Categories: News

Te Ahu o te Reo project to measure the health of te reo

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1465" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;05&sol;SND15-wk1-te&lowbar;reo1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SND15-wk1-te reo1" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"226" &sol;>A new study is about to build on a seminal M&amacr;ori language survey carried out in the 1970s by Richard and Nena Benton that showed that the M&amacr;ori language was in a perilous state&period; This prompted a strong response from M&amacr;ori communities and Government&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8216&semi;Te Ahu o te Reo&&num;8217&semi; will be led by Te W&amacr;hanga from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research &lpar;NZCER&rpar;&comma; in a contract with Te Taura Whiri i te Reo M&amacr;ori&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The project will undertake research to measure the health of te reo M&amacr;ori in homes and communities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The project will benefit M&amacr;ori language communities by ensuring the best use of resources when supporting revitalisation&comma;&&num;8221&semi; acting CE of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo M&amacr;ori&comma; Poia Rewi says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>NZCER is excited to have the opportunity to reconnect with this earlier piece of influential work&comma; and the project will even involve communities that took part in the original study&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The innovation in this research work&comma; when compared to the 1970s study&comma; is that we are taking a kaupapa M&amacr;ori approach&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Te W&amacr;hanga manager and project leader Dr Jessica Hutchings says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We want to get a sense of how homes and communities are working towards re-establishing te reo M&amacr;ori as a living language and normal means of communication in daily life&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The 20-month-long study will focus on households in eight communities that include&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li>high and low populations of M&amacr;ori speakers<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>communities actively involved in language revitalisation<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>areas with a diverse urban M&amacr;ori population&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p>The research will explore&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ol>&NewLine;<li>Where and how much te reo M&amacr;ori is being used&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Who is using it and who they are using it with&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>What te reo M&amacr;ori is being used for&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Why it is being used in particular situations or not&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>What is needed to further support communities and wh&amacr;nau to normalise the use of te reo M&amacr;ori in homes and communities&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>When complete&comma; the results will inform funding and delivery of M&amacr;ori language programmes&comma; to ensure the best results for the language&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ol>&NewLine;<p>The beginning of this project marks a significant milestone for He Puna Whakarauora&comma; the research arm of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo M&amacr;ori whose role it is to set the research agenda for M&amacr;ori Language Revitalisation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Explore our latest issue...
Rosie Clarke

Rosie is the managing editor here at Multimedia Pty Ltd, working across School News New Zealand and School News Australia. She has spent 10+ years in B2B journalism, and has spent some time over the last couple of years teaching as a sessional academic. Feel free to contact her at any time with editorial or magazine content enquiries.

Recent Posts

Union considers legal action over cuts to resource teachers

NZEI Te Riu Roa is considering legal action against the government for the disestablishment of…

4 days ago

NZQA: AI-marking now a reality

NZQA is implementing AI-marking for all Year 10 written assessments from this year onwards, following…

4 days ago

Financial literacy is about more than personal responsibility – wealth and inequality should be part of the new curriculum

Teaching personal financial responsibility isn't enough. Children should be taught broader economic context, argue New…

4 days ago

Achieving optimal sound quality in education spaces

When students can't hear the teacher, they can't learn properly. Sound quality matters in education…

4 days ago

Discover Ōtautahi Christchurch and its learning opportunites

The Garden City is rich with learning opportunities, no matter what subject or part of…

4 days ago

School leaders share stories for Unteach Racism project

Teaching Council of Aotearoa launch school leaders’ stories project with Unteach Racism to challenge institutional…

2 weeks ago