KEY POINTS:
Under-achievement by Maori students will no longer be excusable and the education system will be held responsible, says Maori Affairs and Associate Education Minister Parekura Horomia.
Mr Horomia yesterday launched the Government's new Maori education policy, Ka Hikitia, which sets out goals, actions, and outcomes over the next five years to lift achievement. It sets specific targets for 2012 such as:
* Increasing the proportion of school leavers with NCEA level 2 or above from 36 per cent to 55 per cent.
* School leavers entering tertiary education within two years from 28 per cent to 32 per cent.
* Increasing the retention rate for those in degree programmes from 81 per cent to 88 per cent.
* Increasing Maori school leavers qualified to attend university from 14 per cent to 30 per cent.
Last year, of Maori taught in the mainstream, 53 per cent of boys and 40 per cent of girls in Year 11 could not pass basic literacy and numeracy tests. Asked if the strategy was an admission something had been wrong for a long time, Mr Horomia said Ka Hikitia was not about criticising teachers but the system did need to take ownership of student achievement.
The launch came on the eve of West Auckland's Waipareira Trust education summit, where chief executive John Tamihere is expected to take teachers and schools to task over what he believes is their failure in delivering results to Maori students.
