Here are nine key things to know about Ka Hikitia - Managing for Success.
Background to Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success
Ako, effective and reciprocal teaching and learning, personalising learning
Māori Potential Approach
Four areas of focus
Goals and Actions
How will things change?
Public hui and feedback
How will we know if its working?
1. Background to Ka Hikitia - Managing for Success
‘Ka Hikitia’ means to ‘step up’, to ‘lift up’, to ‘lengthen one’s stride’. It means stepping up the performance of the education system to ensure Māori are enjoying education success as Māori. It is a strategy that’s about changing and transforming the education system; it is not about slow, gradual and incremental change.
Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success (PDF V1.4 800kb) is about Realising Māori Potential.
Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success is a strategy that sets out specific priorities, outcomes and targets over the next five years. Primarily it aims to influence the thinking, policy, practice and services of Ministry of Education by building on the latest research evidence and from the ideas, hopes and aspirations of Māori throughout the country. However, because it is a strategy that spans the entire education sector, it does and will have an impact on everyone within the education sector.
Ka Hikitia - Managing for Success has identified four main focus areas the evidence shows will have the most impact. They are:
- Foundation Years (early childhood education and the first years at school)
- Young People Engaged in Learning (particularly in Years 9 and 10)
- Māori Language Education (setting and resourcing priorities)
- Organisational Success (firstly for the Ministry of Education, and then for the rest of the education sector).
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2. Desired education outcomes for Māori
The overarching strategic intent of Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success is “Māori enjoying education success as Māori.”
The four broad student outcomes are:
Māori learners working with others to determine successful learning and education pathways
- Māori learners excel and successfully realise their cultural distinctiveness and potential
- Māori learners successfully participating in and contributing to te Ao Māori
- Māori learners gaining the universal skills and knowledge needed to successfully participate in and contribute to Aotearoa New Zealand and the world.
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3. Ako, effective and reciprocal teaching and learning, personalising learning
Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success states the key to effective learning is ako, that is, effective and reciprocal teaching and learning for Māori students and the conditions that support it.
The key aspects of ako are:
- culture counts – knowing where students come from and building on what students bring with them
- productive partnerships – Māori students, whānau, and educators sharing knowledge and expertise with each other to produce better outcomes.
This ‘personalising learning’ approach puts every student and their achievement at the heart of education, and recognises that one size does not fit all.
Personalising learning is about partnerships focused on learning and about a whole education system where everyone sees themselves as having an important role to play and accepting the associated personal and professional responsibilities.
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4. Māori Potential Approach
Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success is underpinned by a cross-government policy framework called the Māori potential approach developed by Te Puni Kōkiri. It is a fundamental part of the strategy.
It captures the way the ministry’s thinking has shifted in light of the evidence and it is a policy approach endorsed by the research evidence, by independent academics, by Māori and by ministry staff.
The Māori potential approach emphasises partnership, working together and sharing power.
It is an approach that supports Māori self development and self determination and it represents a move away from deficit, failure, problems and risks.
The Māori potential approach is about identifying success and building on it and seeing opportunities and realising potential.
The Māori Potential Approach takes a broad view of success and a broad view of the pathways to achieving success. It seeks to enable Māori to live as Māori within te ao Māori, within New Zealand, and within the wider world.
It is an approach that fits well with and reflects other important shifts occurring across the education system where education success is viewed more broadly.
In education, this means recognition of the potential of every Māori student; that being Māori is an advantage and that all Māori learners are inherently capable.
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5. Four areas of focus
Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success has identified four focus areas the evidence shows will have the greatest potential for improving Māori student outcomes in the quickest, most effective way.
Area one: Foundation Years
it is essential to develop strong foundations for learning early in life
- the Ministry of Education will to continue to focus on ensuring Māori children are:
- participating in quality early childhood education
- making a successful transition to school
- building strong early literacy foundations.
