Education Gazette 102.1

Learning in Aotearoa

Indigenous knowledge and local context guides new opportunities

Mātauranga Māori nurtures love of land

Mahi tahi builds relationships and identity

Takiwātanga – in your own time and space

To

Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories and Te Takanga o Te Wā

Watch kaiako and ākonga talk about the new curriculum in action at St Catherine’s College in Wellington.

In exploring Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories, ākonga undertook a project specifically on immigration. Watch to see what they learned.

In 2022, Education Gazette printed a special edition to celebrate and unpack the new curricula which become compulsory in 2023.

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New year, new perspectives

Nau mai haere mai e ngā kaiako me ngā tūmuaki, to a new year of learning in Aotearoa – one teeming with fresh opportunities for growth and development across the sector.

In this issue, we look at how models of wellbeing and learning are being guided by a te ao Māori approach, or with a focus on mātauranga Māori. Local knowledge, histories and communities play a key role in shaping marau ā-kura | local curriculum, and it’s exciting to see how this is developing in different learning communities and sectors across the motu.

This is also the year that sees Te Takanga o Te Wā and Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories become part of all kura and schools’ marau ā-kura | local curriculum. We have two new videos on the Education Gazette YouTube channel that explore how St Catherine’s College in Wellington is putting the new curriculum into action. I encourage you to take a look, and if you are so inspired, do get in touch with how

your kura or school is integrating the new curricula into your classrooms – no matter your stage in the journey.

A new year brings new steps in the Ministry of Education’s five-year programme to refresh The New Zealand Curriculum and redesign Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, as well as the implementation of a new organisational design. Education Gazette aims to keep you informed of these developments and other key topics at hand in 2023, and we are interested to know what you would like to see too. Please contact reporter@edgazette.govt.nz with any and all ideas.

Enjoy this first issue – I hope it provides apt inspiration and information to kickstart a successful and exciting new year in your learning centres, classrooms and communities.

Wilson, chief editor

Kia pai tō koutou rā Sarah

Vivienne, Marlon and Mae take a a close-up look at paua and kina in the lab’s sea tables.

Deep dive experience inspires future marine scientists

A marine biology programme that takes a deep dive into some of Aotearoa

New Zealand’s marine environments is inspiring a love of science for some Year 7 and 8 ākonga in Wellington and the Wairarapa.

Aprogramme featuring a virtual dive, a visit to a marine biology laboratory and, for some students, an opportunity to drive a remotely operated underwater vehicle, has been developed by marine biologists Professor James Bell and Dr Alice Rogers, software engineer senior lecturer Dr Craig Anslow and postgraduate students from Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington.

“With the use of virtual reality headsets and 360-degree videos, we’re able to give students the chance to experience New Zealand’s amazing underwater world and see exactly what marine biologists do in their daily work,” says James.

Career pathways

The idea came about when James and some of his colleagues were discussing ways to encourage young people to become marine biologists.

“Year 7 and 8 students are really open to exploring everything as a career pathway – anything and everything is possible for them.

“We wanted to get them to understand there are many ways in which they could be a marine biologist – they don’t necessarily need to get into the water. They could be a designer of robots that go under water; or they could be a software engineer that creates the software that enables people to drive the underwater robots and operate the equipment we use,” he explains.

The virtual reality experience developed by PhD students, with James and Alice contributing 360-degree video footage from marine environments around Aotearoa, was designed to be the centrepiece of the programme.

“The students really love it. We’ve had students lying on the floor with the VR headsets on, pretending they are swimming through the water!” says James.

Counting fish

For Wellington students, the programme begins with a discussion about the equipment marine biologists use and a tour of Victoria University’s Coastal Ecology Laboratory in Island Bay, where they can chat to students and academics about their research.

“We then split them into groups. One group does the VR experience where they start off on a boat, they can pick up the equipment and it takes them off to various dives and they can see amazing stuff from our marine environments.

“The other group does an exercise, which the students seem to really love. We have a whole lot of plastic fish strung from the ceiling in the lab and we get the students to do what we would do under the water – count and estimate the size of fish. They put their data into the computer and then they can compare how close they are to the actual sizes. It’s a useful way for them to see how science and maths interact,” says James.

Without a laboratory to tour in the Wairarapa, students have an opportunity to drive one of the university’s remotely operated robots in a swimming pool.

“At the end of all the sessions, we bring all the students together and discuss why they think we do the things we do, like why do we count fish or measure sponges?

We have discussions around sustainable management of the marine environment, why marine biologists are important, exploration of the seas and the impacts of humans on the environments,” explains James.

Accessible experience

The virtual reality experience offers students a unique and accessible opportunity, says Evans Bay Intermediate science teacher, Amanda Hood.

“It’s amazing! You literally feel like you’re in the water –you can see stingrays and crayfish. The students just love it – it’s just that sense of reality. You can’t take them scuba diving in the ocean, and this is a way we can safely do it.

“They’re a tech generation and it’s really evident to me that VR is one way we can connect this generation to science. It’s easy and it’s safe,” says Amanda.

She explains that different school funding models mean it can be difficult to offer outside-the-classroom experiences for science, and the university programme makes it accessible.

“I do quite a lot of science outreach and I try and give students as many experiences as I possibly can in science outside of the classroom because I’ve seen the benefit of it. Science is one of those subjects where if you can engage students in hands-on, real-life activities, it makes them passionate about it.

“That’s why the Victoria University programme is so, so important, because it’s free. Many programmes are very expensive and that has been a huge barrier to us. This programme is accessible, deals with the local environment and is connected to the local curriculum and I think it’s inspired a whole bunch of students to go on to study science,” she says.

Real world stuff

For Amanda, the visit to the university’s laboratory with a group of Year 7 and 8 students rounded out a year where some students had been studying ocean acidification and

Evans Bay Intermediate students visit Victoria University’s Coastal Ecology Lab with lab director Dr Alice Rogers, Professor James Bell and EBIS teachers Amanda Hood and Kerri Battersby.

climate change and two ākonga had done NIWA Science Fair projects on the topic.

“It was 100 percent real world stuff and I think that was the thing that got my students really interested in it – they could really understand it and link it to climate change and our local marine environment,” says Amanda.

“James and Alice and the team talk about the research they are doing. That’s interesting because the students get to see real science in action and real scientists. They got to see the tanks where they’re doing their research on sponges, looking at climate change and ocean acidification.

“I saw the students stand up a bit straighter and go, ‘Oh, we know what you’re talking about’. Students don’t learn unless they’re engaged. They didn’t want to stop asking questions and they didn’t want to leave,” she laughs.

Quality time

James explains it’s no coincidence that the Year 7 and 8 students have quality time with the academics and postgraduate students.

“We typically have no more than 10 students per session, and there are normally at least two academics and two to three Masters or PhD students. There’s a high level of oneon-one interaction with the students.

“The fact that there are MSc and PhD students there is kind of deliberate so students can get a feel for how they might become a marine biologist; they see young people they can identify with,” he says.

The university team has enjoyed the enthusiasm and passion of the students.

“They have so many amazing questions – they’re picking up lots of great stuff about the marine environment already and some of the questions we’ve got have been insightful and well thought out. For example, there were lots of questions around the sponges when we showed them our mini sponge gardens. Children were asking what impact the changing oceans will have on the sponges? Do sponges feel pain? Are there ethical considerations in working with sponges?” he says.

“It doesn’t matter so much if people want to study marine biology. We also want them to care about the environment –and lots of them do. We want to engage students; we want them to care about the marine environment.”

James Bell

Marlon takes a virtual deep dive into the wonders of our marine environment.

Hanna gets up close and personal with a rock lobster moult.

Forward thinking

The programme can easily be woven into school programmes and is designed to empower children so they feel they can make a difference, explains James.

“It doesn’t matter so much if people want to study marine biology. We also want them to care about the environment – and lots of them do. We’ve done it in a way that it’s not focused on doom and gloom. It’s very much focused on the skills and tools that we use as marine biologists, rather than focusing on the impacts humans are having.”

