School led learning at home: Voices of Maori and Pasifika students report
Experiences of parents of Māori and Pasifika students in the 2020 COVID19 Alert Level 4 lockdown.
Authors
Dr Melanie Riwai-Couch, Ally Bull, Brenda Ellis, Kerry Hall, Jane Nicholls, Leali’ie’e Tufulasi Taleni and Richard Watkinson.
Overview
This paper reports on a survey that sought the views of parents of Māori and Pasifika students on their experiences of the first week of school-led learning at home during New Zealand’s COVID19 Alert Level 4 lockdown. It provides valuable insights for educators and families alike.
Methodology
134 parents responded to the survey. These parents represented at least 105 primary and 79 secondary students from throughout New Zealand in English and Māori medium settings. Their perspectives are shared in the hope that these might help schools provide more equitable programmes whilst the restrictions on attending school in person remain, but perhaps even more importantly, to provide insights that might help refocus education in the longer term. The intent is to seize the opportunity afforded by the current disruption, to work more closely with whānau to rethink how public education can best be provided to meet the needs and aspirations of all New Zealanders.
In the survey, parents were asked about the benefits and challenges they had experienced, and also to provide suggestions for improving school-led learning at home. They were also asked how satisfied they were overall with the programmes that had been offered and the extent to which the programmes provided affirmed their identity, language and culture.
Findings
Finding ways to further strengthen partnerships and value the learning that happens across the boundaries between homes and schools, seems an important step in expanding our view of what counts as quality education, making schooling more equitable and in honouring te Tiriti o Waitangi. Our hope is that by sharing the voices of parents of Pasifika and Māori children, this paper might be a small step on the journey towards developing an education system that better meets the needs of all students.
