LEAP - Pacific peoples in New Zealand 

New Zealand has a large and diverse Pacific population, of whom almost two thirds are born in New Zealand. The population of Pacific learners who can attend early childhood education and schooling is significant and increasing, and is predicted to reach 20 percent of the school population by 2050. 

Ministry of Education (2020). Best practice for teaching Pacific learners: Pacific evidence brief 2019  

In 2016, Pasifika Proud published The profile of Pacific peoples in New Zealand. The data-based paper about Pacific peoples includes statistics from a range of publicly available data sources about their participation and experiences in education and health. 

• The Pacific peoples’ ethnic group is the fourth largest major ethnic group in New Zealand; 7.4% of the New Zealand population identified with one or more Pacific ethnic groups. 
• The eight main Pacific ethnic groups in New Zealand are: 
  • Samoan (49%) 
  • Cook Islands Māori (21%) 
  • Tongan (20%) 
  • Niuean (8%) 
  • Fijian (5%) 
  • Tokelauan (2%) 
  • Tuvaluan (1%) 
  • Kiribati (less than 1%). 

Pacific and Pasifika terminology

The terms “Pasifika” and “Pacific” are umbrella terms that are used to categorise islands in the Pacific Ocean. These terms are used in reference to the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia in particular. Previously, New Zealand governed most of these Pacific nations. Some, notably Niue and the Cook Islands, retain close administrative ties with New Zealand, although they are now self-governing in free association with New Zealand. Tokelau remains a dependent territory of New Zealand. 

Pasifika or Pacific peoples is used to refer to the people, cultures, and languages of Pacific groups, including:  Sāmoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Tuvalu, and other smaller Pacific nations who are now living in New Zealand.  

Pacific peoples may be recent migrants, long settled in New Zealand, or New Zealand-born. They often have multi-ethnic heritages, and identities that transcend ethnicity. Teachers and leaders need to be aware of and respond to diverse, ethnic-specific identities, as well as multiple cultural identities. 

Pacific learners experiences of education in NZ

Research shows that the degree to which Pacific languages and cultures are valued in teaching, and included in their learning, determines whether they succeed. 

Achievement data for all learners has been improving over the last decade, with Māori and Pacific learners showing the greatest gains (Ministry of Education, 2020). 

• Linguistic Interdependence highlights the interconnectedness of language learning – specifically, how knowledge of a learner's first language supports the development of a second language or target language.  

Leveraging Linguistic Interdependence effectively for students can only be achieved in "additive bilingual" programmes, which specifically value and include all the languages students know. These programmes also aim for bilingualism and biliteracy for students by their end.  

Research findings over the last 60 years have demonstrated that bilingual students in additive bilingual contexts have clear and consistent advantages over monolingual speakers in: cognitive flexibility, communicative sensitivity, and metalinguistic awareness (May, 2020). 

LEAP (Language Enhancing the Achievement of Pacific Peoples) and the Va‘atele Framework  – both make specific links to additive bilingualism and language learning for Pacific bilingual students. 

Key messages from research

• Implementing evidence-informed good practice, based on culturally responsive pedagogy, significantly enhances outcomes for Pacific learners’ wellbeing and achievement. 
• Efforts need to be informed by the evidence about what works; too often, well-intentioned efforts are ineffective and can do harm. 
• Racism in both overt and less conspicuous forms pervades the education system and is a significant barrier to the wellbeing, belonging, and achievement of Pacific learners and their families. 
• Low expectations and incorrect assumptions about the capabilities and motivations of Pacific learners and their families impede the development of good relationships and the use of effective teaching strategies. 
• Inequitable opportunities in many different forms accumulate across the school years for Pacific learners. 
• Sharing innovation to improve achievement requires strong leadership and significant sustained resources. 

May, S. (2020). Research to understand the features of quality Pacific bilingual education: Review of best practices. Te Puna Wānanga, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland Education System Policy 

Ministry of Education. (2020). Best practice for teaching Pacific learners: Pacific evidence brief 2019. Ministry of Education, Wellington 

Expand your classroom practice

Key areas to focus practice for improvement

• Respect and value identities, languages, and cultures  
• Build home-school partnerships 
• Develop appropriate, high expectations 
• Implement culturally responsive pedagogy and practice  

Find out more about the family and community backgrounds of your students. You can do this in various ways, including through group and individual work. Use these suggestions to start the discussion in your classroom. 

• Tell us about your family background. 
  • What stories are important to your family? 
• Tell us about your language. 
  • What languages are spoken in your home? 
  • What languages are written in your home? 
  • Where and when do you use your languages? 
• Tell us about your cultural practices. 
  • Which cultural practices are important to your family? 
  • What special celebrations do you have? (For example, White Sunday, Tonga’s National Day) 
• Tell us about your family history. 
  • When did your family come to New Zealand? 
  • What do you know about your ancestors?

Pacific population

There is much cultural and linguistic diversity within the Pacific population. In the 2013 census, seven percent of the total New Zealand population identified themselves as Pacific, with 17 other "Pacific peoples" identified. Of this group, nearly half were Sāmoan. The other most populous communities were Cook Islands Māori, Tongan, Niuean, Fijian, Tokelauan, and Tuvaluan. 