While Amanda’s students had done some study before the visit, she will be making future use of the connections and knowledge gained from the visit.

“I am going to be ‘stealing’ the Excel programme they were using for estimating the size of the fish, because students can use that for new maths learning. I’m also going to be using some of the techniques they used on their climate change and ocean acidification experiments because they can be quite easily replicated on a smaller scale. And I just hope I can take a new bunch of students back!” she says.

Victoria University has financially supported the programme to date and the university team would love other funders to come on board to expand and include mātauranga Māori, as well as a nationwide VR experience.

“The VR experience that we’ve got can be downloaded onto a smartphone and you can buy really cheap cardboard VR headsets. We had a plan to offer a virtual marine biology experience nationwide, and we would be there as an avatar as they go through the experience,” explains James.

Schools in Wellington and the Wairarapa can contact James at james.bell@vuw.ac.nz.

Connecting with our seas

Seaweek will be held this year between 4 and 12 March. The theme is Toi Moana –Toi Tangata: Celebrate connecting with our seas, which perfectly fits the mahi of the Victoria University of Wellington team .

There will be events throughout Aotearoa including the online Ocean Champion Challenge where people are invited to post a short video sharing the mahi and stories of our passionate ocean advocates.

For more information, see seaweek.org.nz.

“Science is one of those subjects where if you can engage the students in some kind of handson real-life activities, it makes them passionate about it.”

Amanda Hood

India, Vivienne and Hanna learn about moulting in rock lobsters.

Student Q&A

What did you like most about your visit to the Coastal Ecology Laboratory in Island Bay?

Liam, Year 8: We got to do an activity replicating what a marine biologist would do by estimating the size of plastic fish hanging from strings, without getting too close or using a ruler to measure.

Mae, Year 7: I liked meeting the scientists, and seeing what stuff they were looking at under the microscopes.

Caitlin, Year 7: I enjoyed the VR because it was great to experience what it would be like (but less cold) to specialise in certain types of marine biology and it was awesome to see all the animals in the habitat.

Jessie, Year 7: I loved how we got to ask lots of questions and the VR headset was so real and very interesting. I definitely would go back again. I have been diving many times and the VR headset looks exactly as it is in the water.

Rosie, Year 8: I really enjoyed meeting the scientists and learning about some of the equipment that they might use while collecting data. I also really enjoyed their wet lab where they conduct experiments and observe marine species.

Has the visit inspired you to do a project or research next year?

Eddie, Year 7: It was a really fun experience. I was thinking about doing a project about growing plants in different environments. There might be a link in my project to climate change.

Paula, Year 8: I definitely will be doing a science project on marine biology next year. I think I could do a project on what marine reserves really do and if they actually help animals and species thrive.

Jessie: For the NIWA Science Fair next year me and my dad are going to see if the marine reserve actually works. I asked some questions about it and it helped me know what I need to, or should, do.

Mae: This visit inspired me to make a science fair project around sea life. I will probably measure bacteria growth from my fish tank over a number of days.

Has it inspired you to continue to study science and/or consider a career in marine biology?

Liam: Yes, absolutely. I love science and seeing real scientists do their work has inspired me even more.

Mae: I have wanted to become a marine biologist for a while, I probably won’t specify seaweed or sea sponges, rather I would like to focus on bigger animals like sharks or orcas.

Caitlin: Science this year has allowed me to discover my passion for science. The trips we have done have really made me realise that marine biology

is something that I am very interested in, and I most likely will experience many new opportunities that will ultimately decide if I will complete a degree in any sort of biology.

Eddie: Animals have been one of my favourite things so I think studying marine biology will give me a better understanding of ocean wildlife. I have always wanted to become an actor but maybe zoology could be a backup.

Jessie: I have always wanted to study marine science, but when I was there it helped me understand what they do and how they do it. After the trip I am definitely going to study marine science. I love diving and animals.

Rosie: I think that I have always wanted to learn more about marine biology and science in college but it has definitely made me want to learn about the different aspects, avenues and opportunities that it might open up.

Paula: Biology has always been my favourite subject but marine biology is definitely my thing. When I am older, I think that I would be happy doing any type of science APART from data science. Marine biology is so fun!

Te Kura Taumata o Panguru tumuaki

Mina Pomare-Peita is combining mātauranga Māori and hands-on science to help students fall in love with the land.

MĀTAURANGA MĀORI

Mātauranga Māori nurtures love of land

Te Kura Taumata o Panguru tumuaki Mina Pomare-Peita shares how walking away from the mainstream and using Te Rarawa mātauranga together with science has led to students who are proud kaitiaki of their whenua.

Te Kura Taumata o Panguru stands proudly in North Hokianga. Its backdrop is the Panguru maunga and Te Au Warawara Forest, which is described as the wairua of Te Rarawa.

It’s only natural for the kura to have such strong connections to te taiao/the environment. But getting to a place where tamariki love the land has not come without hard work.

Te Kura Taumata o Panguru is a long drive from State Highway One. It is an area school in Te Rarawa rohe with about 105 students from Years 1 to 13, and a 100 percent Māori roll.

“In a place like Panguru, and in these country areas, you just become really resourceful,” says tumuaki Mina Pomare-Peita.

Mina is Panguru born and bred and grew up living off the land with the mātauranga, kupu, and pūrākau of Te Rarawa passed down to her. Her desire to ensure tamariki have that same mātauranga is the catalyst for the school’s strong ties to te taiao, along with relationships.

In 2015 Te Rarawa’s Treaty of Waitangi Settlement was passed into law, but Mina says prior to this she told a colleague that getting the land back would be a waste of time if the people didn’t know how to work it.

“People don’t know how to grow kai, how to work their land. They don’t even know the names of the mountains or where the water comes from,” she says.

“We need to teach our children how to love the land, because it is by falling in love with the land that they will feel part of it.”

And that’s where it all started.

Reclaiming mātauranga Māori

Mina is passionate about the importance of walking away from the mainstream and reclaiming mātauranga Māori – specifically tribal knowledge.

“We need to be saying ‘I’m Te Rarawa’ or ‘I’m Ngāpuhi’ and asserting that as part of our

mātauranga Māori,” she says.

“I think as an educator I’ve always aspired for our knowledge to be acknowledged in the education system.”

She says a huge way of doing this is through te taiao.

So, Mina approached Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa with the goal of teaching tamariki to love the land through the mātauranga of Te Rarawa.

She asked for support to establish a camp where students could spend three to four days learning about the environment with kaumatua, kuia and experts in mātauranga Māori.

“You can talk about mana whenua, mana moana, mana tangata and mana atua. But if you don’t actually know what that looks like, it doesn’t mean anything – it’s just words.”

Camp kaupapa

The first camp – called Noho Taiao o Te Rarawa – was held 15 years ago with a small group of about 16 students. The kaupapa was so popular there is now a Noho Taiao in summer and winter.

The summer noho is held every January at one of the 23 marae in the Te Rarawa rohe. The winter Noho Taiao was established after other schools in Te Hiku asked for the same thing to happen in their rohe.

Mina says it changes every year but usually in the summer it’s quite dry so the students learn pūrākau of the place. In the winter they get their hands dirty with riparian planting, kayaking, water monitoring and lots of climbing maunga.

She adds that an important part of the camps is that tamariki are reclaiming the reo of their iwi.

“One year we learned, you know it’s really common now that people call teatree ‘manuka’ or ‘kanuka’. You never heard our people say, ‘Go cut down the manuka tree’ it was kahikatoa, so going back to the original name of your hapū is a big thing.”

Challenging the status quo

Mina isn’t afraid to question the status quo, in fact it’s in her nature.

But challenging ideas and standing up for mātauranga Māori has helped foster strong relationships with organisations like GNS Science.

In 2018 GNS came to the Far North and while in town it partnered with Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa to deliver an 11-day camp where students could learn from experts like palaeontologists and geologists.

