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I te tau 1999, i te wä tonu e mahia ana te kaupapa tätari i te mätauranga i ngä kura katoa, ka mahia e NEMP tëtahi kaupapa ä-motu e tätari ana i ngä äkonga tau 8 e akongia ana i te reo Mäori. Ko ngä putanga o aua tätaritanga o ngä äkonga Mäori tau 8 e akongia ana i te reo Mäori, rätou ko ngä äkonga Mäori tau 8 e akongia ana ki ngä kura rïroa, kei te takoto i roto i pürongo a NEMP, Assessment Results for Mäori Students 1999 – Science; Art; Graphs, Tables and Maps.

In conjunction with the 1999 assessment programme in general education, NEMP assessed a national sample of year 8 students in Mäori immersion education. The results for year 8 Mäori students in immersion education along with results for year 8 Mäori students in general education are given in the NEMP report, Assessment Results for Mäori Students 1999 – Science; Art; Graphs, Tables and Maps.

IMPORTANT NOTE RE TRANSLATION: Translations for each 'He Whakaputanga Whakaaro' and report are historic, reflecting the translation as at the time of printing. Variations in translation in the body text may therefore occur from one year to the next. Headings however, have been standardised and reflect current translations if they appear consistently through each 'He Whakaputanga Whakaaro'.

Koianei ia te wä tuatahi kua uru mai ngä äkonga o ngä whakaakoranga reo Mäori ki ngä mahi a NEMP, mai i töna tïmatanga i te tau 1995. Koianei anö hoki te wä tuatahi kua whakahaerehia ëtahi kaupapa tätari mätauranga i roto katoa i te reo Mäori.

He maha ngä tatau kua tuwhera ki a NEMP i tënei kaupapa, arä, i te wähanga whakamahere, i ngä whakamaori, i te whakamätau i ngä kaiwhakahaere, i te whakahaere i ngä tümahi, ki te tätari i ngä urupare a ngä äkonga, i te aroturuki me te whakapürongo i ngä putanga.

He mea nui kia maumahara tätou, ko te whäinga nui i roto i te kaupapa aroturuki ä-motu, kia taea ngä tino körero e whakamöhio ana, he aha ngä mätauranga kei ngä tamariki, nö whea aua mätauranga, nö ngä mahi he mea ako i te kura, nö hea ake ränei. Kei roto i ngä putanga, ka kitea te whakaaro nui ki ngä tauira, ki tä rätou eke haere i ngä taumata, te whakanui o aua ekenga taumata, te tohutohu ki ngä wähi o te ratonga mätauranga hei whakarerekë, me te tuku i ngä rauemi e tika ana.

I pä mai ëtahi uauatanga ki a NEMP i roto i tënei tana tau tuatahi ka tätaria e ia ngä äkonga Mäori rumaki reo. E whai ake nei ko ëtahi o aua uauatanga arä,

• he tokomaha ngä äkonga rumaki reo kätahi anö nei kua uru atu ki te whakaakoranga rumaki reo, ä, me te tüpuhi o ö rätou reo Mäori.

• i kitea, he uaua te tahuri i ëtahi o ngä tümahi me ngä rauemi mai i te reo Ingarihi ki te reo Mäori (hei tauira atu, ko ëtahi o ngä kupu Ingarihi hangarau nei, käore he kupu Mäori e rite ana).

• he roa ake te wä e pau ana ki te whakaoti i te mahi tätari i roto i te reo Mäori i te reo Ingarihi. Ko te otinga atu o tënei, i mahue ëtahi o ngä tümahi, käore ränei i oti, nä te pau o te wä.

• ngä rerekëtanga i roto i ngä whakahaere o ia tümahi.

• i kitea i ëtahi wä, käore pea i te kaha te mahi a ngä äkonga rumaki reo Mäori i ëtahi o ngä mahi nei. He kore pea nö rätou e tau ki ngä tikanga o te kaupapa nei.

Nä ënei uauatanga, käore i whakakuhuna ëtahi o ngä tümahi ki roto i ngä tätaritanga whakaotinga, me ngä pürongo i puta. 17 o ngä tümahi pütaiao 33, e 5 o ngä tümahi toi e 9, e 5 anö hoki o ngä ripanga, kauwhata, mahere 27 i tangohia i te pürongo, me ngä whakatauritenga i waenganui o ngä äkonga Mäori rumaki reo rätou ko ngä äkonga Mäori mätauranga rïroa.

Me kaua tätou e pöhëhë ko ngä putanga o ngä mahi aroturuki i ngä ekenga mätauranga o ngä äkonga Mäori rumaki reo i tënei tau ngä tino körero, käore, he tohu noa iho rätou ki ngä nekeneke whänui. Me nui tonu ngä mahi me te whai märamatanga i mua o te kï, käore he ärikarika o te tautoko i ënei aroturuki ä-motu hei mea tohu ki ngä putanga mätauranga. Häunga tërä, he pai ngä putanga whänui mö ngä äkonga Mäori rumaki reo, rätou ko ngä äkonga Mäori mätauranga rïroa, ä, e tika ana kia whakanuia tënei.

