Valores extrínsecos que aportan las artes a la educación

New Zealand is a small country, made up of two main islands in the South Pacific Ocean, 1,700 kilometres south of Fiji, 2,250 kilometres east of Australia, and “halfway around the world from Mother Britain, the country of origin for most of New Zealand’s modern-day settlers and the primary source of its cultural heritage” (Fiske & Ladd, 2000, p. 15). The country has a relatively short history of settlement, possibly due to its remoteness, with the estimated arrival of the first peoples, known as Maori, at the end of the eleventh century. The first European to visit was Abel Tasman in 1642, followed a century later by British explorer James Cook. Like Australia, New Zealand was originally part of the British Commonwealth. The location and history are reflected in the ethnic composition of the population, which is largely European. There were approximately 4.0 million people in 2003, of whom 14 per cent were Maori, 6 per cent

Pasifika, and 4 per cent Chinese, Indian and others. Many of the systems and structures were based originally on British models.

Unlike many other British colonies New Zealand was not conquered by military force. Instead, new migrants purchased land from Maori and established relations based on trade. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed by 45 Maori chiefs in 1840 and, although there has been subsequent debate and ill feeling about the meaning of the Treaty and implications for it in today’s world (Waitangi Tribunal, 2007), this agreement was unique44

New Zealand has a high youth population,

in the world. Possibly because of the Treaty and origins of the largely immigrant population base, New Zealanders have a “long tradition of egalitarianism” and a general “dislike of overt class distinctions” (Fiske & Ladd, 2000, p. 18). Up until quite recently the export economy was based largely on pastoral production with a heavy reliance on British markets. Today the economy is more diversified with the development of light industry and the services sector.

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As at July 2003 there were 2,693 schools in New Zealand, of which 469 were secondary and composite schools. Of the 14 year old students in July 2001 an estimated and population projections revealed a rapidly changing demographic profile by ethnic identity: “Our children increasingly bring multiple cultural heritages to their education” (Alton-Lee, 2004, p. 3). Education is compulsory for all children aged between six and sixteen years although most children are enrolled at school on their fifth birthday. The New Zealand Education Act (1989) provides for free education in state schools administered by boards of trustees. Homeschooling, private schooling, state-integrated schooling and correspondence schooling are other options available to parents. In 2003 there were 761,755 students attending schools, a slight increase (2%) on the previous year. Most of this increase (3.5%) occurred in the secondary sector (Years 9-15). The highest overall growth rate was in Auckland, and one third of all New Zealand students attended school in this region at the time of the study. Auckland and Wellington “have higher proportions of their population with higher qualifications than the regions which are rural and on the periphery” (Pool, Baxendine, Cochrane, & Lindop, 2005, p. iii).

44 _{The Treaty established principles to guide the working relationship between the indigenous people and}

new settlers: “The Treaty implies a partnership, exercised in utmost good faith” (Waitangi Tribunal, 2007, p. 486), in which “the needs of both cultures must be provided for” (op. cit., p. 487).

82 per cent were still at school at age 16 in 2003. The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) revealed the third highest mean achievement in reading literacy for 15 year old students in New Zealand but the dispersion of achievement scores was second widest out of 30 countries. Such wide dispersion of achievement is a recurrent pattern for New Zealand in international comparative studies, according to Alton-Lee (op. cit.): “While demonstrating high mean achievement in PISA the New Zealand education system is less equitable than the OECD countries’ average.” Average achievement as shown in PISA is lower for Maori and Pasifika learners according to Alton-Lee, although Asian students leave school better qualified than any other ethnic group, Pool et al. (2005, p. 16) maintained. Whilst retention rates for all students have been increasing Pakeha retention has been increasing at a faster rate than Maori, explaining the failure to “close the gaps” (ibid., p. 13).

For New Zealand as a whole there is an obvious difference between male and female educational attainment, with the latter leaving school better qualified than their male counterparts46

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This is discussed in detail later in this chapter under the section entitled “Sociocultural Factors.”

. The qualifications people have achieved by the time they come to leave school is one indicator of how well educated they are and how equipped they are to gain employment or to embark on tertiary level studies. Attainment levels also give an indication of length of stay at school and school retention. The four regions above the national rate of school retention are Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago, “all regions with strong traditions in schooling” (Pool et al., ibid., p. 15), although these results could be affected by students moving into these areas to complete their education. The West Coast had the lowest levels of school retention, followed closely by Northland and Marlborough. It is thought that these regional patterns are a function of underlying structural factors of sociocultural origin (ibid., p. 14) and related to the early settlement patterns of Pakeha. Regional development is also a contributing factor in these patterns, with highly qualified workers moving increasingly to Auckland and Wellington. As a result, “the country’s stock of highly qualified human capital is increasingly clustered in two, possibly three areas” (ibid., p. 20).