Megan Lourie

A critique of the role of culture in Maori education

Educational under-achievement by a section of the Maori population is a persistent problem for New Zealand. This article is a theoretical examination of the practice and consequences of a culture-based curriculum that is promoted as the solution. We develop the argument that not only is the ‘cultural solution’ at odds with the complex social reality in New Zealand, but it is itself a contributor to educational under-achievement.

‘Canaries in the coal mine’: the reframing of biculturalism and non-Māori participation in Māori language learning

Māori language education policy documents reflect an underlying ambivalence about the desired outcomes for non-Māori learners participating in ‘as-a-subject’ Māori language learning. The view of the Māori language as a national language may be in the process of being replaced by a view that identifies the language primarily as a cultural taonga (treasured possession) belonging to those of Māori ethnicity in the interests of an emergent elite. This is a process that characterises the ‘reframing of biculturalism’. Language, as a communally shared good, serves an important boundary marking function and can be employed as a demarcating feature of identity. Viewed in this way, the Māori language contributes to strengthening a Māori ethnic identity, which in turn secures access to group rights. These group rights were established when Māori tribes were reconstituted as economic corporations or neotribes in political partnership with the government in the 1980s. The increasing exclusion of non-Māori from the Māori language may result in their rejection of biculturalism.

Using a Realist Research Methodology in Policy Analysis.

Abstract The article describes the usefulness of a realist methodology in linking sociological theory to empirically obtained data through the development of a methodological device. Three layers of analysis were integrated: 1. the findings from a case study about Māori language education in New Zealand; 2. the identification and analysis of contradictions and vagueness in language education policy; and, 3. the explanation of these contradictions in terms deeper ideological forces underpinning bicultural politics in New Zealand. The paper makes two contributions to the literature. It demonstrates how a realist methodology can link theory and data, specifically in the discussion of the methodological device. It also generalises the findings in terms of how ideologies of ‘culture’ (i.e ‘culturalism’) inform the inclusion of culture in education in New Zealand and internationally.

Bicultural education policy in New Zealand

Abstract Bicultural educational policy is part of a much broader ensemble of bicultural policies that were first developed by the Fourth Labour Government elected in 1984. These policies were an acknowledgement of, and response to, the historical injustices suffered by Māori people as a consequence of colonisation. Bicultural education policy is thought to be a means of addressing the ongoing challenge of educational underachievement of Māori students in the compulsory schooling sector. At present, the dominant discourse in New Zealand education frames the educational underachievement of Māori as a problem associated with cultural differences; however, this tends to obscure explanations that focus on socio-economic disparities. This paper shows how the dominant discourse relating to the underachievement of Māori students is established in policy and maintained through various auditing systems, and how this leaves little space for other explanations or solutions. The paper advocates a move away from an either/or approach to the problem of the educational underachievement of Māori and argues for greater critical engagement with bicultural education policy in order to open up space for conversations that address both the cultural and the socio-economic factors which may affect achievement.