Māori, Education of

The major challenges facing education in New Zealand today are the continuing social, economic, and political disparities within the nation, primarily between the descendants of the European colonizers (Pakeha) and the Indigenous Māori people. Māori have higher levels of unemployment, are more likely to be employed in low-paying jobs, and to have much higher levels of incarceration, mental and physical illness, and poverty than do the rest of the population. They are also generally underrepresented in the positive social and economic indicators of the society. These disparities are also reflected at all levels of the education system. Anna María Villegas and Tamara Lucas identify a similar pattern in the United States where there is a significant achievement gap between low-income ethnic minority students and their ...