Te Reo curriculum won’t solve big Maori ed issues

new-zealand-national-party

Wed Mar 21 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Te Reo curriculum won’t solve big Maori ed issues

Wednesday, 21 March 2007, 5:21 pm
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

Tau Henare MP
National Party Maori Affairs Spokesman
(Education)

21 March 2007

Te Reo curriculum won’t solve the big Maori education issues

The release of the Government’s draft Te Reo Maori curriculum is a positive step, but it will not address the most pressing issues facing Maori education, says National’s Maori Affairs Education spokesman, Tau Henare.

The Government today released the draft Te Reo Mâori curriculum guidelines for public consultation.

“I agree that second language learning, including learning Te Reo Maori, has significant academic, cognitive and cultural benefits and is important for New Zealand’s cultural advancement and cohesion,” says Mr Henare.

“But this shouldn’t be at the expense of the Kura kaupapa that we have.

“I am always sceptical about what difference documents like this actually make at the chalkface.

“There are always issues with the translation of curriculum levels and I’m not convinced this draft document will be any different.

“No matter how many new strategies Labour develops for Maori education, it doesn’t make any difference.

“This document won’t make any difference to the number of teachers able to front a class and teach Te Reo, or the number of Maori children who are disengaged from education.

“Issues like high rates of truancy and poor rates of literacy are the biggest education problems facing young Maori right now, and a new curriculum document will not address those.

“The Government needs to look wider than this curriculum document if it wants to provide all the answers to Maori education problems.

“It would have made sense to fund the Maori dictionary project being run by the Maori Language Commission, that way all schools would have had a resource they could use.”

ENDS

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