But it was lacking mātauranga Māori, Mina says.

“I don’t know what they thought they were doing other than making these students listen to people talking about geological sciences without really asking us as Māori, ‘What are the benefits, who benefits from this?’”

So, Mina requested a meeting with the GNS boss. She says she invited him into her whare for a kai and told him the camp had not catered for Māori.

“We said for a start you must have it on a marae and you must sleep with us. We said western science is only one element, it isn’t the dominant element. Mātauranga Māori is – and we are waiting for you guys to catch up to us.”

Mina says it took a while for GNS to come on board, but they did. To date, there have been four GNS camps and another two are scheduled for 2023.

Weaving knowledge together

Mina says kaumatua have been involved from the start and says the camps weave hands-on science with te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori.

“For example, if they’re teaching the students about the water cycle or the rock cycle – from there we do the whakapapa o te wai. We also have that as a waiata so our students get to use those words.

“It’s understanding uniformitarianism – scientists call it a process which is looking at the past to unlock the future. We already know that, we call that anamata, onamata and inamata – the future, past and present.”

Mina says the kura now also works with NIWA, Northland Regional Council and Te Aho Tu Roa (Enviroschools).

“Our children are clever, and our people are clever, and if they’re with other clever people from other cultures they really just love it.”

Mina says her tamariki care for the local Te Au Warawara Forest by doing pest control, planting, water testing, fencing and bird monitoring.

She says even calling the forest ‘Te Au Warawara’ is a result of tribal knowledge.

“We grew up calling it Warawara but Nanny Whina’s son, Pāpā Joe Cooper said, ‘It’s Te Au Warawara’ so it’s about reclaiming all of the knowledge,” Mina says.

Mina wanted her students to love the land, and now it’s clear they do.

In 2021, Te Kura Taumata o Panguru won the Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Award for their work in te taiao. Mina credits their success to mātauranga Māori.

“If you truly want to put te taiao into a school or take the school into te taiao, you can’t do it based on a mainstream model. You’ve got to do it from your model, and you must go and find out what that model is for you.”

“If you truly want to put te taiao into a school or take the school into te taiao, you can’t do it based on a mainstream model. You’ve got to do it from your model, and you must go and find out what that model is for you.”

Mina Pomare-Peita

Students Norma-Dee Peita (left) and Lili-Ola Baxter with their principal Mina Pomare-Peita.

Mina Pomare-Peita, tumuaki of Te Kura Taumata o Panguru, is stepping away from the mainstream.

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Te Kura Taumata o Panguru with the Panguru maunga and Te Au Warawara Forest in the background.

Takiwātanga in your own time and space

A series of five marae-based wānanga exploring takiwātanga (autism) from a Māori world view has offered a unique strengths-based lens for specialist educators, support staff and whānau.

Dorothy Taare-Smith with her mokopuna, Carni (7) at Kaiti Beach, Gisborne.

Marae-based Taonga Takiwātanga wānanga have now been offered to more than 300 kaimahi in five regions throughout the North Island.

“We are moving away from viewing autism as a ‘dis’-ability as it is currently perceived from a western paradigm. Through the wānanga series, the word/kupu ‘takiwātanga’ is used extensively as we see it as a manaenhancing term rather than a deficit term,” explains Dorothy Taare-Smith (Ngāti Porou) education facilitator for the Taonga Takiwātanga Charitable Trust.

“Taonga Takiwātanga is a mana-enhancing term, which regards people with autism as gifted, or taonga. Takiwātanga, a term coined by linguist and educator Keri Opai (Te Atiawa, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Te Ata, Waiohua, Ngāti Porou) means ‘in his/her own time and space’.

“Many whānau choose to use the kupu as it moves from a clinical term to one that is non-threatening, easily understood and encapsulates a sense of aroha and manaaki,” she says.

With a background in learning support and autistic mokopuna, Dorothy is founder of the Trust, established in 2020, which was initially established to offer professional learning and development (PLD) for educators and support to whānau in Tairāwhiti.

The Trust aims to educate and raise awareness about an indigenous perspective of autism. The marae-based wānanga programme was developed by Dorothy in partnership with the Ministry of Education.

Te ao Māori view

Programme attendees have included resource teachers of learning and behaviour (RTLB), learning support specialists, teacher aides, kaiako from kōhanga reo/early learning services, kura kaupapa and whānau.

Dorothy says there have been a number of firsts at the wānanga.

“Māori have had to rely on international research that doesn’t align with te ao Māori way of thinking and understanding. The Trust was the first to deliver autism training with an indigenous lens and the first to deliver authentic te ao Māori training sessions on more than one marae.

“We initiated a system whereby an invitation by mana whenua is a prerequisite before visiting and presenting outside of Tairāwhiti. We deliver wānanga to highly populated Māori communities, with our preference being to deliver to rural communities so that professionals and whānau don’t have to travel to city centres,” she says.

Mana-enhancing concept

Four learning objectives were developed for the wānanga.

1. To build knowledge and understanding of takiwātanga and change the mindset of how takiwātanga are viewed.

2. To build education practitioner confidence to support whānau with takiwātanga.

3. To strengthen whanaungatanga: building community connections and supports.

4. To increase understanding of children’s rights in the context of education and the responsibilities of school services.

Dorothy and her moko Carni.

“We are moving away from viewing autism as a ‘dis’-ability as it is currently perceived from a western paradigm. Through the wānanga series the kupu ‘takiwātanga’ is used extensively as we see it as a manaenhancing term rather than a deficit term.”

Dorothy Taare-Smith

Two world views

Each wānanga focused on:

» Taonga Takiwātanga explained

» Listening to whānau voice through shared stories

» The rights of children with disabilities, with a focus on education

» Connection with each other and navigating local support networks.

The difference between the two perspectives of autism and assessment, diagnosis and ongoing supports for autism are discussed at the wānanga.

“As we know it, the assessment, diagnosis, advice and ongoing supports are heavily steeped in a western way of thinking. We talked about the dearth of literature, research and theory that reported on Māori and autism, suggesting that a Māori approach to autism is largely misunderstood,” says Dorothy.

She explains that in te ao Māori, understanding the concept of autism is guided by tikanga, kawa (Māori protocol), wairua and whānau.

“It is widely mentioned within te ao Māori that children with autism are seen as taonga who have a strong sense of wairua (a strong spirit). The unseen carries mana, meaning children with autism have an ability to strongly connect with a higher spiritual realm,” explains Dorothy.

Whānau voice

Whānau were offered an opportunity to speak about what life is like with a taonga takiwatanga child. Whānau voice had an emotional impact on the participants, and most left with greater empathy and understanding, says Dorothy.

For example:

» In 17 years, I have never felt so understood. I can’t describe how it feels to finally be part of something that shows our diversity and uniqueness is OK. From the bottom of my heart THANK YOU”.

» Living rurally, we miss out on so many services compared to the city.

» My son has not been supported properly over the seven years and is still struggling in school to get the things he really needs and at home we have struggled with behaviours and time is always spent on one child and I have four children altogether.

Whānau of Regan Wiringi, who has an autism diagnosis, attended the first wānanga at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in Gisborne in March 2021. Regan and Dorothy were photographed at Te Poho o Rawiri Marae, Gisborne in January 2023.

“We have become accustomed to a western way of thinking about autism. Many Māori have a way of understanding the world around us and are in tune with their taha wairua/ spirituality. Our tamariki are not broken and do not need ‘fixing’,” explains Dorothy.

She says that taonga takiwātanga should be celebrated.

“We need to move away from a deficit model of thinking, something we have adopted from a clinical paradigm which does not align to an indigenous way of knowing and understanding.”

Relationships and connection

A collaborative approach with whānau, educators and agencies allows all parties to understand their respective roles which can produce better outcomes for tamariki and whānau. Agencies from the health and disability sector attended the wānanga and talked about their services, eligibility criteria and how they could support schools and whānau.

