Ka Hikitia – Ka Hāpaitia - Ministry of Education

On this page

About the strategy
How this links to Tau Mai Te Reo
Resources to go with Ka Hikitia
Continuing our kōrero about the future of Māori education
Ongoing engagement
In this section

About the strategy

The agencies include the Ministry of Education, Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu, Education New Zealand, Education Review Office (ERO), New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), The Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, Tertiary Education Commission, and New Zealand School Trustees Association (NZSTA). The education sector includes all early learning, schooling, and tertiary education provision.

It sets out how we will work with education services to achieve system shifts in education and support Māori learners and their whānau, hapū and iwi to achieve excellent and equitable outcomes and provides an organising framework for the actions we will take.

The refreshed Ka Hikitia strategy visual (A3) - June 2020

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Outcome domains

The framework has 5 outcome domains. These outcome domains reflect key messages that we have heard from whānau, hapū, Iwi, Māori over an extended period of time and our evidence base about what works for Māori learners and their whānau.

Te Whānau

Education provision responds to learners within the context of their whānau.

Te Tangata

Māori are free from racism, discrimination and stigma in education.

Te Kanorautanga

Māori are diverse and need to be understood in the context of their diverse aspirations and lived experiences.

Te Tuakiritanga

Identity, language and culture matter for Māori learners.

Te Rangatiratanga

Māori exercise their authority and agency in education.

Ka Hikitia and Tau Mai

Listen to Minister Kelvin Davis talk about Ka Hikitia and Tau Mai

Kia ora whānau.

We want New Zealand to be the best place in the world for children and young people. We know that happy, healthy kids learn better. We know that children and young people who feel safe and confident in themselves and their learning environments engage better and are more likely to achieve in education, work and life. We also know that our education system has historically underserved Māori learners and that we have to do better.

We have been working on an education work programme over the last three years to support this direction of travel by building on the hard work of our educators and whānau and ensuring our education system is fit for purpose for 21st-century learning.

As part of this work, we have refreshed our Māori Education Strategy (Ka Hikitia) and our Māori Language in Education Strategy (Tau Mai Te Reo).

We want to provide clear direction about the importance of Māori enjoying and achieving education success as Māori, and what we are doing to support this.

In the Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation that we have undertaken over the last three years, we heard consistent and familiar messages from whānau:

learners and whānau must be at the heart of our education system
Māori learners must be free from racism, discrimination and stigma
Māori are diverse and we need an education workforce with the right skills and capability to respond to all Māori learners
identity, language and culture matter
Māori want to exercise agency and authority in education
we have incorporated these key messages into the vision and principles of Ka Hikitia and Tau Mai Te Reo.

We have also connected this work with the Maihi Karauna (the Crown’s Māori Language Strategy).

It is important that the Ministry of Education and education agencies give effect to Ka Hikitia and Tau Mai Te Reo.

The need to provide high-quality services and support for Māori learners and whānau will be particularly important as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategies set out clear actions for agencies that build on our recent investments in Māori education including:

Over $200m increased support for Kōhanga Reo in Budget 2019 and Budget 2020, to strengthen the network and improve pay for kaimahi.
$51m over four years to support Māori Learners and Whānau to engage better with local education providers.
Increased funding for te reo Māori ($150m announced in Budget 2020) to support the identity, language and culture of Māori learners.
Te Hurihanganui ($42m announced in Budget 2019). This kaupapa reboots and expands Te Kotahitanga and is being rolled out over six communities.
We are also updating our legislative and regulatory frameworks to give effect to the key ideas of Ka Hikitia and Tau Mai Te Reo.

There is more work to do. We need to continue the conversation with whānau, hapū and iwi about what is important for them in Māori education and te reo Māori.

We need to get alongside local education providers and work with them to identify how things are currently for Māori learners, what is working well and how we can do better. This means that Ka Hikitia and Tau Mai Te Reo will need to be living documents that we can update regularly.

With Ka Hikitia and Tau Mai Te Reo, we are laying the foundation for ongoing conversations about how we can achieve the best outcomes for learners and whānau so New Zealand can truly be the best place in the world for tamariki and rangatahi Māori.

Kia kaha ki a tātau.

How this links to Tau Mai Te Reo

Ka Hikitia and Tau Mai Te Reo are companion strategies and should be read in conjunction with each other. Ka Hikitia is a strategy for all Māori learners, while Tau Mai Te Reo is a strategy for all learners.

Tau Mai Te Reo

Resources to go with Ka Hikitia

Below are some resources that provide more information about the experience of Māori learners in the education system. They include resources that will be useful in implementing and embedding Ka Hikitia.

Ngā Haeata o Aotearoa

This report provides a snapshot of how the education system is performing for Māori learners and their whānau.

The report is organised around the 5 Ka Hikitia outcome domains and the measures that underpin each of the domains.

Ngā Haeata o Aotearoa 2020 – Education Counts

Te Tāmata Huaroa

'Te Tāmata Huaroa: Te Reo Māori in English-medium Schooling' by ERO gives a snapshot of the current provision of te reo Māori teaching and learning in a representative sample of English-medium primary and secondary schools.

Te Tāmata Huaroa – Education Review Office

Ka Hikitia Measurable Gains Framework

There are a number of resources to help measure the extent to which activities and initiatives are making a difference to Māori enjoying and achieving education success as Māori.

Other resources

To support the refresh of Tau Mai Te Reo we have reviewed a range of engagements that the Ministry has recently carried out, to capture what Māori have said to us.

We have put together a list of supporting resources. These will be updated as new resources become available.

Ka Hikitia: Supporting resources for early learning

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Ka Hikitia: Supporting resources for schools

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Ka Hikitia: Supporting resources for tertiary

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Continuing our kōrero about the future of Māori education

In 2018, we had a conversation with Māori whānau and communities about what matters most in the education of Māori learners through a series of wānanga.

Over 2,000 learners, whānau and educators came along and discussed a wide range of issues and opportunities for Māori education.

The information we gathered has been used to inform our refresh of Ka Hikitia and Tau Mai Te Reo and the overall Education Work Programme.

Ongoing engagement

Ka Hikitia is designed as a living document so we can progressively update it based on our ongoing conversations with whānau, hapū, iwi, Māori and education services.

If you have any feedback, get in contact with us at [email protected].

In this section

Ka Hikitia – Ka Hāpaitia | The Māori Education Strategy

Education professionals

Parents and caregivers

Suppliers and providers

Our work

Ka Hikitia and Tau Mai

Ka Hikitia glossary

Ka Hikitia – Whakapapa