The Implementation of Samoan Language as a School Certificate Subject in the New Zealand Education Qualifications Framework

Abstract

Writing a thesis on the Samoan Language is a reward in itself. The millennium has seen a new lease of life in the development and maintenance of Samoan language not only in New Zealand but also in Samoa, Hawaii and American Samoa. Recently, new initiatives have been implemented in the above-mentioned countries for the Samoan language and culture maintenance, including the establishment of a Language Commission. The main aim to standardise the teaching of Samoan anywhere in the world but mainly to control the transliteration of English words to Samoan. This thesis is part of those developments. The aim of this research is to identify problems and prospects arising from the implementation of Samoan as a School Certificate subject for the first time, in relation to students, schools and community. The three groups of participants in this research are teachers, students and parents. I call this the triangular cycle. For this cycle to function well, each cannot work without the other. It is important to note that out of those three the most important group is the students. Therefore, the vital factors that are worth considering here are the attitudes and expectations of teachers, parents, and students and of society as a whole towards the child and his or her language. These are important considerations in planning a school language programme. I believe that what parents, teachers and society expect affects how well children do at school. This research was a milestone in itself because it covered all the schools who participated in the School Certificate examination in its first year, 1999. There were 16 schools involved: 15 colleges and 1 middle school. All schools are from the North Island, 11 in Auckland, 1 in Rotorua and 4 in Wellington. The types of schools comprise 14 state schools which are made up of 9 co-ed schools, 3 single sex (girls), 1 single sex (boys) and 1 middle school (co-ed). Only 2 non-state schools, both church schools, participated, 1 single sex (girls) and 1 co-ed. An ethnographic qualitative research approach was used. These involved interviews, one-on-one and in groups, and questionnaires. The whole research was conducted in Samoan apart from a few in English, as some students were not Samoan. The findings were then translated back into English for marking purposes. However, I have presented my findings in both English and Samoan, to make it accessible to readers of both languages.