The Ka Hikitia Policy and Potential

The Ka Hikitia Policy and Potential

Introduction

It has long been recognised that Māori learners are not being equitably served by the Aotearoa New

Zealand education system (Auditor-General, 2012; Bishop & Glynn, 1999; Durie, 2011; Education Review

Office, 2010; Macfarlane, 2004; Te Puni Kōkiri, 2000; Waitangi Tribunal, 1999) and over the years there

have been a myriad of policies which have attempted to address this issue (Auditor-General, 2012;

Smith, 2012). This essay will analyse one such policy – Ka Hikitia - Managing for Success: The Māori

Education Strategy 2008-2012 – for its potential to contribute to positive Māori development and

positive educational outcomes for Māori learners. This policy has been selected for analysis as it is the

latest in the government’s Māori Education policies which is due to expire at the end of 2012, therefore

it is timely that this policy is analysed for the potential it holds and the progress that has been made

towards realising that potential. This policy will be analysed against Professor Mason Durie’s (2001)

Framework for Considering Māori Education which was presented to the 2001 Hui Taumata Mātauranga.

A Framework for Considering Māori Education

Durie’s (2001) Framework for Considering Māori Education outlines three broad goals of education for

Māori, with three principles that need to be upheld in order to achieve the goals and three pathways

through which the goals may be achieved. Although education alone will not be able to achieve these

goals, it should make a significant contribution to each of them (Durie, 2001). A final aspect that makes

up the framework is the development of a Māori planning capacity for long term planning and policy

development. Figure 1 below, provides a representation of how the framework interacts.

Emma Scobie-Jennings Analysis of Ka Hikitia

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Figure 1: A Framework for Considering Māori Education

Overview of Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success

The latest government policy aimed at lifting educational engagement and achievement of Māori

students is entitled Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success: The Māori Education Strategy 2008-2012

(Ministry of Education, 2009a). This policy was released by the Labour Government’s Ministry of

Education in April 2008 and updated and re-released in 2009 when the National Government took office.

Goren (2009) notes the significance of the fact that this policy not only survived a change in government,

but has been actively supported by the current government.

The strategic intent behind Ka Hikitia is that Māori will enjoy educational success as Māori. This requires

a transformation of the education system to “provide all Māori learners with the opportunity to get

what they require to realise their own unique potential and succeed in their lives as Māori.” (Ministry of

Education, 2009a, p. 18). In order to initiate this change, Ka Hikitia provides two key conceptual

frameworks – the Māori Potential Approach and Māori Enjoying Education Success as Māori – along

with strategic focus areas, key levers for change, and identified goals, actions, targets and outcomes

(Goren, 2009) underpinned by a wide range of evidence (Ministry of Education, 2008).

The Broad Goals

To live as Maori

To participate as citizens of

the world

Good health; high standard

of living

The Principles Best outcomes

Integrated action

Indigeneity

The Pathways

Maori centred pathway

Maori added pathway

Collaborative pathway

Capacity

Māori capacity

for integrated

long term

planning and

policy

development


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Analysis of Ka Hikitia against Durie’s Framework – the Potential

In order to analyse Ka Hikitia against Durie’s (2001) Framework, this essay will establish whether the

policy contributes to achieving the three goals and incorporates the principles suggested by Durie. It will

also assess the extent to which the policy supports the various pathways espoused in the framework as

well as the provision within the policy for long term planning.

Goal One: Māori living as Māori

Durie’s (2001) Framework deems that education should prepare learners for participation in society, and

this should include preparation for participation in te ao Māori – access to language, culture, marae and

resources. One of the essential concepts underpinning Ka Hikitia is the strategic intent – ‘Māori

enjoying education success as Māori’ – which recognises the desire of Māori to live and contribute as

Māori in te Ao Māori, Aotearoa New Zealand and the wider world. This concept corresponds with the

set of ideas about Māori self-determination articulated by Durie (2001) at the Hui Taumata Mātauranga.

Durie (2001, p. 4) believes “education should be consistent with the goal of enabling Māori to live as

Māori”. This means that if the purpose of education is to prepare students to participate in society, it

must not be forgotten that students also require preparation for participation in Māori society. Durie

(2001, p. 4) further describes that the education sector must not ignore the meaning of being Māori and

must accept some obligation to “prepare students for active lives within Māori society, not simply to

learn about Māori but to live as Māori.” This goal is translated into policy through Ka Hikitia and

requires that the education system will provide all Māori students with the opportunity to receive the

education they require to realise their own unique potential and succeed as Māori (Ministry of

Education, 2009a).

