This report describes three interrelated studies. The studies involve a limited evaluation of a professional support programme in Māori medium, a developmental description of children’s literacy and language over the first year in Māori medium, and an analysis of features of literacy instruction over the first year in Māori medium classes. The three studies were originally planned as one project but were effectively conducted separately. A brief introduction to each study is provided here and elaborations are provided with the report for each study.
Purpose
Ngā Taumatua was developed in 2002 as a 12 month professional development programme for resource teachers of Māori. A subsequent professional development programme called Ngā Taumatua Whakapakari was developed for Ngā Taumatua graduates and has been operating since 2005.