Good school leadership skills are critical to positive student learning outcomes; however, within Maori-medium programmes, leaders need additional skills pertaining to the Maori world and bilingual education best practices. Level 2 Maori medium programmes with 51-80% Maori language instruction offer a unique brand of bilingual education to the New…

Level 2 Maori medium programmes with 51-80% Maori language instruction make an important contribution to developing Maori language skills and lifting Maori student achievement, yet these programmes are largely hidden from discussions about Maori education attainment. Offering lower levels of Maori immersion than kura kaupapa Maori and being…

This research study explores the notions of cultural concepts of giftedness and talent within a Samoan-specific context. The focus of this article is on Samoan teachers of children who were enrolled in a bilingual education setting. It presents the perspectives of Samoan teachers around Samoan giftedness and talent and how these perspectives might…

Maori-bilingual education in New Zealand has come a long way towards injecting life into the Maori language. However, only a small number of families commit to bilingual education for the long term. This paper discusses why Maori parents either turn away from Maori-bilingual education or prematurely transition to English-medium schools. It then…

Picturebooks are powerful educational tools, both for their content and their contributions to the literacy development of children. In New Zealand bilingual picturebooks featuring Te Reo Maori and New Zealand English have increased in number since the 1980s when Te Reo Maori gained official status and revitalisation efforts burgeoned. More…

This article analyzes how minority-language students responded to what they felt to be disrespectful behavior of a mainstream teacher towards their language from a case at an Aotearoa/New Zealand school in 1997-1998. Even when minority language is recognized officially and institutionally, as in Aotearoa/New Zealand, some minority-language…

New Zealand schools increasingly use inquiry to understand and address complex and persistent issues. This requires schools to have committed Lead Teachers with deep knowledge about inquiry. The collection of studies in this book have been compiled by the research team at the Woolf Fisher Research Centre, University of Auckland, to illustrate the…

This research explored the biliteracy experiences of three kohanga reo children as they started school in one of three school settings: a bilingual unit, a mainstream classroom, and kura kaupapa Maori. A Kaupapa Maori approach underpinned this research and guided the case study methodology employed. The children's literacy experiences were…

In recent years, numerous educational programmes have been developed that have been aimed at raising the academic achievement and wider participation of Pasifika students in New Zealand society. One example of this, which has to date only been explored at local school level, is bilingual/immersion education. The arguments underlying this paper are…

The collection of essays on bilingual education is divided into five sections covering theoretical considerations, planning, policies and implementation in an international context, U.S. policies, and practices. Papers include: "A Gathering of Voices, a 'Legion of Scholarly Decency' and Bilingual Education: Fishman's Biographemes as…

This article discusses six teaching strategies identified by teacher-researchers as supporting their goal to improve learning and teaching for all children in the intercultural setting of a kindergarten in "Aotearoa" New Zealand. As a Centre of Innovation, the kindergarten received government funding for a 3-year action research project…

Describes several preschool, elementary, and high school Maori immersion and bilingual programs in New Zealand, focusing on how the programs define and establish Maori space in the schools, local and tribal concerns, and the basis for the revitalization of the language. (29 references) (Author/CB)

This edited volume contains studies demonstrating the linguistic, cultural, and academic contributions that bilingual approaches to education can make around the world. It is divided into three parts and 12 chapters. Chapter one, "Bilingual Education: Contexts and Programs," is an introduction by the editors. Part one, "Learning a…

The development of Maori-English bilingual education programs in New Zealand will have these beneficial effects: (1) the educational needs of Maori children, who are likely to be bilingual when they start school, will be met; (2) the maintenance of the Maori language and culture will be fostered; and (3) the indigenous culture will win new…

The political discourse of Deaf ethnolinguistic identity has empowered Deaf people in recent decades to deconstruct a pathological model of deafness and the deficit pedagogy that centres on acquisition of speech and social assimilation. The engagement of Deaf community members in consultation and employment in the New Zealand (NZ) education system…