Area two: Young People Engaged in Learning
- further on in the education system, attendance, engagement, and achievement data confirm that many young Māori students, particularly boys, become disengaged from secondary school in their first years there
- Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success addresses the whole education system and sets out how the ministry aims to transform the performance of the education system for and with Māori. Schools Plus targets the 15-19 age group and intersects with Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success at that point. Both strategies recognise we need to do more and better for students aged between 15 and 19 – ensuring they are engaged, achieve, participate and are, ultimately, prepared to lead a successful life.
- Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success focuses on ensuring Māori youth, particularly in years nine and ten are:
- present, effectively engaged in learning and achieving
- strengthening their competency in literacy and numeracy
- participating in decision-making for school improvement
- making informed choices about their furure education pathways.
Area three: Māori Language Education
- language is the essence of culture
- te reo Māori is the vehicle through which Māori spirituality and thought are expressed, and it enables the implementation of all aspects of te ao Māori
- it is a treasure passed down from ancestors, and protected by the Treaty of Waitangi
- Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success will focus on ensuring that Māori students:
- can access preferred Māori language education options
- build knowledge of mātauranga Māori and competencies in tikanga Māori
- see the broad value of te reo Māori in society
- strengthen their proficiency, accuracy, and complexity in te reo Māori.
Area four: Organisational Success
success for Māori students is the responsibility of everyone in the Ministry of Education, not just Māori staff or Group Māori
- Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success means investing in the people within the Ministry of Education to increase their confidence, capability, and ability to connect with Māori, so they know why, where, and how to focus work to get the best outcomes for Māori students
- Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success therefore focuses the ministry on:
- stronger leadership and relationships across the government and education sector
- increasing the confidence people have to work with Māori, and their capability to effectively deliver for and with Māori students, whānau, and communities
- accountability for outcomes, using evidence, and through performance management and business planning
- using and acting on evidence about what works for and with Māori.
View the Ministry of Education strategic focus diagram from the Statement of Intent 2008. This diagram shows how the ministry's key strategies are interwoven to provide a framework for delivering educational success for all learners, taking into account their specific learning needs and the different stabes of their education.
Ka Hikitia - Managing for Success is an overarching strategy which informs the ministry as a whole, and supports specific actions to improve Māori student outcomes.
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6. Goals and Actions
Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success sets out the goals, priorities, actions, targets, and outcomes for the next five years for each of the four areas of focus.
The actions include:
- focusing on responsible and accountable professional leadership
- continued strong focus on boosting participation in high-quality early childhood education
- strengthening the transition to school for children and whānau
- magnifying the gains from current literacy, numeracy, and professional development programmes that provide evidence of improved outcomes for and with Māori
- more responsive English medium schooling that builds on programmes that are working for and with Māori
- continued support to build capability in and access to Māori language education
- focused interactions with families, whānau, iwi, and Māori communities on developing productive partnerships where personal, parental, and professional responsibility for student presence, engagement, and achievement is shared
Refer to Ka Hikitia - Managing for Success: The Māori Education Strategy 2008-2012 (PDF V1.4 800kb) for all the goals and actions.
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7. How will things change?
Research in Māori education has increased significantly in the past few years so we know more about what works for and with Māori students than ever before. Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success identifies several key levers for change. They are the things (across the education sector) the research says will make the most different for and with Māori learners.
The levers for change include:
- increasing professional learning and capability of educators
- focusing on responsive and accountable professional leadership
- high-quality Māori language education
- increasing whānau and iwi authority involvement in education
- strengthening government agency collaboration.
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8. Public hui and feedback
Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success is a strategy that sets out specific priorities, outcomes and targets over the next five years. It was launched for public consultation on Thursday August 16, 2007. Public consultation took place over August, September and October. The consultation period ended on October 31 and the final strategy was launched on April 15, 2008.
9. How will we know if its working?
Ngā Haeata Mātauranga: the Annual Report on Māori Education will report on the progress that the Ministry of Education and the sector are making in improving Māori student outcomes. View the 2006/07 report (PDF V1.4 3.4mb) online here.
Click here to download a summary of Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success (in English) (PDF V1.4 379kb) or a summary of Ka Hikitia – Managing for Success (in Māori) (PDF V1.4 372kb)
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