“Importantly, the hope was for the services to manaaki each other, work together and move away from operating in silos.

“Having a strong advocate who has extensive knowledge and an insight into the services whānau may want to access within the disability, health, education and social sectors makes a huge difference,” says Dorothy.

Legal rights

One clear observation from the wānanga was that many educators who attended had little knowledge about their legal obligations as educators and the rights of children with disabilities and in some cases didn’t know if their school/ learning centre have policies preventing discrimination and bullying.

“I noticed that there was very little knowledge about the NELP (National Statement of Education and Learning Priorities) and Tātaiako (Cultural Competencies for teachers of Māori learners) in the context of children with learning support needs. Educators need to know their legal obligations, the rights of children with learning support needs and the role of the Board of Trustees,” concludes Dorothy.

To find out more, see taongatakiwatanga.co.nz

Pā harakeke nurtures whole whānau

Attending a Taonga Takiwātanga wānanga ‘flipped the script’ for one child and her whānau, says Leah Thompson (Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Whānaunga, Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Tara Tokanui), a resource teacher learning and behaviour (RTLB) in Waikato and Raukawa.

“We don’t view those tamariki as deficient in any way, we see them as being part of our whānau, so that can be a shift of thinking for some professionals,” says Leah, who is part of a dedicated Māori medium team in Cluster 16.

Leah attended a wānanga in the Waikato along with a whānau she was working alongside, the child’s kaiawhina and a representative from the Ministry of Education.

“The whānau were getting a lot of deficit views about autism and we wanted to flip the script. The whānau were really keen to engage and so it was a way of upskilling and working together so that we all had a shared understanding,” she says.

Strength in Pā Harakeke

Pā Harakeke is an analogy for whānau which places mokopuna in the centre of the flax plant (rito) with parents, grandparents, whānau and hāpu wrapped around the child, like the leaves of harakeke.

“Often the whānau I work alongside are under pressure and learning as they go. We educationalists are only there for a short time, but we’re still building that sustainability of the pā harakeke to grow strong. We all wrap around the mokopuna and we all do it together. There’s strength in unity,” says Leah.

Transformational and sustainable

Attending the wānanga with Leah was transformational for the whānau and their kura.

“They were thrilled to bits with what they learned there. At that stage they were thinking of moving their child to a specialist school/kura, but just by seeing all of the stakeholders involved, they made the call to stay in an immersion setting and I think that was the right call for that ākonga.

“When we got down to the depths of it, the whānau just wanted their mokopuna to be unapologetically and proudly Māori and included in a rich kura kaupapa setting,” says Leah.

The kura, supported by the marae, was able to see that making adaptations for the ākonga will benefit other mokopuna.

“We know that there are going to be more, so it was a way of building capacity and sustainability – strengthening the Pā Harakeke,” says Leah.

Attending the wānanga motivated the kura to use narrative assessment to show learning, which is a Māori way of transferring knowledge and understanding, explains Leah.

“Once they started to go into narrative assessment and the kura was sharing learning that was happening in the kura, the whānau would develop that at home. The kōrero and stories going back and forth was a really rich experience for both of them.”

Building on strengths benefits all

The marae-based culturally responsive session enabled whānau to immediately feel comfortable.

“It wasn’t in a medical or academic setting. They could see non-Māori professionals coming into our spaces, so straight away those relationships are being built in a way that is more comfortable for the whānau and the professionals are able to make inroads quicker because that whakawhanaungatanga has already been done correctly.”

Leah believes that a te ao Māori approach can help all autistic children.

“We have a real inclusive holistic way in our culture. I’ve worked in mainstream, bilingual and immersion settings and my practice is consistent. I use the same strategies and they work in non-Māori settings so in my experience, our te ao Māori approach works for all mokopuna.

“When we see mokopuna as they truly are, straight away we can start to build on their strengths,” she concludes.

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Sue McDowall says a teacher who is a reader has something extra that makes a difference to ākonga.

Teachers’ love of reading inspires ākonga

Reading for pleasure provides multiple benefits. It builds educational, cognitive, and general literacy skills, and supports health and wellbeing.

“Research shows how important reading for pleasure is,” says Jo Buchan, reading engagement lead with National Library of New Zealand | Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa.

“We know that there are educational and social benefits: it impacts development of vocabulary, general knowledge, health and wellbeing, communication skills and general literacy skills. Reading also underpins digital literacy and critical literacy,” she says.

However, the New Zealand Council of Educational Research (NZCER) has found that, while a wide range of initiatives have been designed to lift the reading achievement of New Zealand students, over the past 15–20 years there has been a steady decline in the time they spend reading and their reported enjoyment of reading.

Recent research has shown that teachers who share their love of reading can play an important role in addressing this decline.

Exploratory study

A small exploratory study was undertaken by NZCER for the National Library as part of the Pūtoi Rito Communities of Readers initiative.

NZCER researcher Sue McDowall explored the experiences of nine primary and intermediate teachers and leaders who are passionate readers to get a sense of the context they bring to their teaching, along with the relationship between their personal reading habits, and how that translates to engagement with text in their classrooms.

“We’ve got national data to show that children’s enjoyment of reading and the amount of time they spend reading has decreased steadily over several decades. We also know from the international research that having a teacher who is a passionate reader may help children to become readers themselves. I was curious about how that happens,” explains Sue.

“The big takeaway from talking to these nine teachers is that if you are a teacher who is a reader yourself, you have

something extra that makes a difference to the children in your classroom and in your school because they can see you being a reader,” she adds.

A principal or school leader who believes in the value of reading for pleasure is also important, says Sue.

“One of the leaders we interviewed for the study would visit the school library just so she could chat with students about what they were reading; or she would eat her lunch in the playground and read a book so students could see her reading – she modelled that.”

Successful strategies

Teachers in the research who supported reading for pleasure used some of the following strategies:

» Reading to students purely for pleasure and providing them with opportunities to read alone or in small groups.

» Conversing about books as fellow readers with students.

» Using, supporting, and promoting the school library.

» Building cross-school communities of readers among students (for example through competitions such as book or author quizzes, or through student book clubs.

» Reading, recommending, and sharing their own books with other adults, such as teachers, support staff and whānau.

» Establishing a staffroom library of books for recreational reading.

» Establishing book clubs that included other teachers and sometimes whānau.

“What interested me most was the opportunity teachers provided to children to talk about the books they read.

“There was a lot of that community building and conversation around reading. It’s different from the kind of talk you would engage in if you were doing a shared or guided reading lesson,” says Sue.

Sue was interested in the fact that while the conversations were not intended to be instructional,

teachers reported that some of the student analysis was quite sophisticated.

“Although the purpose of the conversation wasn’t to instruct children on how to analyse character or theme, in actual fact that was the nature of many of the conversations they were having, but it was done in the way that readers do with each other when talking about books,” she says.

Robust evidence

While data about achievement wasn’t collected from the small study, anecdotally teachers talked about the large shifts in engagement and achievement they saw in students or in the wider classroom as the year progressed, which they put down to the engagement and motivation they created around reading for pleasure.

“There’s robust evidence in international research that shows the link between reading often and for pleasure as a child and positive outcomes and achievement. That link is already established in the research literature, so we don’t need to prove that association,” says Sue.

The NZCER study focused on what is happening in classrooms between teachers and students to encourage reading for pleasure.

“I think many of the things that these reader teachers did in their classrooms are things that all good teachers do – they read to children, they provide children with opportunities to read on their own, they go to the library, they have lots of books available, they have a reading space in their classroom,” she says.

Authentic sharing

Sue acknowledges that not all teachers are passionate readers, but she believes that most can share an authentic enjoyment of reading.

“People say, ‘What about teachers who don’t read?’ In fact, I think most people do read. It doesn’t have to be highbrow literary texts that count as reading. It doesn’t even have to be hardcopy paper text – a lot of people read material online, like fan fiction or Wikipedia entries. Some people like reading food writers or cookbooks, graphic novels or romance, biographies. There’s such a range of material that counts as reading.

