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The expected change – 2002 to 2007

Contributing to the achievement of Maori development aspirations requires that the tertiary education sector works in partnership with Māori whānau, hapū and iwi to improve the success of Māori students, be more responsive to diverse Māori realities and make an active contribution to Māori whānau, hapū and iwi development. The importance of this strategy is reinforced in the change messages, particularly developing effective partnership arrangements with Māori communities.

In 2001, the Hui Taumata Mātauranga endorsed three goals for Māori educational advancement:

• to live as Māori
• to actively participate as citizens of the world
• to enjoy a high standard of living and good health.

The success of this strategy needs to be assessed in terms of all three of these dimensions.

While the contribution to Māori development is specifically addressed by this strategy, it is expected that this will also be incorporated in the work resulting from the other strategies.

It is expected that TEOs will strengthen their relationships with and accountability to Māori communities and take greater responsibility for the success of Māori students. There must be opportunities for Māori communities to exercise greater authority and responsibility within the tertiary education system. The tertiary education system must become a more active contributor to regional and national Māori whānau, hapū and iwi development.

The system is expected to incorporate te ao Māori perspectives and address diverse Māori realities. It has a critical role in supporting the development of mātauranga Māori, while respecting Māori ownership of intellectual property, both traditional and contemporary.

It is expected that there will be a stronger emphasis on increasing Māori participation in higher-level qualifications and across the range of disciplines.

The system should be making growing contributions to the overall health and standard of living of Māori. It should be developing Māori learners in a holistic way that acknowledges a broad understanding of ‘being Māori’ in a global society.

The baseline picture in 2002

There was rapid growth in Māori participation in tertiary education in the five years to 2002. By 2002, Māori participation rates (ie Māori students as a proportion of the Māori population) exceeded those of non-Māori. A large amount of this growth was due to the growth in enrolments at wānanga. However, even if wānanga enrolments are taken out of the figures, Māori participation rates still exceeded those of non-Māori.

Forty-four percent of Māori enrolled in 2002 were Māori women aged 25 years and over. There is cause for continued concern about lower rates of participation of Māori in the traditional age group of 18 to 25, particularly young Māori men. While the proportion of Māori students going directly from school to tertiary study grew from 2000 to 2002, it still lagged behind non-Māori.

Māori were much more likely to be enrolled for qualifications below degree level than non-Māori. This is consistent with the relatively new entry of the majority of Māori students to tertiary education with fewer school-level qualifications than non-Māori. At the same time, Māori enrolments at degree level and higher have increased at a faster rate than those of non-Māori.

Māori were well represented in industry training, including Modern Apprenticeships. However, involvement tends to be concentrated in some industries more than others. This is particularly true for Modern Apprenticeships, with quite high representation within forestry.

The growth in enrolments below degree level has clearly flowed through to increased completion of qualifications by Māori at this level. However, the same flow-through from the growth in degree and above enrolments is not evident in the data, raising concerns about Māori completion rates at this level.

There has been significant growth in the provision of kaupapa Māori education through the three wānanga, and particularly through Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. This has supported increased availability of, and enrolments in, te reo Māori and te ao Māori courses. Polytechnics have also increased their capacity in providing te reo Māori courses.

There are also 162 registered providers identifying as Māori providers. NZQA audit results indicate that these providers need support to build their capability. NZQA is currently providing active support to 137 of them.

Data from the Census provides a picture of low proportions of Māori engaged as teaching staff in the tertiary education sector. The growth in Māori students has not been matched by a significant growth in Māori staff. Māori staff often report significantly higher workloads, because they deal with the general support and mentoring of students as well as teaching and research. The challenge is for TEOs to improve their recruitment of Māori staff, including encouraging Māori students at degree and postgraduate level to consider a tertiary teaching career, and also to actively address workload issues for existing staff.

Further development of monitoring

Future monitoring of this strategy will have a greater focus on the engagement of TEOs with Māori whānau, hapū and iwi and their development aspirations. In particular, future monitoring will look at the degree of Māori authority and leadership within partnership arrangements, evidence of TEOs taking greater responsibility for the success of Māori learners and the development of new approaches to meeting the diverse needs of Māori learners.

One source of information for this area will be charters and profiles. These will need to be compared with the perspectives of Māori whānau, hapū and iwi on the level of engagement of TEOs with their communities and their development aspirations. The views of Māori students will be a particularly important measure of success.

Future monitoring will have a greater emphasis on completion, retention and progression. A key issue will be the extent to which Māori who have entered tertiary education through short, certificate-level courses continue on to other studies. Patterns of Māori engagement with tertiary education over a lifetime will also be examined in more detail.

Richer information will also be included on kaupapa Māori, te reo Māori and te ao Māori provision. This will include a fuller picture of provision through Māori PTEs, the development of kaupapa Māori education provision within ‘mainstream’ providers, completion and progression in te ao Māori and te reo Māori courses and more extensive information on Māori research activities.

There is a need to develop systematic information on Māori staff in TEOs, particularly those in teaching roles. Monitoring of TEO plans to recruit and support Māori staff will also need to be included. This will need to be supplemented with information from Māori staff themselves, about issues such as workload, expectations and professional development.

As the monitoring progresses it will develop a greater focus on the contribution of tertiary education to the three goals set out at the start of this section. This will require linking tertiary education to outcomes for Māori across a range of life, health, well-being and cultural areas.

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• Table of Contents

• The Baseline Picture

• Cross Strategy Indicators

• Raise foundation skills

• Skills for our knowledge society

• Strengthen research and knowledge creation

• Te rautaki mātauranga Māori

• Pacific people’s development and success

• Capability and quality

• Technical and Data Definitions