November 03, 2020
Training colleges turning out racist teachers – Cormack
A leading Māori educator says teacher training colleges need to change what they are doing to stop turning out racist teachers.
Since finishing his term as president of the Principals Federation, Whetu Cormack has been coaching and mentoring school leaders to make their school environments to be culturally safe and supportive of te reo Māori and tikanga.
He says too many recently graduated teachers don’t know how to address special education needs or be culturally responsive and competent with Māori and Pasifika learners.
"We need to do better at teacher training. At Te Wānanga o Raukawa, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and Awanuiārangi they are doing a stunning job supporting Māori to go into kura kaupapa Māori and to be ready and to be culturally responsive, but I think Waikato, Otago, Auckland, all these other universities need to do better around this area because we are pumping out teachers and many of them are biased, they discriminate and they are racist," Mr Cormack says.
Whetu Cormack says many schools and the Ministry of Education are trying to do the right thing, but it’s an area Education Minister Chris Hipkins needs to look at and put resources into.
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