Bicultural education policy in New Zealand

Abstract

Bicultural educational policy is part of a much broader ensemble of bicultural policies that were first developed by the Fourth Labour Government elected in 1984. These policies were an acknowledgement of, and response to, the historical injustices suffered by Māori people as a consequence of colonisation. Bicultural education policy is thought to be a means of addressing the ongoing challenge of educational underachievement of Māori students in the compulsory schooling sector. At present, the dominant discourse in New Zealand education frames the educational underachievement of Māori as a problem associated with cultural differences; however, this tends to obscure explanations that focus on socio-economic disparities. This paper shows how the dominant discourse relating to the underachievement of Māori students is established in policy and maintained through various auditing systems, and how this leaves little space for other explanations or solutions. The paper advocates a move away from an either/or approach to the problem of the educational underachievement of Māori and argues for greater critical engagement with bicultural education policy in order to open up space for conversations that address both the cultural and the socio-economic factors which may affect achievement.

Keywords:

• Biculturalism
• dominant discourse
• socio-economic disparity
• auditing systems

Notes

1. The Māori term for the European, or more accurately, British settler-descendants of New Zealand.

2. Multiculturalism is a polysemous term. While all forms of multiculturalism are concerned with difference and recognition, the kind of difference multiculturalism emphasises and the recognition it claims can be quite different (Colombo, 2015).

3. Ngā Tamatoa (The Warriors) was a Māori activist group that operated throughout the 1970s to promote Māori rights and to fight racial discrimination.

4. In response to significant concerns about the future survival of the Māori language, and to the activity of an increasingly large and mobilised Māori protest movement, the Māori language was made an official language of New Zealand in 1987. A parallel education system, kura kaupapa Māori (Māori-medium) was developed in the late 1980s, initially as a Māori language revitalisation initiative with the aim of developing bicultural and bilingual citizens. Kura kaupapa Māori were originally developed and run outside the state education system; however, they were included within the state education system following the Education Act of 1989.

5. Level 2 NCEA is seen by the government as the benchmark opening the gateway to tertiary education (New Zealand Qualifications Authority 2013).

6. Aotearoa is the Māori name for New Zealand.

7. Māori language.

8. Māori customs.