Action Plan for Pacific Education 2020-2023 
2023 Refresh | Summary

The Action Plan for Pacific Education 2020-2030 maps the Government’s commitment to transforming outcomes for Pacific learners and families. It signals how early learning services, schools and tertiary providers can achieve change for Pacific learners and their families.

The Action Plan aligns with the strategic commitments for Pacific Aotearoa success and the vision for education for all Aotearoa ākonga.

The 30 year vision and the education objectives form the core of our overall approach to education:

Whakamaua te pae tata kia tina – Take hold of your potential so it becomes your reality…
Whaia te pae tawhiti kia tata – Explore beyond the distant horizon and draw it near

We are descendants of explorers, discoverers and innovators who used their knowledge to traverse distant horizons. Our learning will be inclusive, equitable and connected so we progress and achieve advances for our people and their future journeys and encounters.

This Action Plan maps how we will achieve system change to better support Pacific learners and families in five key areas. This is critical to give life to the 30 year vision for all learners and families in Aotearoa, New Zealand and to the objectives of the Pacific Wellbeing Strategy and Pacific Languages Strategy.

The Vision for Pacific Education is that diverse Pacific learners and their families are safe, valued, and equipped to achieve their education aspirations.

The five key shifts are:

1.    Key Shift 1: Work reciprocally with diverse Pacific communities to respond to unmet needs, including growing and supporting Pacific bilingual and immersion education pathways.

2.    Key Shift 2: Confront systemic racism and discrimination in education.

3.    Key Shift 3: Enable every teacher, leader and educational professional to take coordinated action to become culturally competent with diverse Pacific learners.

4.    Key Shift 4: Partner with families to design education opportunities together with teachers, leaders and educational professionals so aspirations for learning and employment can be met.

5.    Key Shift 5: Grow, retain and value highly competent teachers, leaders and educational professionals of diverse Pacific heritages.

Our work in education aligns to the objectives for Pacific Wellbeing Strategy:

• Vaka Moana | Performance and Improvement.
• Lalaga Potu | Pacific Cultural Values and Principles.
• Fale Fono | Partnership and Governance.
• Te Kupega | Capability.

You can find the Strategy online here

https://www.mpp.govt.nz/programmes/all-of-government-pacific-wellbeing-strategy/ [https://tinyurl.com/2s3eas6c]

Our work in education aligns to the objectives for Pacific Languages Strategy: 

• Key Objective 1: Raise the value of Pacific languages.
• Key Objective 2:  Strengthen pathways and resources to learn Pacific languages and learn through Pacific languages.
• Key Objective 3: Create opportunities to use Pacific languages more in more spaces.

You can find the Strategy online here

https://www.mpp.govt.nz/programmes/the-pacific-languages-strategy-2022-2032/ [https://tinyurl.com/my757r7h]

Our work in education aligns to the overarching objectives for the Education System:

• Barrier-Free Access: Great education opportunities and outcomes are within reach for every learner.
• World class Inclusive Public Education: New Zealand education is trusted and sustainable.
• Quality Teaching and Leadership: Quality teaching and leadership make the difference for learners and their whanau.
• Learners at the centre: Learners with their whānau are at the centre of education.
• Future of learning and work: Learning that is relevant to the lives of New Zealanders today and throughout their lives.

We also want to acknowledge the significant role that families and communities play in supporting their children and young people. We value and thank them for the contributions they make every day. 

The guidance and resources provided in the full Action Plan for Pacific Education can also be used by families and communities to further support their children to achieve their aspirations. 

You can find the full Action Plan for Pacific Education online, here: 

https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/overall-strategies-and-policies/action-plan-for-pacific-education/ [or here https://tinyurl.com/yvfbrx2n]

What is the Government doing?

We are continuing some actions from the 2020 Action Plan for Pacific Education. We are starting some new actions and have committed to some more new actions too.  We have also completed some of the actions in the 2020 Action Plan for Pacific Education.

Some of the key actions we are continuing are:

• Delivering the Ka Ora Ka Ako | Food in Schools programme to provide free schools lunches for learners in areas with high levels of disadvantage.
• Delivering the Unteach Racism programme.
• Providing funding for innovative programmes through the Pacific Education Innovation Fund.
• Supporting Pacific families through the Talanoa Ako programme.
• Helping Pacific early learning services strengthen their governance and management skills.

Some of the key actions we have started are:

• Setting up new NCEA Pacific subjects, including Gagana Tokelau and Vagahau Niue
• Implementing the Fakailoga Tino programme to support teachers to name, negotiate and navigate racism so they can better support Pacific learners, parents, families and communities.
• Supporting teachers to teach Pacific learners through the Tapasā professional learning and development programme.
• Delivering new resources to support Pacific learners to plan for study and training after high school.
• Looking at what teachers need to teach in Pacific bilingual education.

