Matauranga Strategy - Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated

• The Government announced its intention to put 3,700 full-time teacher equivalents into
classrooms by 2006. This could be an opportunity for NKII or Taiwhenua and the MOE to
set relevant targets for increasing the number of kura kaupapa Mäori and immersion levels
in schools, retaining Mäori medium teachers, increasing the level of Mäori staff and
increasing teacher proficiency in te reo Mäori for each Taiwhenua. Further research is
also necessary to investigate the impact of Mäori medium education on Mäori children in
kura kaupapa and bilingual schools within Ngäti Kahungunu.
Mäori Membership on Boards of Trustees
• In their report to the Ngäti Kahungunu Mätauranga Board, Te Taiwhenua o Tamaki Nui a
Rua highlighted the need for Mäori whänau in their district to increase their involvement
in schools, particularly as Board of Trustee (BOT) members. They reported that of the 34
schools in their district, 17 had no Mäori board members, representing 50% of the schools
without Mäori participation in governance. In 2001 the number of Mäori BOT members
totalled 15.
• The pattern of BOT membership in 1999 indicates that Mäori remain under-represented
on most boards, such as in Hastings where Mäori represented only 22% of board membership
but 48% of the Mäori population. However in Wairoa Mäori comprised over half of all BOT
members.
Group Special Education
• Inconsistencies in the collection of data between offices proved problematic. Only one of
the four offices holding information on Mäori living in Ngäti Kahungunu was able to supply
information specifically for the Kahungunu rohe that their office serves, including a breakdown
by age, gender and ethnicity. Unfortunately the data provided by this office was compromised
by the use of two categories to describe Mäori ethnicity as Mäori/European and NZ Mäori, and
the organisation of data into three ethnic categories, the third category being Päkeha.
• The inability of three offices to extract information specifically for Mäori living in Ngäti
Kahungunu does indicate the need for the MOE to work with NKII to provide further statistical
information that is both useful and relevant.
Recommendation
It is recommended that aggregated progress reports on the achievement levels of Mäori
children attending primary and Mäori medium schools within the Ngäti Kahungunu rohe, be
made available to NKII on a regular basis and where necessary appropriate programmes to
strengthen the numeracy and literacy achievements of Mäori children in Ngäti Kahungunu be
initiated.
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