This goal is specifically actioned through Focus area three of Ka Hikitia, which identifies Māori Language

in Education as being an important element for enabling Māori to live as Māori. The improvements in

this area are focussed on establishing strong processes for Māori-medium schools; promoting effective

teaching and learning of, and through, te reo Māori; strengthening the supply of quality teachers; and

building the evidence base for mātauranga Māori.


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Goal Two: Māori participating as citizens of the world

Ka Hikitia recognises that the educational success of Māori students is critical to Aotearoa New

Zealand’s success and one of the four student outcomes identified in the policy requires that Māori

learners will gain the universal skills and knowledge needed to successfully participate in and contribute

to Aotearoa New Zealand and the world (Ministry of Education, 2009a). This goal is closely linked to the

following one, and requires a reversal of the levels of underachievement Māori currently face in

education. Focus area two of Ka Hikitia aims to keep young people (particularly Year 9 and 10 students)

engaged in learning. This focus area requires schools to make pathways for learning more relevant to

Māori students and support them to move from secondary to further education or training pathways,

enabling them to contribute to Aotearoa New Zealand’s economy and to participate as a citizen of the

world.

Goal Three: Māori enjoying good health and a high standard of living

This goal is based on the reasoning that increasing educational achievement correlates directly with

employment, income levels, standards of health and quality of life (Durie, 2001). Ka Hikitia supports the

achievement of this goal and employs the Māori Potential Approach which provides a context for “the

shifts in attitudes, thinking and practice required to achieve significant improvements in Māori

education outcomes” (Ministry of Education, 2009a, p.19). The foundation of this approach is the belief

that Māori are the key means to achieving exceptional life quality for themselves, their whānau and

their communities. It was developed as a Māori public policy framework by Te Puni Kōkiri (2008, p. 1),

and they describe the Māori Potential Approach as affirming that “Māori have the capability, initiative

Education should open doors to technology, the economy, arts and sciences,

to understanding others, and to making a contribution to the greater good.

Educators must recognise that Māori children will live in a variety of

situations and should be able to move from one to the other with relative

ease. School should provide learners with a readiness to confront the world

and actively participate as contributing citizens.

(Durie, 2001)


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and aspiration to make choices for themselves, in ways that support their cultural identify, while

contributing to exceptional life quality.” Rather than identifying Māori students and their whānau as

problems that need fixing, this approach emphasises the importance of realising the potential, cultural

advantages, and inherent capability of Māori as the initial stage for policy development (Goren, 2009).

This reversal of the usual model of deficit thinking that has pervaded education for Māori for a long time

is a positive move which is supported by many authors and researchers in the area (Auditor-General,

2012; Bishop & Glynn, 1999; Durie, 2011; Macfarlane, 2004; Ministry of Education, 2008).

The strategy indentifies four focus areas for improvement, three of which attend to particular areas of

vulnerability and risk for underachievement for Māori students in the education system (Ministry of

Education, 2009a). These four areas are:

Foundation Years (early childhood education and the first years at school)

Young People Engaged in Learning (particularly in Years 9 and 10)

Māori Language in Education (setting and resourcing priorities)

Organisational Success (strong leadership across the Ministry of Education and the education

sector).

The combination of the Māori Potential Approach and the identification of areas and actions to be taken

where Māori students are particularly at risk of underachieving will contribute to achieving the goal of

ensuring Māori can enjoy good health and a high standard of living through gaining a successful

education, which Durie (2001) notes lays the groundwork for a healthy lifestyle and a career with an

income which can support a high standard of living.

Principles for Education: the Principle of Best Outcomes

It is unacceptable for students to leave an educational institution without having achieved the best

possible outcome (Durie, 2001). Unless all students make significant and measureable progress towards

reaching the three identified goals, then the system has failed them. Durie (2001) explains that what

best outcomes are for Māori is yet to be defined, but comparing Māori with non-Māori is misleading and


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presupposes that Māori are aiming to be like Pākehā when they might aspire to be better, different or

markedly superior. This principle asks for zero tolerance of failure – instead of finding reasons for poor

performance, joint resolution must be made to prevent such high levels of human wastage.

