Education Minister Hekia Parata believes a survey, which found some teachers negatively stereotyping Maori students, isn't reflective of what most teachers think.
Hekia Parata at Parliament. Photo: RNZ / Chris Bramwell
The study called Teacher Expectations, Ethnicity and the Achievement Gap, has been written by Hana Turner.
Ms Parata said most teachers she knew of - worked very hard to help their Maori students to achieve.
She said it was a disappointing survey about how 15 teachers under-rated their Maori pupils - but they were only a small portion of teachers.
The minister said there were many learning strategies such as He Kakano and Te Kotahitanga which schools used to boost Maori success.