Relationship with iwi leaders supports better outcomes for ākonga Māori

Issue: Volume 101, Number 14

Posted: 1 November 2022
Reference #: 1HAXb2

The Mātauranga Iwi Leaders Group and Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga share their insights after two years working together in a formalised partnership.

Pou Tangata co-chairs, Rahui Papa and Dame Naida Glavish welcome whānau at the Whakatū roadshow.

Pou Tangata co-chairs, Rahui Papa and Dame Naida Glavish welcome whānau at the Whakatū roadshow.

The Mātauranga Iwi Leaders Group (MILG) is the iwi leaders group collective delegated by the National Iwi Chairs Forum (NICF) to identify issues of importance relating to education. 

There are 83 member iwi. MILG lead technician Hana O’Regan explains the role of the NICF, and its committees, is to advocate for iwi and influence issues for better outcomes for ākonga, their whānau, iwi and hapū.  

“It is not a decision-making body at the local or regional level, and all iwi and hapū maintain their absolute mana and rangatiratanga over kaupapa and take in their respective rohe.”

The MILG prepares strategic positions on education matters, takes these to the forum and has them endorsed by the collective.  

“We work constructively with Government and other entities to advance our goals in education and learning for iwi Māori learners, influencing and helping shape education and learning responses now and into the future,” says Hana.

The relationship between MILG and Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga was formalised in 2020 with a contractual agreement, which will be reviewed in 2023. The collective voice of MILG was one of the keys as to why the relationship has come about. 

Secretary for Education Iona Holsted says, “The MILG provides a collective voice on behalf of the iwi who form the National Iwi Chairs Forum. In that respect it provides an effective way of engaging with iwi Māori at a national level, as a Te Tiriti partner on matters of education policy and practice as it relates to outcomes for Māori.”

Rangatahi intern technicians, Hinepounamu Apanui-Barr, Ethan Hall and Jasmine Te Hira with members of the Mātauranga Iwi Leaders Group.

Rangatahi intern technicians, Hinepounamu Apanui-Barr, Ethan Hall and Jasmine Te Hira with members of the Mātauranga Iwi Leaders Group.

A growing relationship

As with any relationship it has taken time to build an effective working partnership. 

“When we first started the relationship, it took us some time to build trust and transparency. Te Tāhuhu work programme is vast and it is easy to overwhelm those not deep in it with the pace and complexity of what we are working on,” says Iona.

Hana adds to this, saying the relationship has been growing steadily, with several gains being made.

“However, we have a long way still to go. The Ministry is a big and complex group and the MILG is a small team working across several areas. We have all agreed we need to do better at ensuring timely communication and engagement takes place in a way where the NICF can effectively and meaningfully participate and influence educational policy, practice, and delivery to improve outcomes for Māori learners.” 

The relationship between Te Tāhuhu and MILG is critical to successfully engaging and planning collaboratively with iwi on short and long-term work programmes and strategies. It is not the only voice of Māori that Te Tāhuhu engages at the national level, but it is an influential one.

Hana agrees, saying that from the perspective of MILG, “as the primary organisation responsible for formal teaching and learning, the Ministry relationship plays a major role in the kaupapa of importance to the MILG and NICF. We also have a relationship with Te Pukenga, and other educational agencies such as NZQA and TEC.”

Mātauranga Iwi Leaders Group technicians with chair Olivia Hall and lead rechnician, Dr Hana O’Regan at the August 2022 National Iwi Chairs Forum held in Ruatōria .

Mātauranga Iwi Leaders Group technicians with chair Olivia Hall and lead rechnician, Dr Hana O’Regan at the August 2022 National Iwi Chairs Forum held in Ruatōria .

Focus on equity

The partnership helps give iwi a voice within the education sector to advocate on matters of importance developed by or occurring in Te Tāhuhu.

When asked about future developments being planned, it is clear there has been discussion as to priorities going forward. 

