National Qualifications Framework - Removing boundaries and barriers in education

The National Qualifications Framework has given Māori the opportunity to do away with some of the barriers that have stopped Māori taking up tertiary education in the past. They have been able to create their own alternatives to traditional tertiary learning centres and more flexible access to a wider range of qualifications.

There are now more than 160 private training establishments (PTEs) that identify themselves as Māori learning centres. That is one-fifth of all registered PTEs in the country. Overall PTEs (including those that do not specifically identify themselves as Māori ) awarded 51 percent of all NQF qualifications and 39 percent of NQF credits gained by Māori . Private providers have registered 42 percent of all Māori learners.

Since 1996 there has been a 33 percent increase in the number of Māori graduates and 13.5 percent of all Māori are hooked on to the Framework.

The growth has been referred to as a renaissance in iwi-led education with Māori not only participating and achieving in education in greater numbers than ever before, but also leading the way in creating new learning environments for Māori .

Tina Olsen-Ratana - NZQA board member and director of Lower Hutt-based Kokiri Marae

Kokiri Marae is a fully registered NZQA provider and is accredited to run courses ranging from Māori language programmes to barbering to text and information management. It runs three Kohanga Reo, is a founder in a Kura Kaupapa (a total roll of 195 children) and also offers healthcare, childcare, counselling and budget advice to its community.

Tina says the support offered by Marae based programmes and other Māori PTEs assists Māori to achieve educationally.

"They are places of learning, but also places to find support in other areas of life."

She says many Māori who take up training at the Marae are disadvantaged and have failed to succeed in the current education system.

"Most Māori , not all, but most, are hands-on people. We learn by watching, listening and trying. We are better practitioners than theorists," says Tina.

The flexibility of the Framework also allows for assessment of knowledge already gained and gives learners the option of training while they work.

"Gaining qualifications through actually doing the work suits the Māori way of learning," says Tina.

"Take for instance mechanics. We have some of the best mechanics with no qualifications. The Framework allows them to have that knowledge assessed against standards on the Framework and become qualified."

National Certificates and National Diploma qualifications on the NQF are now available in more relevant industries for Māori . In 2000 18 percent of credits in the service sector were gained by Māori learners (19 percent for non- Māori ) and 16 percent in agriculture, forestry and fisheries (compared with 11 percent for non- Māori ). Of all Framework qualifications awarded to Māori , 34 percent were in computing and information technology (22 per cent for non- Māori ). Six percent of their qualifications were gained in the law and security area - this is double the rate for non- Māori learners.

An expanding area of the NQF is the field Māori options for study catering specifically to Māori pedagogy, knowledge and skills. The development of field Māori is ongoing with NZQA working to develop new qualifications, review standards and qualifications registered in field Māori and promoting the uptake of Māori qualifications.

The recent Tertiary Education Sector report Profile and Trends 2000, compiled by the Ministry of Education, reports that of all qualifications gained by Māori , 87 percent were at Framework levels 1 to 3. NZQA and Māori have both identified achievements at higher levels as a high priority for the future.