Education as a catalyst for social change
Associate Professor Joanna Kidman from Victoria’s Te Kura Māori (School of Education), says her research team found that rising levels of poverty had left Māori youth with fewer resources to prepare for the future.
“Some young people report high levels of anxiety about the years ahead and this affects the long-term decisions they make for themselves and their families. We want all young people to think about the future with resilience and hope but instead we are seeing too many young Māori falling between the cracks.”
Funded by Ngā Pae o te Maramatanga, the study enabled Joanna and a team of researchers to talk to more than 100 Māori young people in several locations around Aotearoa New Zealand about their hopes and fears for the future.
While undertaking her research Joanna found that Māori youth living in poor neighbourhoods are more fearful about their futures especially in areas where tribal and community networks are limited and there are few public facilities or places for young people to gather.
These young people frequently do not know how to locate information, resources and support vital to their wellbeing and are often pessimistic about their long-term prospects, Joanna says. “They are very isolated. Most of their energy goes into getting through each day.”
As a guest lecturer in the MEd and Director of the BA Hons Programme, Joanna’s research is an example of the outcome of the theory and practice taught in the Master of Education (MEd) ‘Education, Culture and Society’ theme.
The courses and research topics in the ‘Education, Culture and Society’ theme of the MEd are committed to looking head on at issues of social inequality and what can we do to make changes, Joanna says. “It’s about using education to create social change for the better and enabling people to think about how economic, cultural and historical power relationships have positioned groups of people in New Zealand in different ways.”
“Māori youth are more optimistic about the future when they have access to recreational spaces where they can safely gather and where they can also call on advice from responsible adults and community leaders. In these environments, the provision of structured support and welcoming spaces for groups of youth allow young Māori to think in new ways about future possibilities for their families and communities,” she says.
“When we began the project we thought we would find a range of views about the future amongst young Māori but we did not expect to find such high levels of fear. Long-term economic uncertainty means that some Māori young people have trouble imagining a positive and inclusive future for themselves or their families and this is a great loss for New Zealand society as a whole.”