Introduction to the Māori Advisory Process for Monitoring the Tertiary Education Strategy
As part of the ongoing development of the monitoring framework for the ?Tertiary Education Strategy?, the ?Ministry of Education? considers it is critical to seek the input and advice from iwi Māori, Māori tertiary and community representatives on how we go about monitoring.
To do this the Ministry has set up a relatively new approach that involves working a range of people from different areas, covering whānau, hapū and iwi, students, staff and tertiary education organisations. The aim of this approach is to ensure that all voices are heard and that we get a rich set of information and perspectives coming through the discussions.
The project began in 2003 with three hui held in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Across all three hui several consistent themes about monitoring that came through:
- the need for the Ministry to make sure we have made full use of previous advice - particularly from Hui Taumata and the ?Maori Tertiary Education Framework?
- being aware of the bigger picture and aspirations of Māori whānau, hapū and iwi and that the TES only addresses some aspects of these
- the importance of getting information directly from Māori whānau, hapū and iwi on their views of the changes in the tertiary sector — and not just relying on what the tertiary education organisations report in their charters and profiles
- the use of case studies to get a fuller and deeper picture of what is happening in local areas
- the need to look for Māori leadership and authority when assessing the relationships that tertiary providers are developing with Māori whānau, hapū and iwi.
There was general agreement across the three hui that the Ministry should continue with the Māori Advisory Process. The key points raised were:
- continue to ensure a wide range of perspectives are covered in the process, particularly those of students
- people want a clearer sense of what the purpose of each round of hui will be and what we intend to achieve
- preparatory information and work should be sent out before each round of hui to help people focus on the task.
The areas where people had strongest interest in providing ongoing advice were:
- development of the evaluation of the current Tertiary Education Strategy
- methodologies for gathering information on perspectives of Māori whānau, hapū and iwi
- development of indicators for aspects of the Strategy that are particularly important for Māori.
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