Throwing deficit theory out to get better education outcomes

13 February 2008

While Maori leaders spent years battling against what they called 'racism in education', academics called it The Deficit Theory - the idea that colonised people who have low achievements in education simply need more education to make them achieve better results.

The concept is close to that of 'blaming the victim' and pays no attention to the probability that the system of education itself might be defective (at best) and discriminatory (at worst).

The Trust has just released a paper with snapshots of schools and preschools in Waitakere that proposes a way to improve Maori achievement using kaupapa Maori methods.

... Download the full paper here [PDF 231kb]