“I think that teachers can find the things they’re passionate about reading and bring that to school because it’s the authenticity in being a reader that matters,” she concludes.

There is a strong link between reading for pleasure and positive outcomes and achievement.

More reading

Services to Schools

Interview with Sue McDowell, NZCER about her research.

“One of the leaders ... would visit the school library just so she could chat with students about what they were reading; or she would eat her lunch in the playground and read a book so students could see her reading – she modelled that.”

Sue McDowall

Rangatahi interns contributing to iwi success

Growth in the role of the Mātauranga

Iwi Leaders Group has led to the development of rangatahi interns who are able to share their unique perspectives and gain invaluable insights into the wants, needs and aspirations of iwi, hāpu and whānau.

Over the last few years, the Mātauranga Iwi Leaders Group (MILG) has steadily grown in its capacity to advocate for, and contribute to, the advancement of mātauranga and capability building within iwi, hapū and whānau.

MILG are delegated by National Iwi Chairs Forum (NICF) to identify issues of importance for iwi relating to education and to propose appropriate strategic responses to the NICF and implement agreed positions accordingly. For MILG, the growth in its role has led to the introduction of rangatahi internships.

In 2021 they were fortunate to have Jasmine Te Hira, Hinepounamu Apanui-Barr and Ethan Hall join MILG to share their expert rangatahi perspective and provide support for MILG priorities.

Rangatahi took on their own projects across various work streams, including; kura kaupapa transition research, Ngāpuhi tauira wellbeing measures at ITPs and Alternative Education pathways.

In 2022 MILG welcomed two new rangatahi; Caleb Brothers (nō Waikato, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga me Ngāti Pikiao), and Urukahinga Rei (nō Ngāti Whakaue, Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao, Te Arawa), who are responsible for Te Pae Hononga (Digital Inclusion Project) and the MILG Iwi Data Project.

Caleb first heard about the internship through an email that was sent out to all registered Waikato-Tainui members. At first, he was unsure about applying.

“After reading about the National Iwi Chairs Forum

Mātauranga Iwi Leaders Group advisors with chair Olivia Hall and lead advisor, Dr Hana O’Regan at the August 2022 National Iwi Chairs Forum held in Ruatōria .

(which I hadn’t heard of before), I was a bit apprehensive to apply because I didn’t grow up surrounded by my iwi, and I wasn’t fluent in te reo Māori.”

However, Maxine Graham (who is now the lead advisor for MILG) suggested he meet with her, and she encouraged him to apply anyway.

Despite his apprehensions, Caleb says, “I was ultimately motivated to apply because I think that education has the power to transform not just individual lives but the lives of entire whānau.

“This internship seemed like an awesome opportunity to do what I could to help improve outcomes for Māori in those spaces.”

Skill development

As well as the technical skills development, rangatahi are exposed to kaupapa, strategic thinking and projects that give them invaluable insights as to what Māori people are experiencing and impacted by, and their wants, needs and aspirations in education.

Caleb attributes his supervisor, Maxine Graham, as being especially valuable in assisting him find opportunities and spaces to develop his skills and abilities.

Some of these spaces have included being able to view the world of iwi governance and some of the operations of the Crown.

“I have been able to see how things like policy and procedures are developed or implemented. I have been able to develop my writing and critical thinking skills, as well as being given opportunities to collate and present my findings.

“I have also been able to learn so much about my own iwi, our history and places of significance, as well as being given many opportunities to hear and practise my reo,” Caleb explains.

This internship also gave Caleb insight into how many people are making decisions and working hard to improve education outcomes for all New Zealanders.

“At times it was challenging feeling confident enough to share my thoughts and opinions. However, the whole MILG team have provided me with so much guidance and support. They have helped me to feel confident to share my thoughts and ideas and to see the value that I can bring.”

Making a real difference

A specific highlight for Caleb was being part of different projects that help facilitate digital inclusion. This included working on Te Pae Hononga and with Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | The Ministry of Education in the area of Digital Strategy and Device Distribution. He had a personal interest as he started university in 2020 so spent his first few years having to learn online due to Covid restrictions.

“Experiencing that, I can’t imagine how much more difficult learning would be if you didn’t have access to a good device and strong internet connection.”

Working on these projects meant Caleb could contribute to something with direct positive effects for iwi by reducing barriers to digital inclusion.

MILG rangatahi interns have used their experiences to go on to join various academic, iwi and hapū boards and

committees; continue to work with MILG and add to their work programmes; continue with tertiary studies; raise their pēpi and so much more.

For Caleb, at this stage he is focusing on finishing university, then hopefully doing a year of full immersion te reo Māori. From there he is thinking of going into private practice or working in policy, or a similar field.

“While doing this internship, my ideas of the kinds of careers and opportunities that are out there have really broadened. Regardless of whatever I end up doing, I hope it is something that allows me to use my skills and abilities to help better the lives of the people of Aotearoa.”

In 2023, MILG will see the third wave of rangatahi interns join their team. They’re excited to grow their capacity internally and in turn, expanding their capability to serve the needs and aspirations of our ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi.

Rangatahi intern advisors, Urukahinga Rei and Caleb Brothers at Uepohatu.

Mahi tahi builds relationships and identity

On a former pā site with sweeping views of Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay, a group of ākonga re-enacted a scene from the lives of their tīpuna which took them back more than 200 years and gave them a deep sense of mana and pride in their roots.

abundant kai moana and that they were standing on what was originally an island where their tīpuna once walked.

KĀHUI AKO

Ākonga from Tamariki Wānanga Rōpū look towards Te Whanganui-a-Orotu, also known as the Ahuriri Harbour or Napier Inner Harbour. They were amazed to think that the whole area was once under water, with

Napier’s Ahuriri Kāhui Ako has been working together (mahi tahi) on a range of across-school initiatives to build connections and identity for ākonga from six schools and four early learning services in the suburb of Tamatea, which has been named after tīpuna, TamateaPokai-Whenua.

Around 50 percent of tamariki and rangatahi in the kāhui ako are mana whenua – many whakapapa to Ngāti Kahungunu.

In 2018, facilitators from the University of Waikato worked with kaiako on Rongohia te Hau [effective support for culturally responsive teaching] gathering evidence, including survey responses from learners, whānau and teachers, and observations of teaching, to inform and develop culturally responsive teaching and leadership.

“The Rongohia te Hau process is about putting a line in the sand and seeing where we are in terms of cultural capabilities, relational and responsive pedagogy. I like the fact that it’s triangulated data – observation of teachers’ cultural practices, student and whānau voice. Often there are very different perceptions,” says Nicky Anderson, deputy principal at Tamatea High School and kāhui ako lead.

Growth tool

In 2019, the kāhui ako conducted a strategic review that identified a need to build the cultural competency of teachers from early learning through to secondary school across the kāhui ako.

Meredith Ellingham, one of two across-school teachers for the kāhui ako, says that although Covid put a spanner in the works, the kāhui began to build relationships and make a strong start on their achievement challenges: strengthening culturally responsive and relational pedagogy, ensuring effective transitions within and between schools, and promoting and developing wellbeing and hauora for ākonga.

“That [2018] was the last time we had any baseline data, but when we looked at the data, we knew that we needed to support kaiako in enhancing their cultural responsiveness,” she says.

“The major drive for the change was around the growth tool and the ‘observation to learn’ conversations. Before we did Rongohia te Hau, we were trained in the use of the growth tool, which we use in our schools.”

“It gave them the opportunity to be confident in who they are as Māori and to be able to take that back to their kura: mahi tahi is power sharing.”

Meredith Ellingham

There’s a whakataukī about the ocean and the foreshore: Ko rua tē paia ko Te Whanga – the store that never closes is Te Whanga. Ākonga hunt for pūpū (periwinkles) in the lagoon at a kai moana gathering spot.

