NZ: Pacific and Māori student support cut

RNZ News

12-06-2025

Photo:
RNZ / Ziming Li
Education advocates in Aotearoa New Zealand say a government decision to remove special funding for Pacific and Māori students in vocational training harks back to the days of a one-size-fits-all model.
The funding cut applies to a per-student subsidy for Pacific and Māori enrolments at polytechnics and private training institutions.
Currently, the subsidiary is used to help fund dedicated support services for these students. However, the Tertiary Education Commission - the government agency responsible for distributing - has stated that it is being re-prioritised.
Tertiary Education Union national secretary Sandra Grey said the move was a huge step backwards.
It also contradicted official advice to vocational education minister Penny Simmonds. A cabinet paper from January advised the government to keep the subsidy, which came out of a fund of about NZ$28 million.
Specifically, officials recommended it be kept to help "achieve equitable outcomes" for three groups of learners - Māori and Pacific students, students with low achievement levels, and disabled students.
While the funding allocation has remained for students with low achievement levels and disabled students, the money for Pacific and Māori has gone elsewhere.
That decision from policy makers, Grey said, further hurt Pacific and Māori students who were already underserved in the New Zealand education system.
"What we do know with dedicated funding is that we get positions like a Māori learning support expert who comes in and works with Māori students, or a Pacific staff member who comes in and supports Pacific students," she said.
Tertiary Education Union president Dr Sandra Grey
Photo:
RNZ / Ian Telfer
These included initiatives and programmes like provided mentoring, guidance and peer support to Pacific and Māori.
"We've seen from history is that when there is no dedicated fund, institutions deprioritise this work because there aren't dedicated funds. They do what they are funded to do," Grey said.
"They've [the government] just said: 'It doesn't matter that you're Māori or Pacific. That has no bearing on your learning.' They are wrong. Everything says these students learn better when they have dedicated support from Māori and Pacific staff."
The funding cut was indicative of the government's lack of understanding around why a "one-size-fits-all model in education" did not work, she said.
At Manukau Institute of Technology in South Auckland, senior lecturer Alby Fitisemanu said the impact of programmes and support services specific to Pacific and Māori was not to be underestimated.
Most of Fitisemanu's students were Pacific and Māori. The support services for these students helped ensure they moved beyond enrolment, he said. For example, programmes and support services contributed to student attainment and success, particularly because many Pacific and Māori often felt out-of-place in tertiary institutions, Fitisemanu said.
"The problem we're having now is for the Pasifika [students] who are enrolled... very few complete along the journey. And so it's being able to bring in those supports all the way through their journey."
Labour's tertiary education spokersperson Shanan Halbert said the funding cut was part of a bigger revamp to the sector where references to the needs of Māori and Pacific students were being removed from education legislation. Alongside that, references to Te Tiriti o Waitangi were also being deleted, he said.
It was inconsistent with research on student needs in Aotearoa, Halbert said.
"If you look at where Māori and Pacific learners sit in our education system, they have the greatest need, and so the the additional support is required to ensure that they're achieving what they need to. But also that they're that they're staying within the courses until they're completed."
Minister Simmonds responded to questions from
RNZ Pacific
in a statement.
National Party MP Penny Simmonds in select committee.
Photo:
Phil Smith
She said the government was working towards "a more streamlined, outcomes-focused approach that supports all learners… through mechanisms that are targeted, evidence-based, and accountable".
Simmonds also acknowledged the advice she'd received from education officials, but said the decision to remove the Māori and Pacific enrolment subsidiary had been a Cabinet decision.
"The Cabinet collectively agreed that a broader reset of vocational education funding was needed to reduce complexity and ensure every dollar delivers results."
When asked where the funding for Māori and Pacific was being directed, she said details were yet to be finalised.