Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Enabling School Engagement for Māori Families in New Zealand

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Child and Family Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of this research was to explore the mechanisms involved for engaging Māori (the indigenous people of New Zealand) families in their child’s education. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five Māori parents of year nine and ten students (aged between 12 and 14 years) from two suburban high schools in New Zealand. The research was framed within an indigenous qualitative methodology and employed interpretative phenomenological analysis from which four superordinate themes emerged. These themes closely align with concepts that underpin a Māori worldview (Ritchie in Becoming bicultural. Huia Publications, Wellington, NZ, 1992) and Macfarlane’s educultural wheel (Kia hiwa ra! Listen to culture—Māori students’ plea to educators. NZCER, Wellington, NZ, 2004). They have the potential to inform school policy, facilitate engagement with indigenous families, and foster Māori student achievement.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Banerjee, M., Harrell, Z. A. T., & Johnson, D. J. (2011). Racial/ethnic socialization and parental involvement in education as predictors of cognitive ability and achievement in African-American children. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 595–605.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barnard, W. M. (2004). Parent involvement in elementary school and educational attainment. Children and Youth Services Review, 26, 39–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, R. (2003). Changing power relations in education: Kaupapa Māori messages for ‘mainstream’ education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Comparative Education, 39(2), 221–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, R., Berryman, M., & Richardson, C. (2001). Te toi huarewa. Effective teaching and learning strategies, and effective teaching materials for improving the reading and writing in te reo Māori of students aged five to nine in Māori-medium education. (Final report to the Ministry of Education). Wellington, NZ: Ministry of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, R., & Glynn, T. (1999). Culture counts: Changing power relations in education. Palmerston North, NZ: Dunmore Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cram, F. (2001). Rangahau Māori: Tona tiki, tona pono—The validity and integrity of Māori research. In M. Tullich (Ed.), Research ethics in Aotearoa New Zealand (pp. 35–52). Auckland, NZ: Reed.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). The SAGE handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durie, M. (2006). Whānau, education and Māori potential [Hui Taumata Mātauranga presentation]. Retrieved, from http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Te%20Mata%20O%20Te%20Tau/Publications%20-%20Mason/HTML%20Charcode.pdf.

  • Education Counts. (n.d.). Stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions and expulsions from school. Retrieved on February 25, 2014, from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/indicators/main/student-engagement-participation/80346.

  • Elder, H. (2008). Kop wai ahau? (Who am I?) How cultural identity issues are experienced by Māori psychiatrists and registrars working with children and adolescents. Australian Psychiatry, 16(3), 200–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, J. L., & Sheldon, S. B. (2002). Present and accounted for: Improving student attendance through family and community involvement. Journal of Educational Research, 95(5), 308–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research and practice. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez-DeHass, A. R., Willems, P. P., & Holbein, M. F. D. (2005). Examining the relationship between parental involvement and student motivation. Educational Psychology Review, 17(2), 99–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartas, D. (2011). Families’ social backgrounds matter: Socio-economic factors, home learning and young children’s language, literacy and social outcomes. British Educational Research Journal, 37(6), 893–914.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, A. T., Mapp, K. L., Johnson, V. R., & Davies, D. (2007). Beyond the bake sale: The essential guide to family-school partnerships. New York, NY: The New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, N. E., & Taylor, L. C. (2004). Parental school involvement and children’s academic achievement: Pragmatics and issues. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 161–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ho, E. S. (2009). Educational leadership for parental involvement in an Asian context: Insights from Bourdieu’s theory of practice. School Community Journal, 19(2), 101–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hornby, G., & Lafaele, R. (2011). Barriers to parental involvement in education: An explanatory model. Educational Review, 63(1), 37–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horvat, E. M., Curci, J. D., & Partlow, M. C. (2010). Parents, principals, and power: A historical case study of “managing” parental involvement. Journal of School Leadership, 20, 702–727.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, J., & Kwok, O. (2007). Influence of student-teacher and parent-teacher relationships on lower achieving readers’ engagement and achievement in the primary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), 39–51.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jeynes, W. H. (2007). The relation between parental involvement and urban secondary school student academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Urban Education, 42, 82–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, B., Ingham, T., Davies, C., & Cram, F. (2010). Whānau tuatahi: Māori community partnership research using a kaupapa Māori methodology. MAI Review, 3, 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macfarlane, A. (2004). Kia hiwa ra! Listen to culture—Māori students’ plea to educators. Wellington, NZ: NZCER.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mapp, K. L. (2003). Have their say: Parents describe why and how they are engaged in their children’s learning. School Community Journal, 13(1), 35–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNeal, R. B, Jr. (1999). Parental involvement as social capital: Differential effectiveness on science achievement, truancy and dropping out. Social Forces, 78(1), 117–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education. (2007). Ngā haeata mātauranga/Annual report on Māori education. Wellington, NZ: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillipson, S., & Phillipson, S. N. (2012). Children’s cognitive ability and their academic achievement: The mediation effects of parental expectations. Asia Pacific Review, 13, 495–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ritchie, J. (1992). Becoming bicultural. Wellington, NZ: Huia Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robson, B., Cormack, D., & Cram, F. (2007). Social and economic indicators. In B. Robson & R. Harris (Eds.), Hauora: Māori standards of health IV. A study of the years 2000–2005. Wellington, NZ: Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pomare.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. A., Flower, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Statistics New Zealand. (2013). 2013 census quickstats about Māori. Retrieved on February 26, 2014, from http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2013-census/profile-and-summary-reports/quickstats-about-Māori-english.aspx.

  • Vera, E. M., Israel, M. S., Coyle, L., Cross, J., Knight-Lynn, L., Moallem, I., et al. (2012). Exploring the educational involvement of parents of English learners. School Community Journal, 22(2), 183–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wen, X., Bulotsky-Shearer, R. J., Hahs-Vaughn, D., & Korfmacher, J. (2012). Head start program quality: Examination of classroom quality and parent involvement in predicting children’s vocabulary, literacy, and mathematics achievement trajectories. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27, 640–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Education, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Neresa Hall, Garry Hornby & Sonja Macfarlane

Authors
  1. Neresa Hall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Garry Hornby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sonja Macfarlane
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Neresa Hall.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hall, N., Hornby, G. & Macfarlane, S. Enabling School Engagement for Māori Families in New Zealand. J Child Fam Stud 24, 3038–3046 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-0107-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-0107-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation