Maori-speaking teachers wanted

Press, 15 May 1985, Page 25

Maori-speaking teachers wanted

PA Wellington More Maori-speaking teachers is an urgent need that cannot be delayed, said the national executive of the Educational Institute in its annual report. The report called for a change from reserve quotas when selecting Maori and Pacific Island applicants to a system of national and district selection targets. The report was presented to the Educational Institute’s annual meeting in Wellington this week. That change snould increase the number of Maori and Pacific Island teachers, the report said. The use of language assistants from the community was a temporary resource being explored. Education cuts had af-

fected the supply of resources to teachers who were trying to introduce Maori language in their class. Some material dribbled through but the volume and range was far from satisfactory, the report said. The executive would continue to insist that quality resources were available to schools to help implement change in any syllabus. Trials for a social studies programme called Te Kete Raukura for forms one to four had been set up. Teachers from selected schools had attended courses and gathered resources to implement the units in their schools. It was understood the material would be released to all schools over the next ’three to four years.