“The growth tool sits alongside Rongohia te Hau – it’s about changing practice. You get overall data which provides a big picture and then the growth (observation) tool is about teachers identifying areas of culturally responsive and relational pedagogy that they are strong in and then areas they need to develop further,” adds Nicky.

Nicky explains that mahi tahi also involves teachers and students working together to achieve desired outcomes.

“That’s co-construction, or power sharing, so that students know what they’re learning and why they’re learning it. For some of our teachers, that’s a scary transition, from holding the power to sharing it with students.”

Walking in footsteps of tīpuna

One of the kāhui ako’s first initiatives, Tamariki Wānanga Rōpū, saw a group of Year 5–10 ākonga who whakapapa to local hapū and were potentially at risk of disengagement, visiting the places where TamateaPokai-Whenua once walked, hunted and gathered to feed his extended whānau.

This was led by local historians (mana whenua) who shared mātauranga and pūrākau of the local area.

“The Wānanga Rōpū was about connecting students to the whenua. Students were selected by schools on the basis of the potential benefit to their personal growth and development. The model is about knowing who you are, where you are from and what you bring to the collective,” says Nicky.

“On one trip we went to Otiere Pā, a site where there’s an incredible view. You can see the whole bay – you would have seen waka coming in,” says Vanessa Harlow, a teacher at Porritt School and an acrossschool teacher.

“We pretended that we were the hapū that lived there. We had half our students be the manuhiri and half be tangata whenua. We did a pōwhiri and re-enacted how you would know if these visitors were friend or foe. It was a beautiful day, slightly windy so we could hear the wind echoing eerily around the hills, and it was almost like we were back in time. That’s what would have happened 200 or more years ago,” she says.

Vanessa says the wānanga experiences have improved students’ confidence as they learned more about their Māori tīpuna.

“More than anything it has improved their confidence as learners because they have this special whakapapa and they are starting to understand how Tamatea-Pokai-Whenua was a keen explorer, a navigator, a doctor and a scientist. It’s really important for our students to see that they come from tīpuna who were incredibly intelligent, resourceful and creative,” she says.

Ākonga brainstorm how they will share their knowledge with other kaiako and tamariki about Tamatea-Pōkai-Whenua the explorer. From top left: Keira, Year 6, Meredith Ellingham (kaiako), Vanessa Harlow (kaiako), Pitama, Year 6, Sha’la, Year 9 (with back to photo).

Meredith agrees, saying the wānanga experience gave the students the opportunity to experience success as Māori.

“It gave them the opportunity to be confident in who they are as Māori and to be able to take that back to their kura: mahi tahi is power sharing. Their cultural toolkit was acknowledged, and they were the tuakana helping the kaiako to learn,” says Meredith.

Schools reported that the students became leaders in their own right.

“They didn’t have the labels of the naughty, or disengaged kids. We saw their mana grow and develop, particularly with our Year 10s. The Year 5s were hanging off these older students saying, ‘I can’t wait to get to Tamatea High School’. That transition is part of it as well,” says Nicky.

“One of our achievement challenges was developing relationships across the kura. They became a tightknit bunch of tamariki,” adds Meredith.

Supported by mana whenua

A highlight of term 3 was a combined kapa haka festival which included the whole kāhui ako and was supported by mana whenua. It was held at Napier’s Pettigrew Green Arena, attended by over 1,000 people, with 250–300 students participating.

All the schools were involved in performing a mōteatea, Tamatea-Pokai-Whenua’s pepeha which talks of places of significance in Ahuriri Napier.

Two years in the making, the event was led by Meredith as the across-school teacher in charge of the culturally responsive and relational pedagogy achievement challenge.

“Our collective knowledge is growing with kaiako, ākonga and whānau, learning more about our place. We’re on a journey with a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We’re changing the power dynamic.”

Nicky Anderson

Ahuriri Kāhui Ako leaders, Vanessa Harlow, Meredith Ellingham and Nicky Anderson in front of Warren Pohatu’s painting: Tamatea-Arikinui: Takitimu.

“We brought whānau in with a mihi whakatau. Tangata whenua welcomed the guests – it was spinechilling stuff. That was a first for the schools,” recalls Vanessa.

“The focus was around identity. We all identify with the Ngāti Kahungunu lens and that’s what we brought it back to. We approached mana whenua and had them involved so we were all a part of it, and a lot of connections were made,” she says.

Relationships between the schools and mana whenua continue to grow. Since the festival, tamariki from several schools in the kāhui ako have had overnight stays at local marae and kaiako and ākonga supported the recent reopening of Wharerangi Marae.

The Ahuriri Kāhui Ako has also been involved in the Ministry-funded Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, which aims to grow and strengthen an education workforce that can integrate te reo Māori into the learning of all ākonga in Aotearoa.

Smooth transitions

Stronger relationships between early learning centres and schools have resulted in smoother transition pathways between educational settings.

Early learning and school kaiako meet regularly as a Learning Support Rōpū to discuss and share effective practice. A significant achievement of this group has been the development of a tool for sharing information. Based on the Ministry of Education’s Te Rito tool, this has been further developed into a Napier-wide tool for sharing student information.

“They visited the contributing schools and brought students from Tamatea Intermediate who ran workshops and then they watched our students interacting. They could see the way that they did things and could ask questions right there of the teachers like, ‘What happens when this child does this? How do you get them back on track?’ It’s a much easier way of getting to know students,” explains Vanessa, who leads the kāhui ako’s transitions team.

“It was a twofold thing – teachers saw those children in an environment where they were fairly confident and comfortable rather than when they visit their school and feel a bit overwhelmed. Secondly, those children got to know who their teachers are going to be – they’ve already got connections. We did a couple of those visits and then we visited the intermediate,” she says.

A similar programme, with a focus on building strong relationships between kaiako and ākonga between intermediate and high school, has also been trialed. The transitions team is also working on a process for transitions from early learning to primary school.

Mahi tahi has seen strong across-school tuakana teina relationships forged: From left: Deejay, Year 9, Oakleigh, Year 10, Pitama, Year 6, Tai, Year 6.

Future plans

While Nicky, Meredith and Vanessa all stepped down from their kāhui ako roles at the end of 2022, they are all looking forward to what the future holds, with the new leadership committed to carrying on their mahi tahi.

“Meredith and I are working with Hawke’s Bay Fish & Game, developing a curriculum which I’m writing with local hapū for Years 4–10,” says Nicky.

Named Turangawaewae, the curriculum will cover science, social science, mathematics and digital technologies with learning contexts including biodiversity, environmental threats and survival: past, present and future.

“Fish & Game have provided some funding to release teachers in a way that we can create curriculum. We will then develop lessons with students, so they’re going to be creating the learning for other students to enjoy.

“We’ve applied for other PLD (professional learning development) for digital technology. Meredith has been working closely with a facilitator to develop digital resources that can be shared with schools and teachers. The next step is to work with a curriculum lead at the Ministry to develop this localised curriculum – and we’re bringing to life the Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum,” says Nicky.

There’s also PLD funding to work with other kāhui ako in Ahuriri to build better connections with local hapū.

“The work has only just begun – it’s so neat being in a kāhui ako where mātauranga Māori has parity with a western view. It’s so awesome to teach with that mātauranga Māori lens,” concludes Meredith.

“Our collective knowledge is growing with kaiako, ākonga and whānau, learning more about our place. We’re on a journey with a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We’re changing the power dynamic,” adds Nicky.

The Kāhui Ako team would like to acknowledge many people who have contributed to the mahi: particularly school principals and early learning head teachers, past across-school teachers Lisa Hooper and Tony Parker, within-school teachers from each kura as well as PLD providers and other external support.

Reading and resources

Rongohia te Hau: Driving transformative change –Education Gazette

Rongohia te Hau: Building culturally responsive pedagogy –Education Gazette

Home Page | Te Rito

Te Ahu o te Reo Māori – Education in New Zealand

Ākonga from Napier's Ahuriri Kāhui Ako felt privileged to be walking in the footsteps of their tīpuna.

