massey University, Palmerston North.
Carkeek, L. Davies, L. & Irwin, K. (1994). What Happens to Māori Girls at School? Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Chapple, S. Jefferies, R. & Walker, R. (1997). Māori Participation and Performance in Education: A Literature Review and Research Programme (Summary by Anne Else). Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Clark, E. (with C. Garden) (1995). Barriers to Māori Participation in Early Childhood Education and Strategies to Overcome Them. Paper prepared for Te Puni Kōkiri.
Clark, M. (1999a). Mathematics Education in New Zealand: Have we Failed our Māori Students? in Mathematics Teaching: Where are we at? Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Clark, M. (1999b). Māori and Pacific Islands Student Performance in Mathematics, in Exploring Issues in Mathematics Education. Wellington: Research and Curriculum Division, Ministry of Education.
Cloher, D.U., Singh, D., Yoon, H., Hancock, F. & Roderick, M. (1999). Research Strategy for Examining the Determinants of Māori/Non-Māori Disparities. Wellington: James Henare Māori Research Centre for The Ministry of Research, Science and Technology and Te Puni Kōkiri.
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