Your school library can help Māori students become more aware of their culture and heritage. Here you’ll find information and strategies to help you plan a culturally inclusive library to support Māori learners.

Contents

Key educational documents supporting Māori learners
Raising Māori student achievement: research findings
Characteristics of effective school libraries supporting Māori students
Understanding tikanga Māori values - library staff

“Language, Identity and culture count – knowing, respecting and valuing who students are, where they come from and building on what they bring with them.” - Ka Hikitia, p.20

Your school library plays a key role in helping all students to become aware of their own culture and heritage and the diversity of other cultures. This is vital, as they develop their self-identity, sense of values, and the competencies that will enable them to realise their potential.

Key educational documents supporting Māori learners

Ministry of Education (MED) policies and guidelines set out the obligation of all New Zealand schools to deliver teaching and learning programmes that support Māori student achievement.

The following policies and guidelines provide a framework for your school to:

• develop and manage the library
• evaluate its effectiveness in supporting Māori learners.

National Education Goals (NEGs)

NEG 9: Increased participation and success by Māori through the advancement of Māori education initiatives, including education in Te reo Māori…
NEG 10: Respect for the diverse ethnic and cultural heritage of NZ people with acknowledgement of the unique place of Māori…

National Administration Guidelines (NAGs)

NAG 1: …policies, plans and targets for improving achievement of Māori students.

Back to top

Download Te Aho Matua (PDF), which outlines the guiding philosophy for Kura Kaupapa Māori.

Ka Hikitia - Managing for Success: The Māori Education Strategy 2008-2012

• Learning is tailored so that Māori learners enjoy education success as Māori - identity, language and culture are acknowledged within the teaching and learning process.
• National targets are set, which are monitored by the Education Review Office and reported on annually in Ngā Haeta Mātauranga

“Language, Identity and culture count – knowing, respecting and valuing who students are, where they come from and building on what they bring with them.” - Ka Hikitia, p.20

The New Zealand Curriculum

The school curriculum acknowledges the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and reflects New Zealand’s unique bicultural and multicultural character.

All students are to have the opportunity to acquire knowledge of Te reo Māori me ona tikanga, to strengthen Māori students’ identities while non-Māori journey towards shared cultural understandings.

Te Marautanga o Aotearoa

The partner document to The New Zealand Curriculum, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa sets the direction for student learning in Māori-medium schools. Its overarching principles can also be applied to mainstream schools supporting Māori learning environments.

Suggested Activities

• You can use the School Community Profile Template to help ‘picture’ your school community and gather information about the learning needs and interests of your Māori students.
• Document the role of your school library in supporting Māori student achievement in your Library Management Statement.
• Monitor and evaluate what impact the library has made on Māori students’ competence in reading as part of your school’s assessment of its literacy programme and initiatives.

Back to top

Raising Māori student achievement: the research

Recent research shows:

• patterns of disparity in Māori student achievement
• information channels and barriers for Māori learners.

These findings have implications for how school staff, and the community/whānau collaborate to develop library and information services that are inclusive and responsive to Māori learner needs.

Patterns of disparity in Māori student achievement

National and international research shows the New Zealand education system consistently under-performs for Māori students.

• Classroom programmes: Few schools monitor their own performance in relation to Māori student achievement. And few use achievement data to review the school curricula and adapt teaching practices.
• Literacies achievement: Despite improvements in Māori student achievement, national and international research shows significant disparity between Māori and non-Māori students in NCEA results; information skills; and writing, reading, mathematical and scientific literacy.
• Teacher expectations: National studies have shown a correlation between teacher expectations and outcomes for students. Student groups perceived as low achievers (Māori and Pasifika students in low decile schools and students with English as their second language) are set less challenging tasks requiring performance at lower levels (“deficit theory”).

Creating readers at Koraunui School

Back to top

“Evidence based practice requires the creation, synthesis, sharing and use of knowledge. Better decisions are made when the best available evidence is drawn on and when those affected by the decisions are involved.” MED, Schooling Strategy, 2005-2010, p.37

Further research readings

• Student Learning in the information landscape: (Education Review Office, 2005)
• Education Counts which lists NCEA Fact Sheets and the latest PIRLS, PISA, NEMP and TIMSS reports on information skills, reading, and mathematical and scientific literacy
• Picking up the Pace
• Te Tere Auraki and Tātaiako on teacher expectations and improved outcomes for students

Information channels and barriers for Māori learners

The following research on information access and the barriers Māori learners experience using libraries has implications for creating a community culture of reading and lifelong learning.

• Information channels used by Māori secondary school students for Māori cultural contexts tended to be elders and parents first, followed by friends and teachers. If required to verify information, they would then check either printed and/or internet sources.
• Library-use barriers for Māori learners (public and tertiary libraries) included:
  • the Institutional-look of the building
  • lack of Māori staff
  • library policies and protocols reflecting the perspective of mainstream culture, which tended to make Māori feel intimidated and not welcome.

Picture books on shelf: Te Whare Māpuna pukapuka

• Access barriers for Māori secondary school students included:
  • information required was not always readily available due to lack of ready access to elders who lived at a distance
  • knowledge of whakapapa and tikanga not always strong amongst family elders
  • language barriers for those students not fluent in te reo Māori, which some elders preferred to use.
• Information barriers for Māori secondary school students included:
  • the information received was not always accurate, including conflicting viewpoints of events in texts
  • sources not being cited and details not given on what tribal area the information on tikanga applied
  • limited access to sites due to the school’s internet filtering system.

Back to top

Further readings on research into barriers for Māori students

Lilley, S. (2008). Information barriers and Māori secondary schools. Information research, 13 (4).
MacDonald, T. (1993). Te Ara Tika: Māori and libraries: A research report. New Zealand Library and Information Association.
Szekely, C. (1997). Te Ara Tika: Guiding voices: Māori opinion on libraries and information needs. New Zealand Library and Information Association & Te Rōpū Whakahau.
Szekely, C. (2002). Te Ara Tika: Māori and libraries in New Zealand – Staying the distance. World Libraries, 12 (1).
Tuhou, T. (2011). Barriers to Māori use of university libraries: an exploratory study in Aotearoa New Zealand. Doctoral thesis submitted to the School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington.

Suggested Activity

Select barriers from the research findings and create a survey for your Māori students to see if there are similar barriers operating in your school / school library.

Suggested data-gathering tools:

• Library surveys – student reading interests
• Online survey tools for gathering and collating of data. For example: SurveyMonkey

Back to top

Characteristics of effective school libraries for Māori learners

Findings from a national survey by the Education Review Office identified the following characteristics of effective school libraries for Māori student achievement:

• Library policies and programmes: Strategies catered for the needs, interests and abilities of Māori students.
• Culturally inclusive environment: Information environments visibly reflected the presence of cultures other than mainstream European.
• Library collection development plans: Needs of Māori learners taken into account.
• Resources: Provision of a range of relevant quality resources, including digital, chosen to reflect the diverse needs of Māori students and their learning programmes.

Student Reading: TKKM Hoani Waititi Marae

Māori perspectives: Students provided with texts that present authentic Māori perspectives, to help increase their understanding of themselves and their world.

• Resource agencies: Use of available resource agencies beyond the school (for example, the National Library’s Curriculum Services) to enhance or increase the diversity of school-based collections.
• Promotion: Resources actively promoted, attractively displayed and well-maintained.
• Reading culture: Teachers fostered positive attitudes to reading for information, pleasure and personal development through access to quality information resources, and reading enrichment activities.
• Access: Enabling students to have access to resources during and outside of class time.

To read the full ERO research report:

Education Review Office. (2005). Student Learning in the information landscape

“Evidence-based practice in the school library means that the day-to-day work of school librarians is directed towards demonstrating the tangible impact and outcomes of library services and initiatives in relation to student learning outcomes.”
-Loertscher, D. & Todd, R. (2003). We boost achievement. Hi Willow Research & Publishing, p.6.

Suggested activities

• Identify how you could use this ERO report to review how your school’s library is used to support Māori student learning.
• Measure the effectiveness of the library for Māori learners as part of your school’s evidence–based practices. Read more: Evidence and learning outcomes
• Summarise progress made in the library’s contributions to Māori student learning in your Annual Report.

Back to top

Understanding tikanga Māori values - library staff

Through the development of targeted services delivered in a framework based on tikanga Māori values, library staff can create an environment that provides a culturally relevant learning experience.

The following cultural competencies, identified by MED as being required by teachers, have relevance for library staff in helping Māori learners achieve educationally as Māori:

• Whanaungatanga: Actively engaging in respectful relationships with Māori learners, parents and whānau, hapu, iwi and the Māori community.
• Manaakitanga: Demonstrates integrity, sincerity and respect towards Māori beliefs, language and culture.
• Tangata Whenuatanga: Affirms Māori learners as Māori - provides contexts for learning where the identity, language, and culture of Māori learners and their whānau is affirmed.
• Ako: Educators taking responsibility for their own learning, the importance of identity, language and culture; and planning and using pedagogy that engages Māori learners and caters for their needs.

In addition, MED has implemented four Te Tere Auraki projects to improve academic and social outcomes for Māori students in English-medium schools through effective teaching practice:

• Te Kotahitanga: improving classroom and school practice for Years 9-10 Māori students
• Te Kauhua: school-based action research projects
• Ako Panuku: professional development for Māori secondary and wharekura teachers
• Te Mana Kōrero: professional development resources and workshops

Further reading on Māori values and competencies

• Tātaiako: Cultural competencies for teachers of Māori learners (2011)
• Te Tere Auraki

‘Productive Partnerships – Māori students, whānau, hapü, iwi and educators sharing knowledge and expertise with each other to produce better mutual outcomes.’ Ka Hikitia, p.20

Suggested activities

• Review your library staff job description/s (particularly the required skills, knowledge and experience).
• Identify any professional development needs as part of the performance appraisal process.

Professional support for Māori library staff includes:

• Involving library staff in the school’s professional development initiatives, such as Te Kotahitanga and other Te Tere Auraki
• Whare Pukapuka Māori: An online National Library forum for school library staff to share ideas and resources – print and digital - and to support Māori student literacy and information literacy needs.
• Te Rōpū Whakahau: Māori librarians and information specialists organisation.
• Watch out on the LIANZA and SLANZA email listservs for Mātauranga Māori hui run by Te Rōpū Whakahau.
• Te Wānanga o Raukawa: Information Management Certificate/Diploma/ Degree.

Back to top