According to an ERO report, priority learners are groups of students who have been identified as historically not experiencing success in the New Zealand schooling system.
These include Māori and Pacific learners, those from low socio-economic backgrounds, and students with special education needs.
But Derby, a senior lecturer at The University of Waikato, says this label creates an assumption that on the basis of their ethnicity, Māori and Pacific learners will experience struggle in their academic journey, rather than success.
“I'm not saying there haven't been issues with education in the past for Māori, but what I am saying is that we seldom hear, if ever, that plenty of Māori students do very well at school and have always done well at school,” Derby says.
“Labelling all Maori ‘priority learners’ on the basis of ethnicity is heading into eugenics territory, which is a real concern. The underlying premise of the label is that your ethnicity will determine an outcome that you may experience.”
The academic, who is of Māori descent herself, points out that sometimes ethnicity is also wrongly conflated with culture, and an assumption is made that all Māori or Pasifika students have the same cultural background and experiences.
Worst of all, she says, is that linking school performance to ethnicity as the sole factor for outcomes could be stopping us from getting to the heart of what's really going on for students, and thus preventing us from finding solutions or implementing interventions that may actually make a difference to a student’s achievement.
“We typically hear, ‘oh, they’re Māori students, therefore the system's failing them’ … rather than actually asking, ‘well, what's going on for this particular student?’.”
Derby points to the influence of the home environment, developmental delays and hearing issues, as just some of many underlying causes of poor performance, which may be overlooked.
“The impact of the home environment is huge, and I don’t think we give this enough attention, especially in the early years of a child's life which is where a lot of my research focus is,” she says.
“Sometimes children might have a developmental delay in the early years, which can hinder their academic achievement later in their schooling,” Derby adds.
“When a student falls behind, other factors start to kick in, like decreased motivation and a negative attitude to learning, their self-efficacy is diminished - those sorts of things. These things have a compounding effect.”
Teacher expectations, Derby says, can also play a major part in the success of Māori and Pacific learners, which makes labelling them ‘priority learners’ on the basis of ethnicity doubly concerning.
“That's why I find the label for Māori learners, especially being positioned alongside special needs learners, quite disturbing, because it suggests that there's some sort of handicap in being Māori, and obviously anticipates struggle, not success, at school,” she says.
Derby points to the work of Dr Hana Turner-Adams and professor Christine Rubie-Davies from University of Auckland, which has found that teachers often have lower expectations of Māori students.
“There was quite an interesting study a few years ago done by Hana, who found that teacher expectations of Maori students are often much lower in maths in particular,” Derby says.
“If a teacher is told that Māori students struggle at school – and that’s what is implied in the label of priority learners – then they could wrongly assume that every Maori student will struggle and that could cloud their judgment on potential and capability,” she explains.
“Often, assessment is based on teacher judgement, and that may result in them being in a lower reading group or a lower maths group.
“...kids very quickly work out which group they’re in, so it could have an effect on things like motivation, attitude, self-efficacy, self-belief, learner identity, all of those things that contribute to achievement.”
Whereas when a teacher has high expectations of their students, research shows they are more likely to do well, all things being equal.
But, Derby feels the way Māori education is often talked about is in deficit terms.
“While I think there is a need to explore further why students who have Māori heritage are often overrepresented in groups that struggle, plenty aren't.
“There's been some really interesting studies on some of the factors that contribute to success of Māori students,” she says.
Ka Awatea: An iwi case study of Māori students’ success highlights a strong sense of identity, high degree of resilience, a connection to place and the ability to walk in two worlds, both Pākehā and Māori, as being key to success for many students.
“And the overarching lever that permeated everything was the influence of family,” Derby adds.
Moving forward, Derby hopes to see the label ‘priority learners’ removed, and replaced with an expectation of success for Māori and Pacific learners.
A more nuanced look at why Māori and Pacific learners are often overrepresented in groups of students who struggle at school would also be useful.
“A more considered exploration could show for example, that because Māori are over-represented in lower socioeconomic groups, that's actually the issue; therefore we address those challenges for students rather than suggesting that struggle will come for all Māori students,” Derby says.
“Or we may address intergenerational disengagement with education that some families may experience, so we try and get families on board with their child’s learning - that might make more of a difference to achievement.
“Rather than just tarring everybody with the same brush ... it’s a lazy approach to explaining something and creates a very negative perception of Māori, which I think is very harmful. When you add to the mix the fact that there is more in-group variation in Māori achievement than between group variation – well, that makes the ‘priority learner’ label all the more inaccurate.
“I think if we can dig deeper, we'll actually be able to bring about solutions that might make a difference to students who struggle, while also recognising that plenty of Māori students succeed. This has always been the case, and we need to celebrate that as well. I think that's really important so the perception of Māori children isn’t characterised by underperformance or failure.”
