The report found many ethnic students succeed in education and do “really well at school”, ERO Education Evaluation Centre head Ruth Shinoda said.
“Learners from ethnic communities are more likely to achieve well at NCEA and go on to university.”
But, it also highlighted they faced “widespread racism” at school, Shinoda said.
One in five ethnic students told the ERO they experienced racist bullying in the past month and over half said they had seen others being bullied because of their ethnicity.
“It is really concerning that nearly a third of learners from ethnic communities said they don’t think their school takes racist bullying seriously. We must do better - every school needs to be able to prevent and tackle racism,” Shinoda said.
In the report, ethnic students said they often felt like they “do not belong” or had to “hide their ethnic identity” at school.
A third said they felt lonely at school every week.
“It is very worrying that over a quarter of secondary learners said that teachers’ recommendations for course selection were influenced by ethnicity,” Shinoda said.
“As New Zealand’s schools become more diverse there is an exciting opportunity to look again at what we teach and how we teach.”
Shinoda said through the research ERO found that education was not currently always reflecting “what whānau from ethnic communities want”.
“As we become more diverse as a country this will need to change.
“For example, nearly two-thirds of whānau think schools should support their mother tongue, but there are 11 ethnic languages which are not available as NCEA qualifications.
“This includes Hindi, which is New Zealand’s fourth most commonly spoken language.”
The ERO found that although some schools across New Zealand were already innovating to deliver education to more diverse classrooms and saw examples of great practice, not all schools were adopting new approaches, Shinoda said.
“Concerningly, more than half of teachers do not feel confident connecting with New Zealand’s ethnic communities.
“Learners from ethnic communities should have a strong say in the education they receive so not only can they continue to achieve in education but also thrive at school.
“As New Zealand becomes more ethnically diverse it is increasingly urgent for our future as a country that education delivers for all learners.”
Ministry of Education deputy secretary policy Andy Jackson said racist or discriminatory behaviour had no place in New Zealand’s education system or anywhere in the community.
“As the ERO report notes, there are many schools that work very effectively to respect and respond to the identity, language and culture of every student; these schools typically have established strong relationships with whānau and family and have inclusive cultures that engage Māori, Pacific, migrant, disabled and rainbow learners and their families.
“We provide schools with support to respond in this way through a range of actions.
“We are embedding this focus through the refresh of the National Curriculum which drives the content of teaching and learning in our schools and is grounded in principles of biculturalism and inclusivity and informed by diverse collaborative groups. We want all our tamariki to see themselves in their learning and get the learning they need.”
A Ministry for Ethnic Communities spokesperson said the long-term insights briefing (LTIB) by the Education Review Office was done in partnership with it.
“It is the first in-depth study on the educational experiences of learners from diverse ethnic communities and their whānau.
“The findings of the Education For All Our Children: Embracing Diverse Ethnicities report show that despite the efforts made to date, we need to do more to make Aotearoa New Zealand and its systems, including education, more inclusive.”
The spokesperson said the ministry welcomed the release of the report.
“We look forward to using the informative data from the study to provide updated evidence-based advice to the government and working with relevant stakeholders on the report’s recommendations.”
- Ethnicity is defined as the ethnic groups that people identify with or feel they belong to. Ethnic communities included in the report are African, Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern.
