The Ministry of Education has introduced a new and far-reaching policy initiative,
Special Education 2000. One component of this policy is the provision of
professional development for approximately 700 Resource Teachers [Learning and
Behaviour (RTLB)]. These resource teachers will help schools to meet the needs
of students experiencing mild to moderate learning and behavioural difficulties.
An important aim of the professional development programme is to prepare RTLB
to improve the quality of support to teachers of Māori students in conventional and
Māori medium classes. The programme consists of four courses, one introducing
key concepts, one focussed on class-wide interventions, one focussed on school
and community, and the fourth being a professional practice folio. This paper
describes the Māori and bicultural content of the first two courses within the RTLB
programme. It assesses the extent to which the programme addresses critical
questions (Bishop, 1994; Bishop, 1996) relating to the ownership and control of
Māori content included in the first two courses.
