It's been a day of celebration for kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa leaders with a new report highlighting the success of the Māori immersion education model.
File photo. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
The Education Review Office has released a report, Te Kura Huanui, which shows tamariki Māori going through kōhanga and kura kaupapa excel because they are immersed in their culture.
The first Kōhanga Reo was set up in 1982 to try to revitalise the te reo Māori, followed by kura kaupapa in 1985 that have been key to bringing the language back from near-extinction.
Today, leaders of the movement gathered at Parliament to celebrate the success of the Māori immersion education model.
"In the 1980s, the threat of extinction and total obliteration was keenly felt deep in the core of the Māori heart and the Māori soul," kura kaupapa founding member Cathy Dewes said.
"We now have hope, we now believe that graduates of Te Aho Mātua will ensure that Māori language, Māori culture and so to the people, will endure forevermore."
The report found te kōhanga reo, kura kaupapa Māori and Ngā Kura ā Iwi were exemplars of how to achieve Māori education success, and the Māori worldview was integral to this.
Renata Curtis is co-principal of Te Wharekura o Ngāti Rongomai, a Māori medium secondary school she set up with her husband Tukiterangi Curtis in Rotorua.
She said the report sent a powerful message.
"I think it's so powerful for Māori medium now that the government has done this in partnership with ERO (Education Review Office).
"It signals to our own people - because most of our people are still the in the mainstream schools - it signals to our own people, 'hey, come on, wake up, this is where we need to have our tamariki'".
Tukiterangi Curtis said there still were not enough te reo Māori teachers.
"Māori are always great at doing Māori things on our own, it's proven, just let us teach our own people, give us the money and we know how to do that," he said.
The review suggests grants or low-interest loans to attract teachers and increasing the Māori immersion teaching allowance.
It was a special day for the Education Review Office's Lynda Pura-Watson from Kahungunu o Wairarapa, who was in charge of pulling together this report.
It was also personal, with her finding solace in the Māori education space after losing her tāne.
"When you're in absolute grief and you can't see in front of you, and everywhere you go you're supported by the Māori medium paradigm ... I've been nurtured as an adult and learnt so much in this kaupapa - how to live, again," Pura-Watson said.
The report points out that while Māori-medium education has maintained nurturing learning environments for Māori, they are under-resourced with many awaiting infrastructure funding.
Associate Minister of Education (Māori) Kelvin Davis said the government had put half a billion into Māori education in the past two years, a large portion of it for kōhanga and kura infrastructure.
He said it was trying to grow the number of Māori children attending Māori medium education from 5 percent to 30 percent in the next two decades.