This principle is espoused throughout Ka Hikitia via the Māori Potential Approach, as described above

this approach requires educators to acknowledge that all Māori learners have unlimited potential; that

all Māori have cultural advantage by virtue of who they are and to view being Māori as an asset not a

problem; and that all Māori are inherently capable of achieving success (Ministry of Education, 2009a).

Ka Hikitia supports a move away from deficit-thinking to a focus on making the most of opportunities for

success. Focus area four: Organisational Success upholds this principle also by supporting individuals

within the Ministry to increase their confidence and ability to connect with Māori, so they know why,

where, and how to focus work to get the best outcomes for and with Māori (Ministry of Education,

2010).

Principles for Education: the Principle of Integrated Action

This principle recognises that educational success or failure is the result of many forces acting together

and that there are many players in education. To prevent development being piecemeal and uneven,

there must be integration and co-operation between institutions such as home and school, as well as

better co-ordination across the sectors (Durie, 2001).

Ka Hikitia incorporates this principle and emphasises working together and sharing power. The Ministry

of Education (2009a) describes that the strategy charges everyone in the education system, as well as

whānau and iwi, with responsibility for Māori education success. The approach taken throughout the

document acknowledges that there are many important parties who have input into Māori education.

Students, parents, whānau, iwi, educators, providers, Māori communities, enterprises, and government

can make a positive and distinctive contribution and each has a range of talents, skills, knowledge and

resources to offer that are essential in supporting quality education outcomes (Ministry of Education,

2009a).


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The first two focus areas (Foundation Years and Young People Engaged in Learning) also make direct

mention of the importance of integrated action – acknowledging that effective home-school

partnerships are vital to ensuring children get the best start in education and when establishing the

basis for successful learning in secondary school (Ministry of Education, 2009a).

Principles for Education: the Principle of Indigeneity

The third principle relates to the importance of recognising Māori as tangata whenua and affording

them the rights that this position entails, not just through the Treaty of Waitangi but also through the

Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (United Nations, 2007), which Aotearoa New Zealand is

a party to.

A significant and recurring theme discovered in the research of Jenkins (2002) concerned the

fundamental importance of educational practice embracing and reinforcing the cultural identity of

students. This view stands in direct contrast to traditional mainstream policies and practice where

knowledge and learning is both dictated by, and delivered from, a predominantly Eurocentric

perspective, and where learners, particularly from non-European backgrounds are essentially required

to leave who they are at the school gate (Jenkins, Moltzen, & Macfarlane, 2004).

Ka Hikitia acknowledges the importance of this finding and through the Māori Potential Approach and

the recognition that Māori must be able to enjoy education success as Māori not by pretending to be

non-Māori or by leaving who they are at the school gate.

Pathways

Durie (2001) suggests that there are three pathways through which his identified goals may be achieved

and that all three need to be recognised as necessary, given the diversity and resource limitations of


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Māori. Some pathways will be able to give greater emphasis to a particular goal but all three of these

pathways should be able to incorporate the principles identified above. The three pathways are:

Māori centred pathway – Largely under Māori direction and an obvious focus on increasing access to te

ao Māori, for example Kohanga Reo, Kura Kaupapa Māori and Iwi Wānanga.

Māori added pathway – As most Māori children do not attend Māori centred educational pathways, a

Māori dimension must be added to mainstream education. This may be as a relatively autonomous unit

within the wider institution or integrated into all aspects of the operation.

Collaborative pathway – If excellent outcomes benchmarked against the best in the world are the aim,

then increasing collaboration of effort within and outside Aotearoa New Zealand will become an integral

pathway to education. This requires co-operation between Māori and the state in planning and

providing educational policies and programmes.

At the heart of Ka Hikitia is the emphasis on developing a “high quality education system that is

accessible, equitable and responsive to different learning aspirations, ensuring every education option is

a quality choice.” (Ministry of Education, 2009a, p. 11). Throughout the policy document is recognition

that all three of the pathways recommended by Durie (2001) need to supply a quality education and

that co-operation is required between them as well as between Māori and government in order to be

able to provide this. Focus area three describes that all students must be able to access quality Māori

language education options across the education sector, and to achieve this, “necessary support and

resources must be made available to ensure both quality provision and a strong network of providers”

(Ministry of Education, 2009a, p. 24). In Focus area two, the Ministry of Education (2009a) describes the

importance of collaborative pathways to education and notes that better collaboration between schools,

Māori communities, business, industry, and enterprises enable learning to become more relevant and

can support not only career decision making but also student motivation and engagement.

