Summary

Introduction

The achievement patterns of candidates involved in Māori-medium education, and whether they differ from the general population, are of interest to many groups, including school communities and policy makers. This paper compares results from immersion and bilingual schools in 2003, 2004 and 2005. It also looks at the achievement by Māori candidates in English medium schools as compared with candidates enrolled in immersion and bilingual schools.

However, the small number of Māori-medium candidates makes comparisons with Māori candidates in English medium schools, as well as between candidates at immersion and bilingual schools, difficult and sometimes misleading. This is because one or two high- or low-performing students can skew the results in a small population, whereas these effects are evened out in larger groups.

Summary of Findings

The results in this report, as well as those in the previous two reports on NCEA achievement at immersion and bilingual schools, show that candidates at immersion and bilingual schools are achieving at least as well as Māori candidates in English medium schools. The main findings of this report are:

• The majority of candidates at immersion and bilingual schools gain NCEA qualifications.

• Year 13 candidates at immersion and bilingual schools were more likely to gain University Entrance (UE) in 2005 than in 2004. This probably reflects greater awareness of the requirements for UE under the new qualifications system.

• Year 11 candidates at these schools have strong literacy skills. Each year around 90% of Year 11 candidates at immersion and bilingual schools have met the literacy requirement for NCEA level 1 by the end of Year 11.

The majority of Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13 candidates at these schools gained credits in te reo Māori, English and mathematics. However, less than 40% of these candidates gained credits in science.

Footnote

1. A candidate is a student who has gained at least one credit on the National Qualifications Framework.