» Kāhui kōrero

Some participants in the Tamariki Wānanga Rōpū, share their thoughts.

» I was just ‘wow’ my ancestors have been here and now I am walking the same footsteps where they put their feet. That is so special to me and I will never forget this feeling. Sha’la, Year 9

» I felt privileged to be given the opportunity to learn about the sacred pā sites and how my ancestors lived. Making new friends in the different kura was awesome because now we know each other when some of them get to our high school. Oakleigh, Year 10

» This opportunity has allowed my children to connect with me in open discussions about our ancestors (even tell me where rongoa is!) and we as a whānau are now in a more reflective space of awareness to really appreciate the journey and impact that our ancestors have had on the whenua. Dineel, parent

» I feel so much more connected and included in my son’s education through his involvement in the Tamariki Wānanga. He has shared his knowledge of the pūrakau which I have loved hearing about. Taiatini, parent

» Having students facilitate the learning in the class has changed my class engagement levels. Teacher

Igniting a passion for writing through creative art

Year 5 and 6 tamariki in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland have achieved extraordinary gains in writing after a taniwha art project inspired them to write their own Māori myths. The children, aged nine to 11, have now had their stories and illustrations published.

Tamariki of the senior bicultural class at Manurewa West Primary School are a close-knit bunch having been grouped together since Year 1. It was only natural that when they were studying textiles, they would choose to work collaboratively rather than individually.

The result, a mixed-media mural of a taniwha, is a riot of colour and textiles and a skillful blend of traditional patterns and innovative ideas.

“It’s an amazing piece of art and the children really connected with it; they wanted to start writing stories about it,” says kaiako Stacey Madden, who is the school’s cultural advisor.

“One student, Kairyn, wrote the first story about how the taniwha got its colours, and I wanted to drive that, to

push that interest so I turned it into a writing unit. We started looking at local myths and legends and they all wrote their own stories about creatures that lived in the moana.”

At this point, Stacey called on David Riley, a writer also known as the ‘Reading Warrior’. David grew up in South Auckland, has 25 years’ experience teaching English and drama, and is passionate about getting young people reading.

David likes to inspire ākonga with inspirational stories from Aotearoa and the Pacific and works with students to create published books.

“He would come in every Thursday and sit with the children, helping them to write and edit their stories,

Students aged nine to 11 worked with writer David Riley and Kurawaka Animation Studios to publish their book, He Moana Kirikā

and to prompt fresh ideas. The children built a beautiful relationship with David; every time he walked in, they’d say, ‘Yay, David’s here!’”

A trip to animation studios

“David rang me to ask if I thought the children would like to animate their work and I thought that would be awesome. I extended the opportunity beyond the bicultural unit to the whole senior school because I wanted other students to have a chance to be published too,” says Stacey.

“We had a competition to illustrate a myth and from there we chose two students from each class to take to Kurawaka Animation Studios in West Auckland for a day.

“The students’ artwork was so amazing. They didn’t even need to do sketches because they were just so talented, they were straight into it.

“It was a real push because they had to share computers and they’d never experienced any sort of technology like that, having to layer the art, but they picked it up very quickly. What they completed was outstanding and we’re all so proud of them.”

Kurawaka Studios supplied the art files to David who

bundled them together with the children’s stories and pepeha, ready for publication. The result? A beautiful paperback book of original stories in both Māori and English, He Moana Kirikā

Growth mindset

Stacey says her class has shown amazing results in their writing because of the publishing project.

“It shows when they’re truly passionate about something, they will give it their all. Seeing what they could achieve changed their mindset to the growth mindset.

“We talk a lot about the learning pit and how you’ve got to struggle to succeed, and they really did push through. They had to think hard and work hard to achieve the result of getting their work published in a book. They didn’t want to stop writing when literacy time finished, they wanted to keep going even through play time.”

Tamariki presented their mahi to whānau at their official book launch in December with two students reading their stories for the audience.

“Whānau were absolutely amazed and so, so proud of their children. One of the parents whose child has

Tamariki at Manurewa West Primary School collaborated to write and illustrate a collection of stories.

additional needs was in tears to see that he had written a story, it was a beautiful moment,” says Stacey.

“They were very proud to hear their children read, too. I don’t think they realised that it was going to be a professionally published book; that blew them away.”

The book project has made waves around the school with students outside the unit asking when they can “do a book with David”.

“We do a lot of project-based learning which really works well for our tamariki, they love hands-on projects, and it helps to inspire ideas,” says Stacey.

“I make a lot of time to get to know my students and base my work around what they’re interested in so that they are passionate and want to learn. When the interest is strong enough, it’ll carry them through any struggles to complete the task.”

Education Support Services

PCTs and beginning teachers

Mentors

Overseas trained teachers

• English medium (Year 1–13)

• Māori medium (reorua/bilingual and rumaki reo/full immersion)

otago.ac.nz/PCT

“The children didn’t want to stop writing when literacy time finished, they wanted to keep going even through play time.”

Stacey Madden

Kaiako Stacey Madden uses children’s interests to drive their learning.

Learning to stand strong in the community

Punahau Early Childhood Care Centre delivers a local curriculum enriched by te ao Māori and te taiao, and from relationships with the community.

Picture a team of high school aged basketball players performing their team haka. While they are doing this, a two-year-old girl comes up and tells them they are doing it wrong – that they need to put more heart into it. You might think she is an unusually confident child. You would be wrong. She is confident, but it is nothing unusual if you have attended Punahau Early Childhood Care Centre.

The centre, which opened in 1999, prides itself on instilling a strong sense of self, of turangawaewae, in their tamariki. This ability to develop confident tamariki. is aided by their strong commitment to engaging with the community.

Alicia August, Punahau Centre manager, says they set up as a bilingual kaupapa Māori centre with a vision of engaging whānau, hapū and iwi in education as a pathway to future success.

Their philosophy is to view the child in a holistic way, not just as an individual but as part of an inter-connected community web.

“The way we operate, it’s not just the child that’s coming to the centre – it’s their whānau, the connections to the

community, to iwi, hapū, it’s about everything they bring with them,” says Alicia.

To strengthen these ties, the centre engages in active participation within the community to bring about authentic learning for tamariki.. This can involve visits to the local marae, rest homes, taking part in language weeks, visits to kindergartens, and hosting Matariki celebrations.

The idea is that the tamariki can see themselves as valued contributors to the community. This contribution includes taking responsibility for looking after the environment. Alicia gives an example of Sea Week.

“We go for a haerenga to the moana, and we make sure that we take more than we leave. So, if we go there with one packet of biscuits or something for morning tea, when we all leave, we all take two pieces of rubbish with us.”

The centre acts as a community hub by supplying resources for those in need. They approach their community links, such as businesses or other families, to provide clothing, firewood, art packs, and food packages to whānau who require them.

The centre enjoys engaging with the community for events.

They are very grateful for the support of Muaūpoko tribal authority in being able to supply resources for their community.

Curriculum development has evolved from first looking at the Muaūpoko iwi strategies that relate to education and then linking these to Te Whāriki to provide learning priorities. Each of these priorities, such as a sense of wellbeing and belonging, has separate lists for whānau, tamariki, and kaiako, that outline what the priority would look like for each group.

“We wrote down what it looks like, what it feels like, what it sounds like and what it is not, so that we could clearly define the expectations and what contributions will be needed from everyone to reach these learning priorities,” says Alicia.

One of the priorities is that tamariki will be confident with their own culture and customs. It was recognised that whānau who didn’t have that knowledge would need support.

For whānau, this included learning new phrases of te reo, for kaiako the priority was putting up a weekly phrase on the board outside, and for tamariki it was taking knowledge back home to teach their whānau reo, tikanga and karakia.

Sillena McGregor, Punahou administrator explains the importance of te reo for the centre.

now come on board with the idea.

“We were kind of pushy at the start because a lot of kura weren’t used to it and were a bit resistant, but we were adamant that it was their right as Māori tamariki to have a pōwhiri to make the space safe for them to transition.