Some of the key actions we will start are:

• Supporting Pacific school leavers and their families to make informed study decisions through the Careers System Strategy and Tahatū.
• Strengthening initiatives to make learning environments in schools safe and inclusive.
• Supporting more teachers to teach Pacific learners through the Tapasā professional learning and development programme.
• Delivering more supports to support Pacific learners to plan for study and training after high school.
• Exploring opportunities to design initiatives to grow the number of Pacific language teachers with Pacific communities.

You can find more information on all of the actions in the full Action Plan for Pacific Education.

Growing Pacific Languages in Education 

Our Commitment

Pacific languages have a special place within Aotearoa and within our education system.

We will support the growth of Pacific Languages in Education across early learning, schooling and tertiary education. This includes supporting the growth of bilingual and immersion education settings[1].

Our commitment is built off the place and benefit of Pacific languages and Pacific bilingualism in Aotearoa.

This new section will mean different things for the different groups of people in our education system.

• For the Ministry of Education and partner agencies, this section sets out our commitment to grow Pacific language pathways by taking specific actions.
• For teachers, leaders and educators, you can use this section to plan for Pacific language pathways in your service, school, institute and community and to understand what actions the Ministry of Education and partner agencies are taking.
• For families and communities, you can use this section to work with services, schools and providers to grow and support Pacific language pathways in your community and to understand what actions the Ministry of Education and partner agencies are taking.

“Schools need to be open to the basket of knowledge that our children take in with them”
Tokoroa 2022

There is significant domestic and international evidence that learners who are supported in their community languages achieve improved education and wellbeing outcomes.[2] Learning and using your language creates a greater sense of belonging, a strong sense of identity and makes you feel safe and valued in your place of learning[3].  This research aligns with the goals of the statement of National Education and Learning Priorities and the Tertiary Education Strategy 

[Web Link- https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/overall-strategies-and-policies/the-statement-of-national-education-and-learning-priorities-nelp-and-the-tertiary-education-strategy-tes/ [or here https://tinyurl.com/5xzysnv2]

Supporting Pacific Languages in Education will also make a significant contribution to the overall health of these languages, the vision of the Pacific Languages Strategy [Web link- https://www.mpp.govt.nz/programmes/the-pacific-languages-strategy-2022-2032/ [or here https://tinyurl.com/my757r7h] for thriving Pacific Languages to build a prosperous Aotearoa and the key objectives to strengthen pathways and resources for learning Pacific languages and learning in Pacific languages. 

In this work, we acknowledge te reo Māori as the indigenous language of Aotearoa, a taonga of iwi, hapū and whānau Māori and an official language of New Zealand[4]. We will look for opportunities to strengthen connections between our focus on Pacific Languages in Education and te reo Māori.

Alignment with Pacific Languages Strategy 2022 -2032

The New Zealand Government has some specific responsibilities and commitments to Pacific languages. The first Pacific Languages Strategy was published in September 2022. It identified nine target languages and described the status, current health and aspirations for these languages in Aotearoa. It also described a tailored approach to different languages to recognise these circumstances.

We will tailor provision to reflect communities’ aspirations and circumstances.

“We need to provide opportunities for those children and those families that would thrive under a bilingual and immersion system.” Tauranga 2022

We’ve worked with Pacific communities and the education sector to understand their aspirations for Pacific languages in education. We engaged with communities in 2022, as well as learning from the conversations we had on the Action Plan for Pacific Education in 2018 and 2019 [Web link- https://conversation.education.govt.nz/conversations/action-plan-for-pacific-education/ [or here https://tinyurl.com/3khzvd75] and the Pacific Languages Strategy in 2021. We have also learnt from the Leo Moana o Aotearoa survey [Web link- https://www.mpp.govt.nz/programmes/pacific-languages-survey/ [or here https://tinyurl.com/mtsvf33u]in 2021.

What we have heard from communities and the education sector has shaped this policy statement.  We’re committed to tailoring provision, based on what we know about community aspirations for different language pathways and on the three factors identified in the Pacific Languages Strategy: the current state of the language, the demographics of the population, and their relationship to Aotearoa.[5] 

We will use the three categories set out in the Pacific Languages Strategy to guide us:

Urgent revitalisation

Te Gagana Tokelau

Vagahau Niue

Te Reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani

This group is characterised by high levels of language endangerment, low numbers of speakers, low intergenerational transmission and strong constitutional ties to Aotearoa with specific constitutional obligations to revitalise these languages. The largest populations of these groups in the world are found in Aotearoa, often in concentrated communities.

Strengthening Transmission and Maintenance

Gagana Sāmoa

Lea Faka-Tonga

This group is characterised by their large populations and relatively high numbers of speakers but also their sharp decline in total speakers and intergenerational transmission rates. New Zealand has a special relationship with Sāmoa, as expressed through the 1962 Treaty of Friendship. This group is a high priority for retention and maintenance efforts.

