Membership of Polynesian cultural groups has been found to lower absentee rates and lead to higher levels of success at school an AUT University researcher has found.
Institute of Public Policy researcher Professor Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop found a significant relationship between educational participation and Polynesian Club membership in her study Youth Voices, Youth Choices.
Students who belonged to the club scored higher on every success indicator. They performed better on numeracy and literacy tests and were more likely to be enrolled in and to have completed a higher number of NCEA credits.
"Being a member of the Poly Club helped to bring down absentee rates, in fact some of the students said Poly Club was the only reason they came to school," Fairbairn-Dunlop says.
The study involved interviews and participant observation over a one year period with a group of ten year 12 and 13 Pacific males attending a Wellington secondary school. It looked at how and whether youth participation in Poly Club activities promoted positive identity, integration, leadership, social and cultural connectedness and better school achievement.
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Poly clubs keeping kids in schools
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