He mahi tautoko e He Ara Poutama - More mahi supported by He Ara Poutama
Kia kaha tatou ki te kōrero Māori
Let us be strong in speaking te reo Māori
Kei ngā ringa tango parahia, nau mai ki tēnei whenua o pae tawhiti kua pae tata, otirā ki tēnei whenua taurikura o te reo kia horapa.
Kei tēnei whenua, ko ngā kai a te rangatira. Ki konei tātou hauhake ai i ngā hua o mātauranga, o wānanga, o tatauranga. Kia kī katoa ngā ringa, haere, e hoki, ki tō whare, e kīia nei ko Te Whare o te Reo Mauriora. Ko ngā hua o tā tātou e whawhaki nei ka ruiruia, ka whakatōngia anōtia ki tō ake whenua, mei kore e tupu mai he hua anō hei oranga mō ngā uri e haere ake nei, mō ngā kāwai whakaheke.
Ki ngā ringa raupā o te kaupapa nei, ki a ngā kaiwhawhati kō, ki a Te Taura Whiri, e hī ake nei te kauanuanu.
He kōrero tuarongo mō He Ara Poutama - Background
He Ara Poutama mō te reo Māori (HAP) looks to our past to enhance our future. To the best of our knowledge, it is the only microsimulation model in the world that focuses on language revitalisation. HAP forecasts how many te reo Māori speakers Aotearoa could have by 2040 under different scenarios. From flax roots communities to government organisations, HAP seeks to support Aotearoa to become a nation where te reo Māori thrives. In 2023 this mahi won a Te Hapori Matihiko award, which recognises Māori tech contributions in the public sector. This article breaks down at a high level the two latest reports that the team have produced using HAP data.
Since our last post about using HAP to develop community insights for Te Mātāwai, Kōtātā Insight and Nicholson Consulting have partnered with Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori to use HAP to provide additional insights around Maihi Karauna – the Crown’s strategy for Māori Language Revitalisation.
For context, Maihi Karauna sets out three audacious goals for language revitalisation to be achieved by 2040. They are:
That 85% of New Zealanders (or more) will value te reo Māori as a key part of national identity
That one million New Zealanders (or more) will have the ability and confidence to talk about at least basic things in te reo Māori
That 150,000 Māori aged 15 and over will use te reo Māori as much as English
Alongside tamariki/rangatahi and fluent speakers, one of the core focus groups is public servants. This is because the crown needs to recognise the value of te reo Māori and protect it by having staff speak the language).
Ko te tono mai i Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori - The request from Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori had two requests that required data from HAP which we merged into a single project. They were:
To forecast the way things are tracking against the three audacious goals stated Maihi Karauna), and
To understand more about te reo Māori and those in the public service (Rāngai Tūmatanui).
These requests resulted in two reports authored by Kōtātā Insight and Nicholson Consulting.
Ngā kitenga mō te Maihi Karauna nō He Ara Poutama - HAP insights on Maihi Karauna
To date, data used to monitor progress against the three audacious goals came from administrative and survey data which is static and presents a current snapshot; but the Maihi Karauna Monitoring Report used the HAP microsimulation model where possible to forecast progress against the Maihi Karauna goals out to 2040. Being able to forecast ahead enables forward planning and, for te reo Māori revitalisaion, timely and effective monitoring is immensely important as it can take a generation to lose a language, and three to get it back.
The HAP simulation was able to analyse shifts in growth rates to identify key drivers of what it will take to support te reo Māori to thrive. Key insights were broken down in the report. For example, through analysing HAP data it was found that geographical distribution bears significant influence for te reo Māori proficiency.
The Maihi Karauna report also contains a section dedicated to recommendations on improving Maihi Karauna monitoring, which we hope will be useful as the Maihi Karauna strategy is currently under review.
Ngā kitenga mō te Rāngai Tūmatanui nō He Ara Poutama - HAP insights on Te Rāngai Tūmatanui
The second report we wrote as part of the project was the Rāngai Tūmatanui report. This provides insights into te reo Māori speakers within the public service specifically. With the exception of Te Taunaki, the public service census, there has been limited exploration of the characteristics of public service and te reo Māori. In Rāngai Tūmatanui, we were able to present data that included : the number of te reo Māori speakers in the public service, their abilities, and their attitudes towards te reo Māori.
In creating Rāngai Tūmatanui, we also used data from the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD) and the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) to understand public service te reo Māori proficiency (by demographic and geographic characteristics) and attitudes towards te reo Māori within the public service.
He aha kei mua i te aroaro? - Where to next?
As new budgets take shape, our hope is still for increased investment to meet the Maihi Karauna goals and support the ongoing growth and success of te reo Māori in the public service. We have seen great progress for te reo Māori revitalisation in Aotearoa, and there are so many opportunities for continued growth while the momentum is there.
Kua whakairia ngā rīpoata e rua ki raro iho nei - Find both reports here:
Thanks to Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori for commissioning this awesome project. To learn more about the approach Nicholson Consulting took to develop these reports, please get in touch by emailing hello@nicholsonconsulting.co.nz.