This is the first time that children in Mäori immersion education have participated in the National Education Monitoring Project (NEMP) since it began in 1995. This is the first time that NEMP has conducted assessment in te reo Mäori .

This new undertaking for NEMP has offered exciting challenges in the areas of task development and selection, translations to te reo Maori, administrator training, task administration, student responses, and the analysis and reporting of results.

It is important to remember that the main goal of national monitoring is to provide detailed information about what New Zealand’s children know and can do, regardless of what may or may not have been formally taught in schools. The reported results allow recognition of patterns of performance, celebration of successes, and identification of desirable changes to the delivery of education and supporting resources.

NEMP experienced a number of significant difficulties in its first year of assessment of children in Mäori immersion education. These included

• variations in the length of time students had spent in immersion programmes, with the consequence that some students had very limited skills in te reo Mäori .

• challenges in the translation of tasks and materials from English to Mäori (for example, many technical terms did not have well established Mäori equivalents).

• the assessments generally took longer to administer in Mäori than English. This resulted in many incomplete or unattempted tasks due to insufficient time.

• variations in the administration of tasks.

• in some instances, an apparent lack of motivation of Mäori immersion students to engage in specific tasks. This may have resulted from cultural factors.

These difficulties led to the exclusion of some tasks in the final analyses and reporting. 17 of the 33 science tasks, 5 of the 9 art tasks, and 5 of the 27 graphs, tables and maps tasks were excluded when making comparisons between Maori students in immersion education and Mäori students in general education.

The results from this first year of monitoring student achievement in Mäori immersion education need to be seen as indicative only. There is much to be done and understood before national monitoring results for Mäori immersion education can be viewed with the same confidence as the results provided for students in general education. Notwithstanding, the overall results for Mäori students in immersion and general education are positive, and there is much to celebrate.

Good news
Tasks It was heartening to see that Mäori students in both immersion and general education performed similarly on 12 of 16 tasks. These 12 tasks required application, testing, explanation, investigation, evaluation and justification. Many components involved higher order thinking, as did 3 components of tasks where Mäori in general education performed significantly better than Mäori in immersion. One of these 3 tasks dealt with gravity, and another with significant adaptive features of fish. Linguistic challenges in conveying such concepts cannot be underestimated. It is not unreasonable to expect better performance once such challenges for national monitoring are refined and issues impacting on immersion programmes are resolved. Students in Mäori in immersion education performed significantly better than Mäori in general education on one of the tasks which was a link task dealing with motion.

Survey Both Mäori immersion and general education students favoured hands-on science activities. Students in Mäori immersion programmes strongly favoured field trips, while Mäori students in general education favoured activities with an experimental emphasis.

Students in Mäori immersion education were more supportive of doing science at home and in their own time than Mäori students in general education.

The most notable reported difference between Mäori immersion and general education students was that students in immersion programmes were far more confident about themselves in science, and about their ability to be good scientists.

Looking ahead
Tasks In the four art making tasks Mäori students in immersion education performed better than Mäori students in general education on a crayon and pastel task and somewhat better on a painting task. Mäori students in general education performed better on an observational drawing task and on a collage task.

There are some indications that Mäori students in immersion programmes have learned contemporary Mäori skills and values as evidenced in the two tasks that involved expression and imagination.

Survey Mäori students in immersion programmes were more positive about art, felt they learned more, were more positive about their own abilities, and reported a wider range of art making experiences than Mäori students in general education.

Of interest is that more than 90 percent of Mäori immersion students knew their teachers’ opinions and judgments about the work they did in art. This was not the case for Mäori in general education, about half of whom said that they did not know what their teachers thought about the art work they did.

• Me whakakuhu ko ërä äkonga Mäori rumaki reo anake kua kuraina përätia mö te wä kaua i raro iho i te rima tau.

• Me äta titiro anö, me whakapai ake anö hoki, ko te märama me te pai o ngä ähuatanga e pä ana ki te reo i roto i ngä tümahi.

• Me whakapai ake anö ko te kaupapa whakangungu kaiwhakahaere kaiwhakaako.

• Me rahi ake ngä tümahi ka mahia mai, he mea i mahia tahia mai i ngä kaiwhakaako rumaki reo Mäori.

• Me whai i te tautoko a ngä kaiwhakaako rumaki reo Mäori.

Capitalising on Mäori children’s skills and experiences
The challenges for general education schools continue to be in upskilling practitioners in recognising and capitalising on the skills and experiences that Mäori children bring to school, coupled with providing the resources and programmes necessary to expose Mäori students to higher order thinking skills in all areas of the curriculum. The importance of increasing literacy levels in the arts, science and information skills are well documented.

Provision of resources for Mäori immersion
These challenges are compounded in Mäori immersion programmes for a number of reasons. Though access to, and availability of, human and material resources have improved slightly, there is still a great need for improvement in many areas.

Issues of validity and reliability
NEMP has identified needed improvements for assessment in Mäori immersion education.

• Including only those students that have been in immersion programmes for at least five years.

• Further refinement and clarity of linguistic features in assessment tasks.

• Further development of the training programme for teacher administrators.

• Increasing the number of tasks developed in conjunction with immersion teachers.

• Securing additional support and involvement of Mäori immersion educators.