By REBECCA WALSH education reporter
Education Review Office chief executive Dr Judith Aitken will meet representatives of an Auckland kura kaupapa today after five of her staff were asked to leave the school before they could review it.
Hoani Waititi Marae Kura chairman Dr Pita Sharples said the ERO was ill-equipped to measure the delivery of education in kura kaupapa (Maori language immersion units), and measures based around the kura kaupapa philosophy (Te Aho Matua) should be used instead.
Dr Sharples said the ERO staff had been welcomed onto the marae, which runs a kura (primary) and whare kura (high school), on Monday.
But after a hui, they were asked to leave.
Dr Aitken described the situation as a watershed in the office's relationship with kura kaupapa.
She and Education Minister Trevor Mallard would meet Dr Sharples today.
"What Hoani Waititi has done is said, 'enough'." Dr Aitken said the marae was not against being reviewed, but questioned what would be evaluated.
Dr Sharples said the ERO claimed to measure whether excellence in education was passed on to children.
"But their concept of excellence and how it is reached is quite different from our concept."
Cathy Dewes, chairwoman of the Kura Kaupapa Council, Te Runanga Nui o Nga Kura Kaupapa Maori, said its philosophy focused on the whole child.
"We don't just look at how intellectually engaged the child might be. We look for emotional engagement and spiritual development," she said.
Kura kaupapa also took a different view on governance and management, favouring involvement of the whole community rather than a board of trustees.
Ms Dewes said the council had discussed creating evaluative criteria based on Te Aho Matua with the ERO.
"I would like to think it can be done within the current environment but having a separate kura kaupapa ERO office is not a new notion to us."
Dr Aitken said the situation gave crown agencies and kura kaupapa a chance to fully explore the meaning of kaupapa and Te Aho Matua.
"We need to reach agreement on those and we need to be sure about their legal status as well as their practical implications."
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