Listen Now: 
February 16, 2016
Education framework bridging schools and iwi
Waatea Team
Posted On February 16, 2016
A Rangitaane man says schools need to be shown how to work with iwi.
Roly Fitzgerald is organising the Maori Education Framework where eight primary and secondary schools will aim to increase the way Maori perspectives are reflected in classrooms and across the curriculum.
He came up with the plan after finding out that of the 25 percent of year 1 to 8 learners in the Manawatu who did not achieve a national standard in numeracy and literacy in 2014, 78 percent were Maori.
He says official strategies like Ka Hikitia have identified the need for schools to incorporate a Maori world view, but there has been no mechanism for them to connect effectively with whanau, hapu and iwi.
He says the aim is to build a cultural response framework for each of the eight schools by the end of the year, which will allow the iwi to have a greater influence on classroom practice next year.
"All these schools are asking for a relationship with the iwi and so if we come along now and give them our kawa, our tikanga, our reo, our waiata, our haka, are those schools well placed to manaaki our taonga, look after it and not just put it away in a cupboard as they did with Ka Hikitia," Mr Fitzgerald says.
The schools are coming to Te Hotu Manawa o Rangitaane Marae tomorrow to sign individual memorandums of understanding with the iwi.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
RELATED NEWS
