As my blog title entails, my chosen social issue is Māori participation in mainstream early childhood education in Aotearoa. I selected this issue because over the past three years of my teaching journey, one issue has always stood out for me. Māori in education.
During the course of my teacher education I have researched the early childhood strategic plan Ngā huarahi arataki (Ministry of Education, 2002), observed early childhood practices, have had experience in Kohanga Reo, Kaupapa Māori and mainstream centre’s and recognised many political changes. The common red flag for me has always been Māori participation in the mainstream early childhood education system.
Therefore, as a key goal of the strategic plan (Ministry of Education, 2002) I am particularly interested in exploring and researching this social issue to identify participation barriers and implications for Māori success in the New Zealand mainstream education system.
What I find particularly fascinating is that the Ministry of Education statistics show Māori participation has in fact increased over the last ten years (Ministry of Education, 2008a). However, the government chooses to focus their attention on the fact that the increase is “marginal” (Annual Census of ECE Services, 2010) and that this “marginal” increase will “hinder New Zealand’s attempts to close the gap with the likes of Australia on an economic level” (Logan, 2009). So I ask, what is the issue? Is it about the economy or is it about the people?
Therefore, I will highlight the areas of concern, examine the pedagogical implications and critically analyze policies that influence the participation of Māori in the early childhood sector to highlight the political issues that affect Māori to fully engage in early childhood education services.
Reference List:
Annual Census of ECE Services. (2010). Annual ece summary report 2010. Retrieved March 8, 2011 from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/_data/assests/pdf_file/0008/87263/Annual-ECE-Summary-Report-2010-1.pdf
Logan, I. (2009). Learning to achieve. Spasifik, 35, 26-32. Retrieved February 21, 2011, from Index New Zealand database.
Ministry of Education. (2008a). State of education in New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.
Ministry of Education. (2002). Pathways to the future: Ngā huarahi arataki: A 10-year strategic plan for early childhood education. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.