Support Community-Led Action for Language Revitalisation and Maintenance

Te Gana Tuvalu

Fäeag Rotuḁm ta

Vosa vaka-Viti

Te Taetae ni Kiribati

This group is characterised by smaller, emerging populations of language speakers with some degree of formal relationship with New Zealand. There are smaller numbers of people from these communities who are New Zealand-born and varying levels of language endangerment.

We will tailor provision to reflect communities

There are many possible approaches to Pacific Languages in Education, including bilingual and immersion education, teaching Pacific languages within the New Zealand Curriculum and supporting community education[6]. These approaches can be actioned across early learning, schooling and tertiary education. 

We will work with Pacific language communities to develop a pathway forward which best responds to their aspirations for Pacific Languages in Education, together with their community and sociolinguistic circumstances and relationships with the New Zealand Government. This work will be located within the context of our overall education system and will respond to the direction of the Pacific Languages Strategy. 

In practical terms, we will have an initial focus on growing new and supporting current education pathways for gagana Sāmoa and lea faka-Tonga in secondary and tertiary, and for gagana Tokelau, vagahau Niue and te reo Māori Kuki ‘Āirani in early learning. 

These pathways will include bilingual early learning services, bilingual and immersion provision in primary schools, opportunities for teaching these languages as subjects in primary and secondary education, including NCEA, and pathways into tertiary education. 

We know there are high levels of demand for bilingual and immersion education within the gagana Sāmoa language community and we will have an early focus on responding to this demand.  We will also work with the Ministry of Pacific Peoples to support community-led action for gana Tuvalu, Vosa vaka-Viti, te taetae ni Kiribati and Fäeag Rotuḁm that responds to local aspirations and needs.

We also recognise that there are other Pacific languages and communities in Aotearoa. We will work with the Ministry for Pacific Peoples to identify opportunities to support these communities in education settings. 

Information about the learner populations from these language communities and current levels of Pacific Languages in Education provision is set out in the supporting evidence brief. It will be important for the Ministry to continue to grow its data about learners and the workforce and providers of Pacific Languages in Education.

We will use a range of levers to support Pacific Languages in Education

“Empower our knowledge holders in communities with the resources and tools, to share their wisdom”, Wellington 2022

The Ministry of Education and partner agencies will use a range of levers across early learning, schooling and tertiary education to support the growth of Pacific Languages in Education. Some of these levers have already been established, while some are still under development. We will work with Pacific communities to support their leadership of Pacific Languages in Education.

We will use the levers by progressing the key actions identified in this Action Plan. You can find out about the actions we are continuing and starting and the actions we will take to grow Pacific languages in education in the full Action Plan for Pacific Education.  

We will measure and report on progress on a regular basis 

The Ministry of Education will measure progress and reporting to Pacific communities on a two-yearly basis through the Action Plan Progress Reports and the reporting on the Pacific Languages Strategy. 

The Education Review Office is developing a Pacific Bilingual and Immersion Education Quality Framework to provide clear and consistent guidance on best practice pedagogy to early learning services and schools. This will become the basis for its review of relevant services and schools. 

There is more work to do

There is more work to do to support Pacific Languages in Education in Aotearoa. In this Action Plan, we have identified the first wave of actions to provide a platform for growth. It will be necessary to update these actions on an ongoing basis.

End of information: Action Plan for Pacific Education 2020-2030 
2023 Refresh | Summary

This Large Print document is adapted by Blind Citizens NZ from the standard document provided by Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of Education. 

The logo for Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of Education is placed on the top left corner of the front page of this document. Slightly to the right is the logo for Te Mahau.

[1] Pacific bilingual and immersion education means at least 1 Pacific language is the medium of education instruction for 51% or more of the time (or more than 12.5 hours per week).

[2] May, S. 2020. Research to understand the features of quality Pacific Bilingual Education: Review of Best Practices. Research to understand the features of quality Pacific bilingual education: Review of best practices | Education Counts.  

[3] You can read more about these benefits here- Research to understand the features of quality Pacific bilingual education: Review of best practices | Education Counts and ERO’s quality framework and the supporting evidence brief, available online

[4] Te Ture mō te Reo Māori 2016

[5] See Page 33 of the Pacific Languages Strategy- Pacific-Languages-Strategy-2022-2032.pdf (mpp.govt.nz)

[6] For the purpose of this policy statement, ‘bilingual and immersion education’ is where a Pacific language is used as a medium of instruction for 51% of class time; ‘teaching Pacific languages within the New Zealand curriculum’ means teaching a Pacific languages as a subject or as a medium of instruction for less than 50% of class time; and ‘community education’ means learning provided by community organisations.