Covid-19’s Impact on Māori Learners –

Innovations and Next Steps

The most recently available census data (for 2020) indicates that the median age of Māori is 11 years
younger than their Pākehā counterparts, at 25.1 for males and 27.1 years for females. This data helps
us to understand that because the Māori population is generally quite young, education is a key
focus for most Māori advocates. Key to that is the disparity in outcomes, and finding ways to make
an education system that works for all people no matter their whakapapa. The arrival of the Covid-19
pandemic in Aotearoa in early 2020 meant that education was forced to change to enable learning
from home. As a result, many initiatives and resources were released to the public by Māori to
ensure that their tamariki would not be further disadvantaged. This is a literature review of five
sources that discuss the impacts that Covid-19 had on learning outcomes of Māori learners, what
initiatives emerged, and what still needs to change to close the gap of inequity in education.

Impacts of the Covid-19 lockdown on Māori University Students - June 2020

This is a report prepared by Zaine Akuhata-Huntington on behalf of Te Mana Ākonga – the National
Māori Tertiary Students’ Association. This report was commissioned to collate information gathered
through a survey that had been sent through to currently enrolled (or withdrawn during the
lockdown) Māori university students aged 16 or older. This report?? will focus on the third and final
section of the report, titled Te Ao Mārama which analyses the results, discusses the limitations
inevitably involved in the survey, as well as possible next steps.

Government Action:

 the implementation of a universal income for all tertiary students so that students can meet
their needs while studying without getting into debt
 Implementation of Māori values and principles in policy and planning
 Approaches that address systemic inequities in education and health
 A more approachable and culturally aware mental health support system

University Services:

 Ensure there are policies in place for future natural disasters

 Evaluate the effectiveness of current support services for Māori
 Make funding available specifically to increase Māori engagement
 Publish clear commitments to increase recruitment, retention, and employment of Māori
within the tertiary sector.

Māori Student Welfare and Leadership:

 Promoting tino rangatiratanga by increasing support and resourcing for Māori student
associations
 Student leadership roles for maori student voice
 Māori led initiatives to improve mental health outcomes of students
 Grants to ease financial hardship, while upholding students’ dignity
These recommendations aim to increase accessibility of our education systems, by providing
students with financial and monetary stability, while strengthening their connections to te Ao Māori.

Addressing Rangatahi Education: Challenges After COVID-19 - July 2020

This report was a partnership between Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei – who are the tangata whenua of central
Auckland – and Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures (Koi Tū) – who are a research centre and
“think-tank” based at the University of Auckland. Digital inclusiveness is a term key to this paper,
here used to mean equity of access to the digital world – something essential in the pursuit of equity
in our education system as it becomes increasingly digitalised.

The key next steps identified in this report were:

 Supporting iwi to “promote and enhance digital inclusiveness” within their region
 Strengthening the relationship between iwi and the Ministry of Education so that digital
inclusion is actually effective
 Generating more research that studies impacts and needs due to Covid-19 for Māori
students
 Ensuring universal access to devices for all learners which will help with equity of outcome in
the educational system
 Ensuring that the students have stable internet access so that the provided devices can be
used for their education
 Providing of tutors and more condensed lessons so that students can catch up on content
missed because of the lockdowns and other disruption
 Supporting teachers and whānau of students to better work with students while at distance
from school
 Free psychological support so that parents, teachers, and students are looked after in the
epicentre of the Covid impact, but that the support must continue so that these gains are
not lost
 Addressing the social reasons behind inequality in education
 Supporting equitable resources and funding for Māori medium education

These recommendations boil down to making sure there are facilities in place to look after all aspects
of the wellbeing of students, not just physically but ensuring that students’ mental health is being
looked after as well. Additionally, making sure there are strategies in place so that the impact of
Covid is lessened, and in case of any future disasters.

The Effects of Covid-19 on Māori Education Outcomes - August 2020

This report was commissioned by Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust, which is a Wellington based trust which
is dedicated to “support[ing] and accelerat[ing] Māori social and economic development (Te Pūtea
Whakatupu Trust, n.d.)” The purpose of this report was to find out how Māori whānau managed in
the multiple lockdowns; what innovations had been adopted and adapted by Māori to create a
structure for learning while at home; and which of those solutions encouraged Māori education to
improve.

