BOP school blueprint for iwi-driven Maori schools

Murupara School principal, Pem Bird. Photo / Kelvin Teixeira

An Eastern Bay of Plenty school is set to act as a blueprint for iwi-driven Maori schools throughout New Zealand.

Representatives from the Government and Maori schools met at a hui at Hirangi marae in Turangi two weeks ago to discuss establishing schools for Maori children following a model developed in Murupara.

Murupara principal Pem Bird, awarded a QSM for services to education in the Queen's Birthday honours, is spearheading the initiative.

Eight years ago, Mr Bird established his Te Kura Kaupapa Motuhake o Tawhiuau school to operate along more traditional, iwi-oriented lines.

Now his "special-character" school is set to act as a blueprint for the development of other tangata whenua-driven schools.

Mr Bird is chairman for the new educational group Nga Kura a Iwi o Aotearoa, which has 14 North Island schools signed up for the iwi-directed schooling model.

They would teach "what has been passed down through the generations, including tikanga, stories, and knowledge", Mr Bird said.

"We have already constructed a proposal for the Ministry of Education to consider, and the response has been positive.

"It's just a matter of working through the details."

The aim of the new model is that the Maori schools, just like Mr Bird's own school, will have a more direct relationship with the iwi, as well as with the Crown.

"In a standard school, the board of trustees and the parents are key - but in these schools the iwi and the hapu will play a central role."

Mr Bird said each iwi ought to have at least one such school.

The organisation wanted a close relationship with the Crown, although the group was advocating for the establishment of a separate Maori education authority.

"This would be a separate, parallel authority that catered for the needs of all educational institutions that are governed by kaupapa Maori.

"This is not a new idea - it was first mooted in 1987."

Mr Bird said the new Maori schools would be similar to the native schools that existed earlier, the last of which closed in 1968.

"We want these schools to be established as of right, having a close relationship between the Crown and the hapu and the iwi - along the intentions of the Treaty of Waitangi."

He said the building of new schools might not be necessary, with existing schools transfering to the new model.

"We want to examine how we can collaborate to design new curriculum frameworks, how we can lift achievement through cross-fertilisation between schools, and we want to lift standards in literacy and oracy," he said.

A national moderation system would develop "more rigorous standards than we have now" for the schools.

Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell said he "absolutely" supported the scheme.

"There is general acknowledgement that mainstream is struggling to cater for Maori education," the Maori Party MP said.

"A high percentage of men and women leave the school system without a qualification, and we need to look for successful models with a proven track record."

East Coast MP Anne Tolley, the National Party's shadow education spokeswoman, said a high percentage of Maori boys and girls were leaving school without any qualifications.

"If someone is doing something that works, then we should certainly support them," she said.

Mrs Tolley said she was uncertain about the idea of establishing a school for every iwi "as of right", though.

"There are a whole range of things happening in the area of lifting Maori school achievement. This may well be iwi-related, and we should talk to other iwi about it."

- NZPA