MILG and Te Tāhuhu have agreed that they will focus on equity in relation to: data, streaming, the digital divide, te reo Māori and STEM. Attendance and engagement have also been a shared priority as schools work to reconnect with whānau and ākonga who have had their learning disrupted by Covid. 

“Our joint focus on presence, participation and progress at school – launched following Covid-19 – provides an important opportunity not just to reconnect ākonga with attending school but for the curriculum to be designed to deeply engage them, that is, participate in learning.  

Providing relevant and engaging learning opportunities will be critical to increasing ākonga Māori participation in STEM, another of the agreed focus areas.    

“Maths and sciences are deep bodies of mātauranga knowledge and by connecting to those, schools can make themselves places of choice for Māori,” explains Iona.

In terms of the focus on data, this will look at providing iwi-based data to support whānau to work with their tamariki and to form educational plans. 

“We’re working hard to shift the equity dial that leads to improved voice and outcomes for our Māori,” explains Hana.

Rangatahi intern technicians, Urukahinga Rei and Caleb Brothers at Uepohatu.

Rangatahi intern technicians, Urukahinga Rei and Caleb Brothers at Uepohatu.

For equity in relation to te reo Māori, the Education and Training Act 2020 creates an entitlement for any student to be taught te reo Māori (by 2024).  

“We know there are insufficient numbers of te reo Māori teachers and look forward to working with MILG to find innovative solutions to allow ākonga Māori, in the first instance, to have access to their reo,” says Iona.

Efforts to move away from the use of streaming is another area that has the potential to make a big difference for equity. Research shows that structural streaming lowers expectations for children in “the low stream” and overall reduces achievement.  

“Te Tāhuhu has been more a backroom partner in this work – providing funding to Tokono Te Raki, a Ngāi Tahu Māori Futures Collective, to support its campaign to end streaming. This has been an effective partnership with both major education unions formally opposing streaming at their national conferences. The main barrier now to giving effect to this change is for teachers to develop new capabilities in teaching mixed-ability classes,” explains Iona.  

Hana is looking forward to these developments, saying, “We look forward to early engagement on the next work programme for education, a collaborative effort on accessing useful educational data relevant to MILG requests and discussions on continuation of resourcing for the mobilisation phase of the iwi-led programme to end streaming in Aotearoa.”

Sustainable solutions

As to the digital divide during Covid-19, Te Tāhuhu supplied digital devices to senior secondary schools in Deciles 1–3 where they did not already have them and connected several thousand households to broadband. However, Iona recognises while this went some way to briefly closing the digital divide it is not a sustainable solution. 

“Te Tāhuhu is working with Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and Department of Internal Affairs to find community-wide solutions to the digital divide. I know the lack of a sustainable solution is frustrating for MILG.”

The MILG are also finalising a future work plan to ensure the equity gap is not further exacerbated by the disruptions of Covid. They continue to focus on the following priority areas:

  • Long-terms effects of the continued education disruption, particularly in Tāmaki Makaurau, Waikato and Northland.
  • Investment into education transitions and pathways which includes the re-engagement of learners. 
  • Targeted support for mental wellbeing and those with additional learner needs.
  • Building of whānau learner capability.

Iona says the most powerful thing we can achieve is for schools and early learning services to be building educationally powerful connections with whānau and iwi and for that to happen, leaders and teachers need to make their schools and services welcoming and whānau need to be given the tools and confidence to demand an effective relationship.  

“This is a big shift for many whānau whose own experiences with schooling, in particular, felt exclusive and alien. I know that MILG is working with whānau on this, Te Mahau (the entrance to Te Tāhuhu) is providing some resource to support whānau and iwi and are also working alongside schools to grow their capability to connect with their Māori communities.”

Pou Tangata roadshow in Ōtautahi.

Pou Tangata roadshow in Ōtautahi.

BY Education Gazette editors
Education Gazette | Tukutuku Kōrero, reporter@edgazette.govt.nz

Posted: 1:51 pm, 1 November 2022

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