Whānau education innovations – education led by the ppl children would actually see daily while
locked down at home- meaning whānau rather than teachers. Facebook was one medium used to
share such creations, with many whānau creating pages to share reo tips, cooking classes, and other
activities for other whānau to do together in lockdown. The Ministry of Education, as well as national
media companies such as RNZ and Māori Television created television programmes, online
resources, and sent out hardcopy resource packs to whānau across the country. The use of widely
available platforms, and physically mailing resources meant a broader uptake of these innovations as
they were made more accessible to more people.

This report’s takeaway was that “by Māori, for Māori” innovations are the most successful, with
students in Māori medium schools having outcome on par with their Pākehā counterparts in
mainstream schools. So, it is important that initiatives put in place by the government and other non-
Māori organisations take into consideration what Māori whānau know works for them.

NCEA 2021 Annual Report - May 2022

Every year the New Zealand Qualifications Agency (NZQA) publishes a report on the results from the
previous years’ exams. The 2021 report is the most recently released report, and contains data on
the actual achievements of all high school learners in Aotearoa. This data is broken into cohorts of
students and presented by ethnicity. In this way, it is possible to see the outcomes for Māori learners
year on year and to see how the years with COVID-19 interruptions could have had a larger impact.

It must be noted however, that NZQA tweaked some requirements for subject endorsements, as well
as receiving extra credits for every 4 or 5 credits achieved. This was to counteract the decreased
number of contact hours with staff, as well as the disruption of multiple lockdowns and change in
living situations for many students. Because of this change in how credits are awarded, NZQA warns
against comparing the COVID-19 years’ data against the other years’ data. However, the general
trends can still be analysed, and any change in disparity of outcome between different cohorts can
also be analysed.

* The data in the table for years

2017 and 2018 are inverted.
The graph is still accurate.

There are three notable regions in this graph. The year with the worst attainment rate for each
group is red, the second worst is yellow, and the best is green. 2020, the first year with major
influence by Covid stands out for all student groups as being one of, if not the, best years for them.
This is most likely due to potentially excessive measures by NZQA to counteract the instability of
Covid-19. In 2021 we see the results come down more in line with the trend, which shows that
worryingly, Level 1 and 2 students are proportionally doing worse year on year. There are no reasons
given in the report as to why this is exclusive to the more junior students.

Online Learning in Aotearoa New Zealand: Effective Pedagogies That Work Well to
Engage Ākonga Māori in an Online Environment – 2022
The arrival of Covid-19 in Aotearoa and around the whole world meant that on campus learning was
disrupted and so education largely moved online so that students could continue to engage with
education while at home in lockdown. As a result, this thesis was published to analyse methods used
by educational institutions and their effectiveness with our most vulnerable learners – primarily
Māori.

There were 8 key strategies identified in this paper, in section 4.2, that were effective methods of
improving student-teacher relations and improving student outcomes.

 Having connections within the community so that the teacher was someone to be trusted
 Professional development on distance teaching
 Getting to know the student and their hobbies and what is important to them
 Meeting face to face
 Use of te Reo Māori where possible, which normalises its use within a classroom space
 Use of online communication tools (such as Google Docs, Messenger, etc.) to stay in contact
with students and their families even during lockdown
 Being culturally responsive by being empathetic to seasonal changes as well as significant
events in the Māori calendar
 Recognising “Te Wā” or allowing time – being flexible on due dates, and helping students to
improve their time-management skills by breaking down assessments into smaller, more
manageable chunks

An effective diagram of identified

strategies, from Alexander’s thesis
A point reinforced throughout these sources is that it is important to approach research involving
Māori students within a tikanga Māori framework, such as the Whare Tapa Whā framework.
Acknowledging the many aspects of each student and the balance necessary is key to improving the
outcomes of these students, by supporting the mental health of students and making sure that they
are financially stable with access to materials needed for their education, all while enabling them to
retain their Māori identity.

Bibliography
Aiko Consultants Limited. (2020). The Effects of Covid-19 on Māori Education Outcomes.

Akuhata-Huntington, Z. (2020). Impacts of the Covid-19 Lockdown on Māori University Students.

Wellington: Te Mana Ākonga.

Alexander, C. (2022). Online Learning in Aotearoa New Zealand: Effective Pedagogies That Work Well
to Engage Ākonga Māori in an Online Environment. Christchurch: Canterbury University
Press.

Hunia, R., Salim, S., McNaughton, S., Menzies, R., Gluckman, P., & Bardsley, A. (2020). Addressing
Rangatahi Education: Challenges After Covid-19. Auckland: Auckland University Press.

Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust. (n.d.). Charting pathways. Retrieved from Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust:
https://www.tpwt.maori.nz