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Sunday, October 6, 2024

David Farrar: We do not have unlimited money


The usual suspects are up in arms because the Government diverted $30 million for teaching teachers te reo, to an initiative to teach students maths. This is the reality of government – you have to set priorities.

The Herald also notes:

Education Minister Erica Stanford said the Te Ahu o te Reo Māori initiative “isn’t accredited” and is more than double the cost of “similar courses” with a price tag of $100 million.

“An evaluation of the programme found no evidence it directly impacted progress and achievement for students.

“The review also couldn’t quantify what impact the programme had on te reo Māori use in the classroom.”

So the initiative defunded was not accredited, was twice the cost of others, did not improve student achievement and have no quantifiable impact on te reo use in the classroom.

She said 22% of Year 8 students are at the expected standard for maths and 12% of Year 8 Māori students are where they should be.

The Minister was referring to where students currently sit against the new curriculum set to be introduced.

“I am not prepared to look parents in the eye and allow the 60,000 kids starting school next year to be on a similar trajectory.”

And it is going to an area of critical importance, where almost four in five students are below where we need them to be.

Seems a no brainer to me.

David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.

12 comments:

robert Arthur said...

if I was a teacher I would take the course so that when challenged for not confusing the pupils with te reo in class I could respond in te reo.

Anonymous said...


Over the years, Maori Iwi have been given billions from the public purse. Some iwi are multi-billion $ corporations which pay only 17% income tax. According to Stats NZ, only 1 in 5 Maori actually speak te reo. If te reo is so important to Maori, these wealthy iwi should pay for and provide teachers both for their own people and for those non-Maori who choose to learn a second language.

Anonymous said...

As said before, by Maori for Maori must be paid for by Maori, if it so important to them then this should not be an issue.

Peter said...

And where is the original public mandate to spend $100million on te reo courses in the first instance?

Quite frankly, we (aka - the mug taxpayer), have now literally spent many $billions on numerous Maori initiatives that are not formally recorded, nor considered part of any Treaty settlements. But what have we actually got to show for it, and what improvement, yet alone any gratitude, has been seen or ever expressed?

What we do have are the wealthy Jackson's, the Mahuta/Ormsby's, the Tamihere/Waititi's, and the "Underpants" Morgan's of our world, whom all clearly want and demand still more.

I believe it's way past time that this was all changed. Surely, ENOUGH, already!!!

Anonymous said...

Well put, it is high time that the spigot was turned off, bunged up and securely welded shut! It is high time too that the wealthy ones mentioned about paid their fair share in taxation to help pay for the maths tuition that is so sorely needed.

Anonymous said...

No sorry guys, the far left (maori party, greens and labour) have it correct on this one. Who needs to be able to add up?. Teaching kids to ram raid, have no respect for others while encouraging/prescribing puberty blockers is a much better use of the dosh!!

Actually it doesn't surprise me that the maori language class is an expensive failure, it has "Ardern and Co" written all over it.

Kiwialan said...

Why the hell is any taxpayer money being spent on teaching a stone age language that has no relevance in the real world and kids wasting the very short study time in NZ schools practicing kapa haka? We are at the bottom of most academic lists internationally but they have kids with no maori cultural connections perfecting stone age war dances. Then people wonder why our foreign student numbers are so low. The NZ education system is a woke joke. Kiwialan.

Kiwialan said...

Robert, you are too intelligent and informed to be a teacher in NZ.

robert arthur said...

Listen to Erica Stanford on RNZ audio, about 9.15 am Monday. An mp talking common sense. Music to the ear.

Gaynor said...

Maori are under achieving and constitute a disproportionate number of prison inmates, welfare numbers and as well as many more bad social statistics.

Our rotten education system is to blame since it has produced the longest tail of underachievement in the developed world. All low SES children are victims of this , not just Maori.

Marxism /Progressivism has caused this and more Marxism in Critical Theory which includes pandering to the 'oppressed colonised ' Maori is always going to make things a helluvah lot worse .The answer is to bring back traditional teaching methods which included discipline, morality and work ethic, as well as obviously effective teaching methods. This is time tested and also reinforced by recent science .Te Reo is a distraction Progressivism has used to take our attention away from the real solution of the problem which is recognition of the true culprit ,Progressivism itself, in destroying children's futures and cancelling this deeply flawed ideology out .

TJS said...

Well, 150 million just got downed in the ocean up by Samoa, but don't worry, it was just a toy, now no one can enjoy it except for some divers just off the coral reef.

manawanui. 1. (verb) to be steadfast, stout-hearted, tolerant, patient, unwavering, resolute, persistent, committed, dedicated, unswerving, staunch, dogged, tolerant.

Now there's a bit of te Reo Māori for yas.

Anonymous said...

Unwavering, committed, and unswerving - indeed! And straight into a reef.