Maori Party congratulates ERO on Bold Report

Education spokesperson for the Maori Party, Te Ururoa Flavell, has commended the Education Review Office for its clear message to schools, that no school can be considered to be high performing unless the school can demonstrate that most of its Maori learners are progressing well and succeeding as Maori.

“This report delivers on some of our key Maori Party policy goals for education” said Mr Flavell.

“Our policy statement that we took into the Coalition arrangement stated that the public needs to be provided with better information on school performance including Maori and Pacific achievement" (He aha te mea nui, p14).

"This report delivers on that expectation - reporting on the fact that despite a wealth of evidence, many schools do not yet set targets or undertake appropriate analysis of achievement data, to improve Maori opportunities for success".

“I have been meeting with ERO staff over the last 18 months, asking for more specific information about the measurement and monitoring of Maori achievement, so today’s report is welcomed” said Mr Flavell.

“The Maori Party has also encouraged agencies to promote whanau engagement by investing in communities and innovation”.

“We praise the direction outlined in this report, to require school leaders to engage parents and whanau regularly and involve them in students learning; and to provide leadership, support, encouragement and professional development that promotes success for Maori students”.

“What we are looking for now, is for the Ministry of Education to deliver on another of our key goals, to establish incentives that reward school success and innovation in reducing under-achievement and disengagement”.

“ERO has established the benchmark for defining high performance – and conversely let it be known that schools which are currently failing to lift Maori achievement, will be reviewed more frequently”.

“The Maori Party is now calling on the rest of the system to lift their game, to work with whanau, hapu and iwi as a basis for promoting success for Maori students; and to increase their focus on improving the school's capacity to ensure Maori learners are progressing well and succeeding as Maori”.

“This is about attitudinal change – and ensuring that educationalists make Maori achievement their professional responsibility”.

"Te Kotahitanga is a successful project to address system failures, and the principles of Te Kotahitanga, involving reflective practice by teachers, should be rolled out in all schools- rolling out the principles of Kotahitanga is the way in which we create the attitudinal change we need".