In brief
- Māori students who remain in Māori-medium education through to school leaving record the strongest NCEA attainment and retention among the groups analysed.
- Those who attended Māori-medium in primary school but none during secondary recorded the weakest attainment and lowest retention.
- The Ministry does not track English literacy in Māori-medium settings or know whether the gap existed before students switched systems.
Students who leave school from Māori-medium education sit at the top of the Ministry of Education’s results. Those who attend during primary school but leave before secondary sit at the bottom.
An Official Information Act response to Centrist shows a stark divide, but not what causes it.
The strongest and weakest outcomes
The findings appear in two slides prepared for Ministry regional analysts in 2023. Māori-medium education was defined as learning in te reo Māori for at least 51% of the time.
Among 2021 school leavers, 700 Māori students who remained in Māori-medium education until leaving school recorded the “highest attainment across all measures”.
They also had the highest retention rate, with 71.6% remaining at school until at least age 17.
At the other end were 1,376 students who had spent some of Years 1 to 8 in Māori-medium education but attended none during secondary school.
They recorded the lowest attainment across every qualification measure shown and the lowest retention. Just 57.4% remained at school until age 17.
A further 1,224 students switched from Māori-medium to English-medium education during secondary school. Their university entrance attainment was lower than that of Māori students who had never attended Māori-medium education, although their other attainment and retention results were similar.
The comparison group comprised 12,714 Māori students who had never attended Māori-medium education.
But the figures do not establish that Māori-medium education itself produced the stronger results.
Students who remain in Māori-medium through to school leaving may differ systematically from those who leave because of family support, engagement, prior achievement, geography, access to Māori-medium secondary schooling or other factors.
Likewise, students who switch may already have been struggling before they move.
Without controlling for those differences, the data show an association between remaining in Māori-medium education and stronger outcomes. They do not show that the curriculum or language of instruction caused them.
What they do reveal is a pronounced gap that the Ministry cannot yet explain.
English literacy is a blind spot
The Ministry told Centrist it “does not monitor, measure or evaluate English literacy development among students in Māori-medium settings”.
It said information about English outcomes was limited because students “do not need to attain literacy measures in both English and te reo Māori”.
To receive NCEA, students need 10 literacy or te reo matatini credits and 10 numeracy or pāngarau credits. Students can therefore satisfy the compulsory literacy requirement through te reo matatini without separately completing English literacy standards.
That does not mean the Māori-language pathway is easier, or that Māori-medium students cannot read and write English.
It means an NCEA certificate alone does not show how well they can do so.
The Ministry’s supplementary data illustrate that limitation. Among 536 Kura Kaupapa Māori students entering Year 11 in 2024, 350 had already satisfied the NCEA literacy requirement, but only two had completed the dedicated English literacy co-requisite and 47 had completed Te Reo Matatini.
That does not mean the remaining students lacked English literacy. Students can satisfy the requirement through different pathways and may have had no reason to complete the English standards. Rather, the figures show why meeting the NCEA literacy requirement cannot by itself be used as a measure of English reading and writing proficiency.
The Ministry found no documents directly comparing English literacy outcomes among Māori-medium and English-medium students.
It supplied a broad school-leaver table for the learning area “English and Communication Skills | Te Reo Pākehā”, but no assessment tracking students’ English reading and writing as they moved between the two systems.
Those broader results also do not point to a simple English deficit among students who remain in Māori-medium education. In 2024, English-related attainment among Māori students taught predominantly in te reo was broadly comparable with other Māori students at Level 1 and Level 2, and higher at Level 3.
But those are subject-credit results, not a common assessment of English literacy. They therefore cannot establish whether English proficiency contributes to the poorer outcomes seen among students who switch systems.
Hihira Weteoro, the early literacy check used in Māori-medium education, does not fill the gap.
Officials said it differs from the English Phonics Check in structure, complexity, timing and linguistic design. It measures foundational skills in te reo Māori and was not designed to assess English.
The Ministry therefore does not collect a potentially important piece of evidence that could help explain why some students fare poorly after leaving Māori-medium education.
Officials’ advice withheld
The Ministry also identified an April 2026 document concerning transitions from Māori-medium to English-medium education.
It withheld the document in full, including its title, under the OIA provision protecting confidential advice exchanged between officials and ministers.
That shows officials were considering the transition issue as recently as April 2026, but their findings or recommendations remain withheld from public scrutiny.
The question is not whether English should be placed above te reo Māori.
It is whether children can move between the two education systems without falling into a gap between them.
The Ministry knows that students who remain in Māori-medium education have the strongest results and those who leave before secondary have the weakest.
What it does not know is whether those differences existed before the students switched, whether English proficiency plays a role, or whether the gap emerged after the transition.
Centrist has sought further information from the Ministry to establish which it is.
Image: Simonds
Re-published from the Centrist with permission
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