26 Jul 2011

Maori 'thriving' at trades-focused education centre

9:24 pm on 26 July 2011

The founder of a trades-focused education centre says Maori students thrive under its guidance.

Stuart Middleton has set up a Tertiary High School at Manukau Institute of Technology, which has been running for about a year, and caters for students between the ages of 14 and 16.

Mr Middleton told Nine to Noon that students are doing far better than they would under the regular school system

He says the national average for Maori students getting level 1 NCEA or national certificate of educational achievement standards in Year 11 is 61%.

However, Mr Middleton says under its system, they are achieving 80%.