Equality of educational opportunity, merit and the New Zealand education system

Abstract

Pacific students in New Zealand (NZ) quickly learn that they are not very smart. The statistics tell them this. They also come to believe that they do not try very hard. The talk of equal opportunities tells them this, especially when it is coupled with negative statistics. This is not surprising. Education in NZ has been embedded in notions of egalitarianism and merit throughout its history, and this has been accepted in a ‘common sense’ way. Many New Zealanders still believe that an individual's ability to be successful is based on their merits, generally viewed as a combination of factors including innate abilities, working hard, having the right attitude, and having high moral character and integrity. New Zealanders not only tend to think that is the way the system should work, but most actually accept uncritically that this is how it does work. This paper discusses the historical understandings of merit and equality of educational opportunity in NZ and how these understandings have informed historical education policies for Maori and Pacific students in NZ.

Keywords:

• merit
• equality of educational opportunity
• New Zealand education system

Notes

In 1880, there were 57 Native schools with 1625 children enrolled (Harker, 1990). By 1945, the number of Native schools had increased to 156 and catered to 11,500 Maori children. A large proportion of Maori children were also enrolled in Boarding schools – 13,500 (Mason, 1945) exposing them not only to racism and indifference (Simon, 2000) but also to the “exacting face” of white norms and culture. Attendance at both Board schools and Native schools was open to all students, and by the early 1900s, there were more Maori children enrolled in Board schools than there were in Native schools. Nonetheless, typically Native schools were frequented by Maori children, and Board schools by white children. As a consequence of the urbanization of Maori that accompanied the industrialization of New Zealand's economy in the post-World War 2 era, a larger proportion of Maori children were enrolled in Board schools (Shuker, 1987).

The adaptation policy was a response to in part to concerns being expressed by young Maori leaders as to the negative impacts of the assimilation policy. These concerns were combined with recognition of Maori resilience in resisting pakeha education as it was at the time, the influence of developments in anthropology as an academic discipline, a revised policy from the Colonial Office in relation to the education of ‘native’ people in British Tropical Africa and philosophical shifts underpinning the progressive education era. All pointed to a need for a new approach (see, e.g. Kare-Ariki, 2000; Simon, 1998).

New Zealand had historical links to Niue, Tokelau, Cook Islands and Samoa as their colonial administrator.