Q: Why are there so few Māori in science? A: Socio-economic inequality is the underlying reason

Georgina Tuari Stewart, Professor of Māori Philosophy of Education in Te Ara Poutama at the Auckland University of Technology, has brought a breath of fresh air to discussion about the lack of Māori in science.

She points to socio-economic inequality as an underlying factor and as someone who has spent several decades in and out of science education I agree wholeheartedly. It’s worth reading her opinion piece in full.

OPINION: That there are so few Māori scientists has been blamed on racism but there is also another reason: socio-economic inequality.

The tiny percentage of working scientists who identify as Māori has been concerning various stakeholders for many years. Recent media and academic reports have highlighted the ongoing under-representation of Māori in the science workforce.

Given that little has changed, despite decades of equity and diversity policies, the debate has become increasingly hostile, with recent commentary laying the blame squarely on racist attitudes held by scientists.

But in a recent academic paper I link socio-economic inequities, whereby Māori families have always been concentrated in the lowest income bands, and the permanent lack of Māori scientists across universities and research institutes. Science education is the key connector between these two social phenomena.

School science education is fundamental to the development of future scientists. Primary school science and secondary school science though are quite different and distinct.

Primary science is often neglected in the classroom in favour of literacy and numeracy.

Secondary science is further divided into junior and senior. The needs of the small minority of students who intend to study science post-school dictate the nature of senior secondary science, at the expense of the majority of students, who drop science as soon as they can, citing boring content and too much writing as the dominant reasons. Almost all Māori students part ways with science education at this point.

School success has been reliably shown to be directly proportional to family income, and Māori families are concentrated in the lowest income brackets. Māori educational inequity, therefore, is largely explained by ethnic wealth disparities.

Science is the worst-case scenario within the overall Māori educational disparity. Science has stricter academic demands than any other subject: it requires high levels of literacy and numeracy, and willingness to rote-learn new vocabulary and study large amounts of written material, on topics selected by the teacher.

Students who succeed in senior secondary science subjects must be resilient to cope with these demands. They need good study habits, and the support of a well-organised home that provides for their needs, including a quiet space to study undisturbed.

These everyday details translate to the social fact that success at school, and in school science education in particular, is directly proportional to family income.

Over the years, many initiatives designed to overcome the lack of Māori in science have been undertaken. Attempts to increase Māori representation in science have invariably been sincere and well-intentioned but have been limited by being very small and localised, depending on a particular teacher or expecting short-term measurable results.

Many have had a “missionary” flavour, propounding ideas such as Māori students “need to realise how important” science is. Others have focused on a “fun and excitement” approach to science, or on the need to build peer support networks.

“Ethnic wealth inequity explains the lack of Māori in science,” writes Georgina Tuari Stewart.

Cultural dimensions have been included to overcome the monoculturalism of traditional science education, such as holding science camps at marae. But such ideas ignore the real, grinding, lifelong problems that cause the attrition of Māori students from school, and, even for those who remain in school, from studying science at school.

Ethnic wealth inequity explains the lack of Māori in science because to enrol in a science degree, a person needs university entrance qualifications in science subjects. But there are very few Māori students in senior science classes, anywhere in the country.

The lack of Māori studying science at university, therefore, is explained by the ethnic inequity, whereby Māori children and their families are concentrated in the lowest wealth and income brackets.

And the result is the scarcity of Māori scientists.

These days it’s become commonplace to blame racism for the negative statistics for Māori across all aspects of life and while it most definitely is a factor, the critical factor being over-looked is that Māori are disproportionately in low-income, struggling communities.

There are very few scientists, or “professionals” of any kind, from working class communities. And just as they are under-represented in our universities, the working class are over-represented in poor housing, poor health, high crime, bad mental health statistics etc

Our media generally use “Māori and Pasifika” as shorthand for poverty and negative statistics when we should be talking about working class communities of all ethnicities.

The question “Why are Māori under-represented in science?” can only be answered alongside the question “Why are Māori over-represented in struggling working-class communities?”

This second question is where the impact on Māori of colonisation resonates in the present time – as it does for first nations people across the world.