Teachers 'must change' if Maori pupils are to improve

Changing the way teachers work in classrooms is the key to improving the performance of Maori school students, a leading education researcher says.

Russell Bishop, professor of Maori education at the University of Waikato, yesterday briefed MPs about the results of the Te Kotahitanga pilot programme he co-ordinates.

Te Kotahitanga aims to create a more interactive relationship between students and teachers.

The professor's team asked students about their classroom experiences, and then asked teachers to alter the way they took classes to try to remove obstacles to Maori students learning.

Teachers were encouraged to spend more time one-on-one with students, improve their personal relationships with them, and not hold preconceptions that Maori students were likely to be underachievers.

He told Parliament's education and science select committee that students in the trial have shown a marked improvement in academic performance.

Professor Bishop has been accused of being anti-teacher, and a graph he showed the committee - which showed students, principals and families believed classroom relationships were the major barrier to learning while teachers overwhelmingly opted for a student's home life - would be unlikely to endear him to teacher groups.

However, Labour MP Marian Hobbs, a former teacher, said she had been brought to tears after seeing film of students recounting how they had thrived after taking part in the Te Kotahitanga programme.

Professor Bishop was at pains to praise teachers, who he said were "upset and angry and frustrated" people who really wanted to make a difference but were stuck in a hierarchical tradition.

"I'm very hesitant to blame teachers," Professor Bishop said.

"I say that they are stuck in the wrong headspace but I don't think that they are at fault because the vast majority of people go into teaching because they are dedicated people and they care for kids. They want to make a difference."

In this year's Budget, funding for Te Kotahitanga was extended until 2010.

The programme has worked with 422 teachers in the past two years and has now been extended with Government funding to cover almost 2000 teachers.

Research on Maori studying maths found that gains for those learning under teachers who had done the programme were 50 per cent greater than students under teachers who had not.

- Additional reporting NZPA