Barriers to Māori Participation

Following on from my previous blog entry where I posed many questions prompted by my research, I feel the need to explore the barriers that impact on Māori participation in mainstream (non kaupapa Māori) ECE services.

Mainstream education services are grounded on monocultural thinking and frameworks or more explicitly…a Pakeha (European) system (Ritchie, 2008).  Māori are a minority group with countless social implications, derived from the assimilation policies of the early 19th century, that have resulted in a loss of Māori identity, culture and language  (May, 2009; Te One 2003; Walker, 2004). The legacy of Aotearoa’s colonialist heritage is obvious in the ongoing educational and socio-economic disparities that exist for Mäori (Ministry of Education, 2007; Ministry of Health, 2006).   I believe the fact that the government repeatedly highlights such Māori disparities is a form of stereotyping as they emphasise the negative aspects of Māori.  This sends shards of preconceptions to communities and those working in ECE that can negatively impact on their approach to Māori whanau who may choose to access their service.

Reputable New Zealand researchers Ritchie and Rau assert that a number of challenges exist for Māori children in early childhood education addressing that “Well-intended government policies to increase the participation of Mäori in early childhood education are unlikely to succeed until quality, culturally validating early childhood services are locally available and affordable to these families” (Ritchie & Rau, 2007, p. 111; Ritchie & Rau, 2008).

From my research I have found additional themes as barriers to Māori participation and engagement in mainstream ECE services. The primary theme being cultural. Māori and Pakeha aspirations differ and Māori interpretations of quality need not be assumed to align with Pakeha ideologies of quality (Colbung, Glover, Rau, & Ritchie, 2007).  The government regularly asserts the need for quality in education with recent research and policy devoted to quality.  But what is quality education? Dahlberg & Moss question (2008) “how can quality be discovered, measured, assured and improved?”  And what does quality look like for Māori?  I wonder... Are Māori interpretations of quality considered and honoured in mainstream ECE services?

I agree with Bevan-Brown, (2003) who argues that mainstream services are often not culturally competent and lack awareness on how to approach, communicate and relate to Māori. Furthermore there is a huge underrepresentation of Māori teachers in mainstream ECE services leaving non-Māori teachers with few skills to be culturally responsive in working effectively with Māori communities (Colbung, Glover, Rau, & Ritchie, 2007; Ritchie, 2003).  These are distinctive barriers to attracting and maintaining the participation and engagement of Māori.

Further factors that hinder participation encompass social issues including geographic and financial barriers (Ritchie, 2008).  Rural Māori do not have the range of child care options that urban Māori have.  “There are geographic gaps in provision where parents have little or no choice in the kind of early childhood education available to make participation for their children possible, or more supportive of their particular cultural identity or family circumstances” (May & Mitchell, 2009, p.12). For me, this highlights the neccessity for policy makers to consider ecological theory and the context of the child as vital to overcoming barriers to participation.

References

Bevan-Brown, J. (2003). The cultural self-review. Providing culturally effective, inclusive, education for Māori learners. Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Colbung, M., Glover, A., Rau, C., & Ritchie, J. (2007). Indigenous peoples and perspectives in early childhood education. In L. Keesing-Styles & H. Hedges. (Eds.). Theorising early childhood practice. Emerging dialogues. (pp.137-161). Castle Hill, Australia: Pademelon Press.

Dahlberg, G., & Moss, P. (2008). Beyond quality in early childhood education and care: Languages of evaluation. Retrieved February 21, 2011 from http://www.teacherswork.ac.nz/journal/volume5_issue1/moss.pdf

May, H. (2009). Politics in the playground: The world of early childhood in New Zealand. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.

May, H., & Mitchell, L. (2009). Strengthening community-based early childhood education in Aotearoa New Zealand: Report of the quality public early childhood education project. Retrieved March 8, 2001 from, http://www.nzei.org.nz/site/nzeite/files/ECE/Report_QPECE_project_web_2+JD.pdf

Ministry of Education. (2007). Ngā haeata mātauranga. Annual report on Māori education 2006/2007. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education.

Ministry of Health. (2006). Decades of Disparity III. Ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in mortality, New Zealand 1988-1999. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health and University of Otago.

Ritchie, J. (2003). Te Whāriki as a potential lever for bicultural development.  In J. Nuttall. (Ed.), Weaving Te Whāriki: Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum document in theory and practice. (pp.79-109). Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Ritchie, J., & Rau, C. (2007). Mā wai ngā hua? ‘Participation’ in early childhood in Aotearoa/New Zealand. International Journal of Educational Policy, Research, & Practice: Reconceptualizing Childhood Studies, 8(1), 101-116.

Ritchie, J., & Rau, C. (2008). Te Puawaitanga: Partnerships with tamariki and whānau in bicultural early childhood care and education. Wellington, New Zealand: Teaching and Learning Research Initiative & New Zealand Council for Educational Research. 

Ritchie, J. (2008). Honouring Māori subjectivities within early childhood education in Aotearoa. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 9, 3, 202-210. Retrieved February 21, 2011 from Eric Database.

Te One, S. (2003). The context for Te Whāriki: Contemporary issues of influence.  In J. Nuttall. (Ed.), Weaving Te Whāriki: Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum document in theory and practice. (pp.17-49). Wellington, New Zealand: New Zealand Council for Educational Research.

Walker, R. (2004). Ka whawhai tonu matou: Struggle without end. (Rev. ed.). Auckland, New Zealand: Penguin Books.