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Article Excerpt
The present study investigates the roles of Maori cultural identity and socioeconomic status in educational outcomes in a New Zealand birth cohort studied from birth to the age of 25. There were statistically significant (all p values < .01) associations between cultural identity and educational outcomes, with those of Maori ethnic identification having generally lower levels of educational achievement outcomes when compared to non-Maori. In addition, those of Maori ethnic identification were exposed to significantly (p < .05) greater levels of socio-economic disadvantage in childhood. Control for socio-economic factors largely reduced the associations between cultural identity and educational outcomes to statistical non-significance. The findings suggest that educational underachievement amongst Maori can be largely explained by disparities in socio-economic status during childhood.
Keywords
achievement longitudinal study cultural identity indigenous peoples social disadvantage socio-economic status
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One of the most well-established features of New Zealand's education system is the enduring disparity in educational achievement between Maori and non-Maori. Using the standard educational indicators of participation and attainment, Maori are less likely to attend an early childhood education facility before entering primary school, are far less likely to leave school with upper-secondary-school qualifications, and are also less likely to possess formal or tertiary-level qualifications when compared to other New Zealanders (Ministry of Social Development, 2007). In addition, there has been a worrying trend in the rising truancy and suspension rates of Maori relative to school attendance (Ministry of Education, 2007). Given the recognised contribution of education to improve income levels, standards of living and psychosocial outcomes (Duncan et al., 1998; Fergusson, Swain-Campbell & Horwood, 2002; Fergusson & Woodward, 2000), these consistently lower levels of achievement by Maori in New Zealand's education system have been a long standing source of concern and debate (Fergusson, Lloyd & Horwood, 1991; van Meijl, 1994; Alton-Lee, 2003; Ministry of Education, 2005). Two schools of thought have come to dominate discussion on the origins of this discrepancy in educational performance between Maori and non-Maori and why it persists.
The first view argues that, with the colonisation of New Zealand, Maori have been subjected to continuous disadvantage in an education system and curriculum that was imposed upon them (Bishop & Glynn, 1999; Pihama et al., 2002; L.T. Smith, 1999).Although variations in this argument are evident, all assume that differences in culture play a critical role in explaining Maori educational underachievement. From this perspective, present-day disparities are the result of an education system that historically neglected to recognise cultural differences between Maori and non-Maori. Included among the commonly cited differences are disparate world views (L.T. Smith, 1999), distinct pedagogical practices (Bishop, Berryman & Richardson, 2002), and contrasting styles of cognition (Durie, 1994). By failing to acknowledge, and cater for, these assumed differences, it is believed that Maori were being educated in culturally inappropriate learning environments. Central to this view is the contention that Maori educational underachievement is best understood as an outcome of a systemic failure to actively recognise, transmit and reinforce Maori cultural values and beliefs across the education spectrum (Fitzsimons & Smith, 2000).The result of this failure, it is claimed, has been a loss of cultural esteem and, by direct association, Maori identity, which has led to current disparities between Maori and non-Maori in education (Durie, 2005; Bishop et al., 2007).
The second school of thought has focused on the role of socio-economic disparities rather than cultural differences to explain the educational gap between Maori and other New Zealanders (Chapple et al., 1997). Importantly, this perspective duly recognises that Maori have indeed been subjected to adverse historical processes such as colonialism, institutional racism and judicial disadvantage (Poata-Smith, 1997; Freeman-Moir, 1997). As a consequence, it is acknowledged that Maori represent a minority ethnic group that has endured serious hardship including loss of customary rights and significant disruption to social organisation. While these factors are accepted as influencing Maori socio-political structures, the underlying cause believed to impede educational achievement by Maori is access to, and participation in, New Zealand's capitalist economic system (Chapple, 1999, 2000; Rata, 2003).Accordingly, it is the disadvantaged position of Maori within the nation's labour market economy that has led to poorer education outcomes for Maori. Integral to this alternative perspective are the links made between economic status, resource capacity and educational performance.
With respect to economic status, Maori continue to occupy a more marginalised position when compared to other New Zealanders (Statistics New Zealand, 2002). Proponents of this view posit that the lower socio-economic status of Maori directly constrains access to the resources known to influence education participation and attainment. To take one example, because Maori are more likely to be brought up in a single-parent environment than non-Maori, access to income may be limited, which can influence the material conditions and intra-familial dynamics within the family unit (Ministry of Women's Affairs, 2001). In turn, Maori may be exposed to greater social adversity and psychosocial risk than other New Zealanders, the influence of which is revealed through lower educational achievement (Chapple et al., 1997). Critically, this position argues that it is not ethnicity or culture per se that influences education outcomes; rather, educational differentiation between groups is a product of their respective economic positioning within specific nations (Marks, 2006). Applied to the New Zealand context, educational underachievement of Maori arises through the lower socio-economic status of this group's members within the nation's labour market.
The issue that clearly divides these two schools of thought concerns the mechanisms that lead to educational underperformance by Maori. The first view, which advocates a cultural model of explanation,...
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