Planning Capacity

The final aspect identified by Durie (2001) to be taken into consideration when actioning the suggested

goals is the development of an independent Māori capacity for integrated long term policy and planning.


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Durie (2001) believes that there is a “need for a Māori capacity, broadly representative and outside the

Government, to take an integrated approach to planning so that sectoral limitations are circumvented

and longer term plans can be hatched.” (p. 12). This capacity would better serve Māori achievement by

taking a holistic approach to policy development and creating a plan that integrates education into the

wider arena of Māori ambition.

While Ka Hikitia itself does not provide the capacity for ongoing long term planning, mentioned as a part

of Focus area three: Māori Language in Education is the development of The Māori Language Education

Outcomes Framework, which identifies government investment priorities for Māori language education

over the next 10 years for both Māori-medium and English-medium education. Another long term

policy implemented in schools through 2009/10 is Te Mātauranga o Aotearoa, the curriculum document

that sets the direction and policy for teaching, learning and assessment in Māori medium schools and

settings. This policy document was designed from a Māori perspective, with the support of education

organisations, teachers, principals, boards of trustees, whānau, parents, iwi and the wider community.

The Ministry of Education (2009b) believes that the curriculum will help achieve the goals set out in Ka

Hikitia and contribute to the revitalisation of te reo Māori. However, these two initiatives and the Ka

Hikitia policy, do not address Durie’s (2001) vision of a Māori planning capacity that is outside of

Government and can take an integrated long term approach to policy planning for Māori. The vision of

Ka Hikitia is only relatively short term, encompassing five years, which in Durie’s (2001) eyes does not

provide enough time to create a real culture change. Plans like this need to be over a longer term, with

short term goals incorporated into them, but a vision for the future clearly articulated by way of long

term goals.

Ka Hikitia – the Progress

There have been several reports (Education Review Office, 2010; Ministry of Education, 2010) produced

since the development of Ka Hikitia, analysing the progress that has been made towards realising the

potential that the policy holds. One report was produced by the Education Review Office (ERO) (2010)

who included evaluation of the extent board and school personnel used Ka Hikitia to inform thinking,

planning and action in their reviews carried out in Terms 2 and 3 of 2009. The other report was


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prepared by the Ministry of Education’s Education Information and Analysis Group and is the latest

available annual report that monitors the achievement of government’s key priorities for the education

success of Māori learners. Up-to-date information and statistics about progress towards the targets

from Ka Hikitia are also available on the Education Counts website (Education Counts, 2012).

By all accounts progress towards achieving the goals set out in Ka Hikitia is slow and steady and where

the strategy has been implemented, it is making a significant difference (Education Counts , 2012;

Education Review Office, 2010; Ministry of Education, 2010). The ERO (2010) review found that two-

thirds of the 227 primary schools and almost half of the 60 secondary schools reviewed were familiar

with Ka Hikitia and had made some changes to their practice because of the policy. ERO (2010) found

that those who had made changes as a result of the policy had statistically significant improved

outcomes for Māori students. Figure 2, below, shows the areas of improvement seen in these schools.

Figure 2: Areas of Improvement after Consideration of Ka Hikitia - Managing for Success

However, ERO (2010) notes that since the schools had only had Ka Hikitia for approximately a year, the

link between these improvements and the policy cannot be definite. They did find though that the

schools who placed a high priority on improving outcomes for Māori were more likely to have

Māori student engagement

Boards’ knowledge and understanding of factors affecting Māori achievement

Engagement with the Māori community (in primary schools)

The quality of Māori student achievement and achievement information

The quality of teachers’ and school leaders’ data analysis

Provision of learning experiences that met the specific needs of individual Māori students

The use of analysed Māori student achievement data to inform school review and policy

development

The quality of reports on Māori student achievement for the board and school community

Appropriate Māori student achievement targets set by school leaders and boards

Māori student achievement in NCEA Level 1 (in secondary schools).


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considered Ka Hikitia and used it to help them set and meet their targets and make changes to their

practice (Education Review Office, 2010).

