WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS?

Te Ao Hou, December 1961, Page 24

WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS? The first half of the time of the meeting was spent on deciding what sort of educational problems the Maoris have. Conference decided the problems are of three kinds: (1) Language. What sort of English and Maori do Maoris actually speak? It is only when we know this that we can plan to improve the use of language by the Maori children in the schools. (2) What is the attitude of the Maori to education? What motivation does the young Maori have for his learning? Is it just so he won't get growled at, or just because he wants to get his certificate, or has he genuine interests too? What are they? People only do things well when they see the point of what they are doing. What can be done to get young Maoris to want to learn more? (3) Teaching methods. It may be that the effectiveness of the schooling of Maori children could be improved by some new techniques in the running of the schools—in pre-school education, in the teaching of reading and arithmetic, in dealing with backward children, in vocational guidance and ability testing, and other similar methods. The working party then split up into three groups, one for each of the three kinds of problem. Each of the groups reported back to the full working party towards the end of the conference, each proposing studies which should if possible be done in the near future. The Council intends to publish a full statement about all these research proposals in the near future. This will be a guide to those who wish to do research into Maori education, as the conference has suggested a vast number of subjects on which research is urgently needed. The council will also use the resources made available by the J. R. McKenzie Trust to get some of the projects started in the near future. It is impossible to do justice here to the many, often extremely learned, suggestions that were made, but the following random examples will give an idea of their scope. ▪ An experiment to be carried out in a community where the children still speak Maori: all teaching in the primers and Standards 1 and 2 to be in Maori, with English to be introduced gradually and slowly. It may well be that if this is done, the education of the child will in the long run be better and the leeway in English easily caught up. Only an experiment will show whether this is so or not. ▪ A Maori language research institute to be set up to deal with the teaching of the Maori language, prepare the necessary teaching materials and bring teaching methods up to date. ▪ A detailed study of Maori pupils from a variety of backgrounds who have been successful—to find out what has encouraged them to do as well as they have done. ▪ To evaluate the effect of various existing educational set-ups which may or may not be of great value to Maori children: preschool education, boarding schools, the scholarship system, Maori District High Schools, and the like. ▪ Last but not least: a study of pakeha culture made by Maori social scientists. These Maoris would move into a European village, describe the whole setup in the smallest detail, and then publish the result, for the benefit of Maori school children, so they will learn how the pakeha world ticks, and also for the benefit of some pakehas who might like to see their faces through this Maori mirror. These are only a few examples of the suggestions made by the working party. Many of them could only be described in very technical language, and at great length. However, enough has been said to show that this research conference had the interests of the young Maori very much at heart.

Working party on the problems in the schooling of Maori children: Standing, left to right: Mr G. R. Stunell, Rotorua Intermediate School; Dr T. Storm, Dept. of Psychology, Univ. of Auckland; Mr J. Waititi, Dept. of Education, Auckland; Mr J. M. Booth, Dept. of Maori Affairs; Mr C. J. Williams, Opotiki College; Mr E. Pittman, English Language Institute, Univ. of Wellington; Mrs Gabrielle Maxwell, recording secretary; Prof. E. Beaglehole, Dept. of Psychology, Univ. of Wellington; Mrs Mary Penfold, Poroporo School, Whakatane; Mr T. R. Hawthorn, Kaitaia College; Mr G. W. Parkyn, N.Z. Council for Educational Research; Dr B. G. Biggs, Dept. of Anthropology, Univ. of Auckland; Mr F. R. J. Davies, Officer for Islands Education; Mr R. J. Dow, Raupunga District High School; Mr R. L. Bradly, Officer for Maori Education, Auckland. Sitting down, from left to right: Mr J. J. Watson, N.Z. Institute for Education Research; Mr J. R. McCreary, School of Social Science, Univ. of Wellington; Dr A. Joan Metge, Adult Education Dept., Univ. of Auckland; Mr S. M. Mead, Whatawhata School; Mrs Lena Manuel, Maori Welfare Officer, Wairoa; Dr Fanaafi Ma'ima'i, Dept. of Education. Univ. of Wellington; Mr H. M. Jennings, Ngata Memorial College, Ruatoria; Mr J. A. Hendry, Chief Psychologist, Dept. of Education. (Photograph: John Ashton) The woman's point of view was ably presented by Mrs Penfold, infant mistress; Dr Ma'ima'i, Samoan scholar; and Mrs Manuel, a teacher now with the Department of Maori Affairs as a welfare officer. (Photograph: John Ashton)