January 28, 2014
Maori content added at design stage
Education Minister Hekia Parata says specific measures to target Maori achievement will be built into the design of her new performance pay regime for teachers.
The Government has announced new job roles and career paths for top teachers, including executive and change principals and expert and lead teachers.
Unionists have queried the lack of a Maori focus, but Ms Parata says the detail of the scheme will be developed by working parties including the mainstream, Maori and Pasifika education sector bodies.
"The expert panels will have from the get go an eye to making sure that this works for all kids, for Maori kids, for Pasifika kids, for kids from poorer homes, that the system has generally not been as successful with. My expectation, and I certainly will be very close to this process, is that it will be about addressing the under-achievement of so many of our young people, whether in mainstream or in Maori immersion," she says.
Ms Parata says because of the National Government’s focus, Maori educational achievement statistics have gone up over the past five years.
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