Ngā Haeata Mātauranga – The Annual Report on Māori Education 2008/2009 (Ministry of Education,

2010) and the Education Counts report, ‘Progress against Māori Education Targets: Ka Hikitia –

Managing for Success’ provide a more in-depth analysis of the progress towards the targets set out in Ka

Hikitia as well as detailing the challenges that still lay ahead for the education sector. The Ministry of

Education (2010) found that in 2009, 91.4% of Māori new entrants had participated in early childhood

education up 1% from 2008. The proportion of Māori early childhood educators who are registered has

also increased, to 52.8% - more than double the 2004 rate. They note several key challenges that need

to be addressed as the policy continues to be implemented. These are that National Standards are

implemented in a culturally responsive manner; that there are still insufficient teachers proficient in te

reo Māori to ensure Māori-medium options are available to all that require them; and that there is a

need for more focussed resourcing to specifically address literacy and numeracy learning in the first two

years of school (Ministry of Education, 2010).

Achievement of Māori students in secondary school and progression to tertiary education (Focus area

two) has also been improving since the development of the Ka Hikitia strategy. In 2010, 51.0% of Māori

students stayed at school until at least 17 ½ years old, a significant increase from 39.1% in 2007 and an

extra 10% of Māori students gained NCEA level 2 or above in 2010 compared to 2007 (Education Counts,

2012). Despite these improvements however, the Ministry of Education (2010) found that secondary

schools are still not enabling enough Māori students to gain foundations for worthwhile qualifications

and Māori students are still not taking subjects that open up opportunities for higher-level tertiary

education.

Focus area three – Māori Language in Education – has also seen an increase. The Ministry of Education

(2010) notes that the size of the Māori language education sector is increasing with 88 kura kaupapa

Māori, kura teina and designated character schools operating in 2009. The achievement of students in

Māori-medium schools is significantly higher than in other schools and the resources available to

support these learners are increasing with the launching of Te Mātauranga o Aotearoa in 2008 and other


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professional development programmes implemented to strengthen the language proficiency of teachers

in both Māori and English-medium settings. A major challenge facing progress in this area though is that

the supply of schooling options and effective Māori language teachers cannot meet the demand for

Māori-language education (Ministry of Education, 2010).

There has been much progress towards achieving the goals of the forth focus area of Ka Hikitia,

Organisational Success. The Ministry of Education (2010) describes many actions that have been taken

towards achieving the targets set out for this area, too many to list here. However some highlights are -

better opportunities have been created to improve outcomes by encouraging better co-ordination with

other sector and government agencies and sharing of expertise, operational capabilities and

relationships and better communication by the Ministry with iwi and Māori education groups and the

alignment of their education plans with the strategy. Agencies and organisations such as the Tertiary

Education Commission, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, New Zealand Qualifications Authority, Education

Review Office, Career Services Rapuara, New Zealand Teachers Council as well as every group within the

Ministry of Education have developed and implemented plans to contribute to the goals of Ka Hikitia.

There is a key challenge for the Ministry of Education in sustaining these developments however, and

the Ministry of Education (2010) notes that as the strategy continues to be implemented they must

ensure all their activities and investments take into consideration what works for Māori students and

that all staff understand the imperatives behind the strategic objective ‘Māori enjoying education

success as Māori’, and understand their roles and responsibility for Māori education success.

Conclusion

Education outcomes for Māori are improving. Data illustrated in this essay and to a larger extent in

reports such as those by the Ministry of Education (2010), the Education Review Office (2010) and

Education Counts (2012) demonstrate that Māori are being better served by the education system due

to the implementation of Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success: The Māori Education Strategy 2008-2012.

However these reports also demonstrate that there are still further challenges to be met in the


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education of Māori and that although there has been improvement, in order to meet the targets set out

in the strategy, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Ka Hikitia has great potential to contribute to positive Māori development and positive educational

outcomes for Māori learners as can be seen through the analysis of this document against Durie’s (2001)

Framework for Considering Māori Education however the downfall lays in the short term scope of the

policy and the difficulty facing schools of implementing this policy alongside a myriad of other policies

and changes such as National Standards and revised NCEA requirements. If the approaches

recommended in this strategy are sustainably implemented then Māori learners will all be able to enjoy

education success as Māori.

References

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Education Review Office. (2010). Promoting success for Māori students: Schools' progress - June 2010.

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kaupapa Māori. In H. Lauder, & C. Wylie (Eds.), Towards Successful Schooling (2 ed., Vol. 185, pp.

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28e811572755&chapter=4

The Ka Hikitia Policy and Potential

Documents

Transcript of The Ka Hikitia Policy and Potential