Family Futures

119 / 210

[ ] 117
Confronting F amily P overty
lies and beneficiary families as well as children of prisoners
have worse health outcomes than other children. The 2013
Child Poverty Monitor notes that Māori children are also
proportionally more exposed to the impacts of poverty, as
evidenced by rates of admissions to hospital for infectious and
non-infectious diseases often associated with poverty. Data on
admissions for infectious diseases show significantly higher
rates for Māori than non-Māori for pertussis, meningococcal
disease, acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease,
and serious skin infections.
To improve well-being and health outcomes for Māori,
whānau-centred initiatives have been introduced. These
whānau ora (well and healthy) approaches champion an
integrated delivery of services and resources that focus on
collective well-being outcomes rather than solely focusing on
the individual. This whole-of-family approach aligns well with
Māori values and will hopefully deliver positive outcomes for
Māori whānau and achieve a significant reduction of whānau
poverty. It is also significant that many of these initiatives
are designed, implemented and delivered by Māori for M āori.
It is well known that education is integral to the devel-
opment of human potential. New Zealand produces high
educational outcomes for some while at the same time deliver-
ing low educational achievement for others. M āori educational
achievement needs to be understood within the context of this
high quality, low equity education system. Māori education-
alists have noted the contribution that Māori communities
have made to education in New Zealand. The development
of Māori-language immersion preschool, primary, secondary
and tertiary institutions has led to increased Māori participa-
tion at all educational levels. However, most Māori children
attend mainstream English-medium schools and, while the
last 40 years have seen a significant shift in attitudes towards
incorporating Māori dimensions into the curriculum, the
achievement gains for Māori children have been modest.
Current research and policy initiatives indicate that increased
levels of achievement for Māori children include attending to
school and community leadership, teacher quality, whānau
engagement, a responsive and accessible curriculum, the
guidance of Māori children onto academic pathways that
encourage higher education, and prioritizing student reten-
tion. Leadership needs to go beyond the school gates and
demonstrate a commitment to Māori communities to fully
address inequities in Māori student achievement. A recogni-
tion that change has occurred gives reason for optimism in
the future, but there is much that needs to be done to move
beyond incremental change towards positive transforma-
tive change. Quality early childhood education through to
tertiary-level participation is key to wealth creation in the
broadest sense by creating the conditions for Māori to lead
rich productive individual and collective lives.
Paid employment is clearly identified as one of the most
important pathways out of poverty. While paid employ-
ment generates income, it also allows higher levels of social
engagement and life satisfaction. For Māori, work that is
secure, sustainable and available greatly contributes to indi-
vidual and collective well-being. Māori make up a relatively
young and fast-growing share of the New Zealand working-
age population. Department of Labour data shows that Māori
have weaker labour market outcomes, on average, than the
broader population. In an ageing population the younger age
profile of M āori should be seen as an asset, yet they have been
Incorporating Māori dimensions in the curriculum has led to modest achievement gains for M āori children, but more must be done to move beyond incremental
change towards positive transformation
Image: Josie McClutchie, Ng
ā
Pae o te M
ā
ramatanga