After over 60 years of migration to New Zealand, six out of ten Pacific Peoples are New Zealand-born. This creates a continuum of language proficiency, from those who exclusively speak their first language to those who exclusively speak English, and everything in between. All these levels of language proficiency need to be catered for in the classroom. 

Pacific peoples experiences of education in NZ

Historically, Pacific children have generally achieved less in education in comparison to other groups; particularly in mainstream classrooms, where most Pacific students are. In the past, this underachievement of Pacific students and adults has often been attributed to a lack of proficiency in English combined with differing cultural norms. These have been explained by ideas based on a subtractive view of bilingualism, in particular,  deficit thinking about Pacific peoples’ bilingualism. Research shows, however, that it is the schooling Pacific students experience and the degree to which their languages and cultures are valued and included in the teaching and learning process that most determine whether they succeed. 

Exploring your practice

You can find out more about the family and community backgrounds of your students in many ways, including through group and individual work. It’s likely that all your students will find this sharing of information interesting and useful. 

Some suggested starters and questions: 

• What is your family background? 

The students could explore their backgrounds by having conversations about their own families. Pacific cultures have histories of storytelling.  It is important to use Pacific peoples' ways of communication in classroom contexts. An approach of this kind highlights the combination of ethnicities often present in our immediate and extended families. 

• What languages are spoken in your home? 

You could find out more by asking who speaks what languages, in what contexts, (for example, in church), and to whom. Pacific families in Aotearoa may have more than one Pacific heritage language in their home, so talking about what languages are represented in a family is a good way to foster communication. 

• Which cultural practices are important to your family? 

These may include religious practices. Churchgoing is an important part of life for many (but not all) Pacific families and communities, and White Sunday often has particular significance. 

• What is your family history? 

Students can find out when each branch immigrated to New Zealand, where they came from, and how old they were on arrival. 

After 60 years of migration, Pacific languages are going strong in Pacific communities. New migrants and families that have been here for generations speak the familiar parent language. This creates a continuum of language proficiency, from those who exclusively speak their first language to those who exclusively speak English, and everything in between. 

Those who speak Sāmoan are the third largest language group in New Zealand, behind speakers of English and of te reo Māori. 

Pacific language shift and loss

Internationally, New Zealand has a high proportion of monolingual speakers (English). The dominance of English has contributed to changing patterns of language use in  Pacific communities and caused a related decline in bilingualism. This is particularly evident among New Zealand-born Pacific peoples, who are increasingly only speaking English. 

While the language shift to English exists in all Pacific communities in New Zealand, the rate and extent of the shift vary.  

• Sāmoan and Tongan remain widely spoken in their communities.  
• 28% of the Niuean community speak the Niue language.  
• 18% of the Cook Islands Māori community speak Cook Islands Māori.  

Education may also be a key contributor to the Pacific language shift because many Pacific students in New Zealand are part of English-medium classrooms where they have limited opportunity to use a Pacific language. 

Adopting a positive or additive view of Pacific bilingualism is the first step to improving the educational outcomes of bilingual Pacific speakers. The LEAP resource provides New Zealand teachers working in mainstream contexts with knowledge about Pacific bilingualism and effective language-teaching strategies. Having these means you can add to existing knowledge and move forwards with confidence. 

The more teachers support Pacific students to develop their Pacific languages alongside English in the classroom, the more likely it is that they will succeed academically. The way you teach is a key determinant of Pacific students’ success. Think about how you can cater to all  levels of language proficiency in your classroom. 

Why are Pacific languages keys to learning?

The Education Review Office actively prioritises Pacific learners' achievement as part of their Pacific Strategy in centres, schools, and kura. To assist you with your strategic planning for Pacific learners' success, you can look at how Pacific languages can be used as levers for learning. 

Examine student literacy data from your school.  

• Make observations about how Pacific students are situated in relation to their peers.  
• Consider how Pacific achievements compare with national achievement norms. 

Explore what school-based initiatives (for example, for professional development, resources, or personnel) have been specifically targeted at Pacific students in recent years.  

• Find out what the rationale has been for the initiatives, and determine if these are directed at teachers, students, or parents.  
• Determine if language has been a principal focus or if Pacific bilingualism has ever been addressed.  
• Evaluate if the approaches have taken either a reflective or a subtractive (or deficit) view of Pacific students and/ or their bilingualism. 

Considering what you have read so far, what other school-based initiatives might be useful or important for Pacific students in your school? 

Expand your school and classroom practice

Pacific languages in schools

• What opportunities do students have to speak a Pacific language as part of the teaching and learning process: 
  • in your classroom? 
  • in your school? 
• What Pacific language options does your school offer (if any) for students? 
  • What are the reasons given for providing (or not providing) these options? 
  • Do these reasons reflect current research findings on bilingual students?  
• What curriculum resources and associated materials for Pacific languages are available at your school? 
  • How regularly and/or effectively are these resources used? 
  • In what teaching and learning contexts are they used? 
  • How might they be used more effectively or extensively? 

Find out more about the languages spoken by your students

Questions that you might ask your students: 

• What languages are spoken in your home? 
• What languages do your grandparents speak? 
• What languages do your parents speak? 
• What languages do you and your brothers and sisters speak? 
• If you know more than one language, who would you speak to most often in: your Pacific language? English? another language? 
• If you know more than one language, where would you most often hear or speak: your Pacific language? English? another language?