Future+Slides

Some of the previous slides have been edited a bit so just have a look.

SLIDES 1 The Future What is on the horizon? · Mixed Medium Schools – Canadian Case Study · Challenges

2 Case Study – Canadian Mixed Medium Schools · Education is under Provincial Jurisdiction o Therefore each province varies o Main focus: Ontario & Quebec · Example of Program in Ontario o Core o Extended o Immersion · All are offered in mainstream English medium schools

3 Case Study Cont...Why · Establishes cultural understanding o Ex – Quebec Study ``bicultural experiences produce not only the obvious practical results (e.g., the profound impact on language skills), but also some other, and perhaps more important, benefits in the realm of attitudes and ideas about intergroup coexistence”

4 Challenges · Support from parents and community · Resources (ex. Teachers, school size) · Subject Vocabulary o Maths, sciences, etc. · Takes a long period of time to establish in schools · Differing Pedagogy o Better for Maori to be taught in all Maori contexts to revive language.

5. Challenges Cont...   · Push for other language groups as well o Use worldwide § Ex Mandarin o Others trying to maintain culture and improve student achievement § Ex Pacifika · Little incentive for students to take immersion programs (if of European decent) o The Language Act does not extend the right to use or to demand the use of Maori in the public domain beyond the oral use of the language in Courts of law and some quasi-legal Tribunals

6 Conclusion

The importance of languages in learning...

James Tollefson’s observation, over ten years ago now, that: the struggle to adopt minority languages within dominant institutions such as education … as well as the struggle over language rights, constitute efforts to legitimise the minority group itself and to alter its relationship to the state. Thus while language [education] planning reflects relationships of power, it can also be used to transform them.

Perhaps the next step to trying to address Maori Achievement in schools is to take on a mixed-medium school model (Canada could be used as an example) and also including Te Kotahitanga throughout the whole school as well.