Arts & Social Sciences
Te Kura Kete Aronui

Abstract

Jodie Robertson. (2004) Experiences of Māori students in Mainstream Secondary School: What Worked and What Didn’t?

The purpose of this research was to identify positive and negative factors which contributed to Māori students successfully completing secondary school and entering higher education.  Semi structured, one on one and focus group interviews were carried out with twelve Māori students from the University of Waikato. The analysis of material was reported in three major areas: personal support factors, areas of external support and lack of support.

Personal “pro-success” factors included the participants’ values (work ethic, gaining opportunities, rising to challenges, being responsible to family), expectations (being the best, passing exams, making family proud, going to university), and a wish to break the cycle of negative Māori statistics.  Each of these factors were key motivators towards academic success.

The areas of external support showed family, certain teachers, school support structures for Māori, peers, role models and family support of kaupapa Māori events as being important in supporting the participants. 

The participants in this study identified that the main areas lacking in support were school tokenism (using Māori for special occasions), racism (feelings of being treated differently, stereotypes), challenges (Māori identity, excuses for Māori achievement), and being the cultural ambassador (expectation of knowing and doing everything Māori). 

It appears that mainstream schools, and teachers within mainstream schools, vary widely in the support they provide to Māori students.  Mainstream schools could do more to encourage whanau involvement in students’ education, to ensure Māori students have access to role models (including Māori teachers), to ensure that both Māori students in mainstream and bilingual classes have equal access to Māori support, to integrate appropriate cultural practices into the life of the school and to protect Māori students from unfair expectations.  This study also highlights how the development of Māori identity is a major contributor to academic success and that the school, teachers, home, and Māori community play a vital role in identity development.  Overall, this research has highlighted the need for collaborative efforts between non-Māori and Māori to allow for positive experiences and academic success for Māori students.

It was hoped that this research would provide positive information on what works well for Māori students in secondary school.  While there was positive feedback from the participants, there are also negative experiences that were recorded in this study.  However, it is this study’s intention to provide discussion around both negative and positive experiences and look towards the future.   From this it then becomes possible to turn negative experiences into positive experiences for future Māori secondary school students.  It is hoped that the readers of this research begin to see the complexities of this issue and see the need to work collaboratively in resolving it.