The teaching of te reo Māori in mainstream schools is being hampered by a shortage of fluent teachers. Photo / NZME
Schools are seeing record numbers of students learning in te reo Māori – but staffing isn’t keeping up, while waitlists grow.
Ministry of Education data show 28,382 students were taught the curriculum through te reo more than half the time last year – up 71% from 16,254 in 2000.
That’s the highest number since records began.
Meanwhile, 495,100 students were learning te reo at Levels 3 to 6 of Māori immersion – ranging from songs and greetings to around 12.5 hours of language learning a week.
That’s also the highest figure recorded.
It equates to just under 60% of the school population – up from 357,621 students, or less than half, at the start of the century.
Just over 250,000 students still receive no te reo education.
Auckland’s Papakura High School opened a bilingual unit in 2019 – and demand has grown since.
Principal Simon Craggs said this year has been particularly popular.
“Our Year 9 class this year currently has 35 students, which is an interesting thing to manage, but obviously very popular with our students coming from the intermediates, particularly those that have had a bilingual or immersion pathway previously at their primary schools,” he said.
Craggs added almost half of the school’s students are Māori.
“It’s really important for us as a kura that we show our community how much we value te reo Māori, and how much we want to keep it alive.”
“So offering that pathway really was a no-brainer, and it was something, I think as early as 2011 or 2012, that Papakura as a community signalled that they wanted to see happen.”
Craggs said there’s a real revival in te reo – and other languages too.
“We are looking at, potentially, bilingual classes in Samoan and Tongan as well because we have significant populations of students.”
“So there is definitely a renaissance in, in language learning, in particular, indigenous language learning.”
It comes after criticism over the Government dropping the te reo name for school lunches and removing some Māori words from books for 5-year-olds.
Education Minister Erica Stanford has also removed the requirement for school boards to give effect to the Treaty of Waitangi.
The Ministry of Education said education can be delivered in different mediums in New Zealand state schools.
Acting leader of operations and integration, Helen Hurst, said the majority of schools are English-medium only, but some deliver the curriculum in te reo Māori and some Pacific languages alongside English, while kura deliver the curriculum entirely in te reo Māori.
Demand for te reo is also showing through new schools opening. Te Mātaitihi is opening in Christchurch’s Halswell next year, as a bilingual school and kura.
Hurst said English remains the primary language there, but the bilingual pathway is for families that choose it.
Christchurch’s Rāwhiti School has offered bilingual classes for a decade, since it opened on the old North New Brighton School site in 2016.
Principal Jody Hohaia O’Sullivan said demand has increased significantly over the years – and the school now has a waiting list.
She said there are many challenges that come with that.
“These include managing the waitlist, ensuring adequate resourcing, accessing suitable and locally available [professional learning development] opportunities within Ōtautahi [Christchurch], and finding appropriately qualified relievers when staff are away,” she said.
“Recruiting and retaining kaiako [teachers] who are speakers of te reo Māori and experienced in immersion or bilingual education can also be challenging, particularly given the nationwide demand for skilled teachers in this area.”
It’s a similar case for Craggs, who said staffing is hard when the school wants to offer subjects in te reo.
“So if we’re wanting to offer panangaro, which is mathematics in te reo, we have to have somebody who’s fluent in te reo Māori but also qualified to teach mathematics to senior levels.”
“So finding those people is really difficult, particularly in mainstream school environments.”
Craggs added that the school also struggles to offer English-medium only classes in its senior school, as students coming from bilingual pathways find it hard to transition.
“So it’s a bit of a delicate balance, but, we’re probably getting better at it every year and, I know there are other schools that we can use as models as well, so we’ve visited a few other schools and seen what they’re doing in their spaces.”
Jaime Cunningham is a Christchurch-based reporter with a focus on education, social issues and general news. She joined Newstalk ZB in 2023 after working as a sports reporter at the Christchurch Star.