“We also are very adamant when we hand over our children, the kura have a responsibility to continue their education journey and provide what our tamariki need to succeed,” explains Alicia.

The transition to school can be tricky for students, particularly those with high needs, who are used to the highly personalised contact and programmes within the centre. Moving to larger classes with fewer staff means there is often not the same level of personalised interaction with kaiako.

To further assist these students, members of the centre will remain in contact with the whānau to help them access the help they need for their tamariki for as long as is needed.

Alicia mentions an example of one tamaiti, who is now 15, that they still have regular contact with.

“It’s that sense of belonging, that once you’ve attended Punahau whether you are staff, whānau, tamariki, or whatever, it never ends. You’re a part of the Punahau whānau.”

“I think the most important thing about it is, that if you learn te reo then you will understand the beautifulness of te ao Māori.”

Punahau is child-centred – their interests, abilities, and passions inform the direction the centre takes with its approach to delivering the curriculum. For example, tamariki. became fascinated with the blood moon in 2022 so the centre had the children doing art and adapted Rangi Mātāmua’s kōrero to make a story book about the blood moon.

The centre has developed a policy that all tamariki deserve a pōwhiri when they begin school/kura. This is one way of showing there is continued support for the child and their whānau.

The entire centre gets involved with taking the tamariki to their new kura, no matter where it may be. This has included travelling to Hastings with one child. Whilst some schools were initially hesitant, they have

“The way we operate, it’s not just the child that’s coming to the centre – it’s their whānau, the connections to the community, to iwi, hapū, it’s about everything they bring with them.”

Alicia August

RELATIONSHIPS AND SEXUALITY

A safe stage to unpack relationships and sexuality education

Relationships and sexuality education can be a confronting topic for kaiako and ākonga, but a new Auckland Theatre Company stage production and the way in which it approaches consent can help to tackle difficult discussions alongside a well-planned relationships and sexuality education programme delivered by teachers.

Karin McCracken, co-creator of the production Yes Yes Yes, says the show is one that she wished she had seen when she was 16 years old.

“Consent never came up for me when I was in high school, and if it did, it was in the context of something terrible happening. So it was scary, and coloured how I saw sexual relationships of any kind.”

The production is being put on by the Auckland Theatre Company, as one of their creative learning productions selected for suitability to classroom and curriculumrelated content, explains Sam Phillips, who is the theatre’s participation coordinator.

“These productions have matinees but also have a comprehensive education programme for a teacher. There are student workshops delivered by theatre artists, education packs and more recently, online and digital resources.”

The idea for Yes Yes Yes was inspired by another production, which looked at the culture around sexual assault and sexual violence. Karin and her co-creator Eleanor Bishop had feedback that it would be great to have the production in schools. However, Karin who had previously worked as a sexual violence prevention educator, did not feel it was appropriate for schools.

Students are an active part of the production.

“We really wanted to make something that was strengths-based, positive and fun. Something that looked at the skills that we know young people already have around navigating healthy relationships and build from there.”

The process of creating the show was guided by Karin’s experience but also the Ministry of Education’s Guidelines for Relationships and Sexuality Education Years 9–13, which says that all young people equally deserve an education that enables them to develop healthy relationships, to become positive in their own identities, and to develop competencies for promoting and sustaining their own wellbeing and that of others.

Relationships and sexuality education forms part of the Health and Physical Education learning area in The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC), and delivering this education is mandatory for state and state-integrated schools.

The guidelines encourage education that looks at building relationships, understanding issues related to gender, identity, consent, attraction and values. The show tackles these issues in a way that opens up dialogue in a safe environment.

As classroom teachers are the experts in terms of pedagogies and the needs of their ākonga, they are ultimately responsible for the curriculum delivery. They are more likely to have trusting relationships with their ākonga and connections with their families and communities. This play, however, is a great example of how teachers can supplement their local curriculum to strengthen the overall relationships and sexuality programme. Outside providers can also support schools to develop and implement their programme.

Created by young people, for young people

To understand the issues from the perspective of ākonga, Karin and Eleanor spent time in schools talking with young people about a range of relationship topics. Some of these interviews form part of the show as a collection of videos.

“They’re just these incredible titbits of wisdom and very generous knowledge from young people across Aotearoa about all sorts of things. Dating, friendships, relationships, and objectification – they run the whole gamut,” says Karin.

The show also has a story line involving two couples. The first couple have a good relationship, the second do not. Their stories are conveyed using monologues but also audience participation. At the start of the show volunteers are called in to read some of the characters in the storyline. There is also a section of the show where the audience can text in their thoughts or feelings anonymously and the messages get projected onto a screen at the back of the stage.

Some of the issues that are covered include nonverbal cues surrounding consent and the need to check in with the other person as to how they are feeling. It is hoped audiences will leave the show with a better understanding of how to deal with disclosures.

“So, if a friend or someone in your community comes to you and discloses that they have been harmed, how might

“We really wanted to make something that was strengthsbased, positive and fun. Something that looked at the skills that we know young people already have around navigating healthy relationships and build from there.”

Karin McCracken

we deal with that? This was something that we heard time and time again when we were working with schools. Young people were navigating this tricky terrain with friends, and they had very little training or knowledge of how to manage it safely,” explains Karin.

“Disclosing harm can be very high stakes to both the person disclosing and the person receiving, so there’s quite an emphasis, particularly in the third act, on how someone might respond to something like that.”

Resources help kaiako unpack

To assist students with the difficult issues surrounding the production, schools are given education packs that help with preparing to attend the show as well as with discussion that may occur afterwards.

The materials have been developed by Anna Richardson, who was teaching some of the Year 13 students that Karin and Eleanor worked with to create the show.

She observed how they set up the workshop spaces to ensure a safe space for the ākonga. This included having co-constructed contracts with the students, having a rape prevention representative, and having a safe space outside of the room if students wanted to leave.

“Watching all of these sorts of parameters being

constructed around this workshop started the conversation about having documentation that could support teachers when they were bringing students to the show itself,” says Anna.

“There is the pre-show information kit that allows teachers and students to unpack their thoughts and feelings around consent. Then there is the show itself, which is designed to create a safe space, which benefits students.”

The post-show pack aims to help teachers and students continue discussions in a similarly safe manner. It contains ideas for constructing contracts as to how they work together in the classroom as well as questions that can be used to promote discussion in a gentle, non-confronting way.

As well as being an excellent resource for relationship and sexuality education, the show is beneficial for drama students. The show’s use of contemporary techniques for storytelling allows students to discuss many aspects that relate to the drama and arts curriculum.

“There’s so much that ākonga can talk about in the classroom both internally in terms of Verbatim Theatre, thinking about the way we tell stories and in the creation of their own devised work, but also in reviewing and unpacking theatre in an exam context,” says Anna.

Karin McCracken. Photo by Jinki Cambronero.

For more information about the show scan this QR code.

Resources

For a collection of relationships and sexuality education resources and guidelines for schools, visit hpe.tki.org.

Previous related articles in Education Gazette: Ākonga embrace important kaupapa of relationships and sexuality education.

Relationships and sexuality education by Māori, for Māori.

Supporting relationship and sexuality teaching.

Whakanuia te uenuku ki ia kura.

“These productions have matinees but also have a comprehensive education programme for a teacher. There are student workshops delivered by theatre artists, education packs and more recently, online and digital resources.”

Sam Phillips

Create your own class census with the 2023 Census Teacher’s Toolkit

Statistics New Zealand is hoping an exciting new Census Teacher’s Toolkit will help teachers bring the 2023 Census to life for their students in the classroom and at home.

Entertainer and dancer Elvis Lopeti helps bring the 2023 Census to life in a fun and entertaining way.

The New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings is the official five-yearly nationwide survey of all people and dwellings in Aotearoa New Zealand, and will be held on 7 March. Data gathered through the census is used by communities, iwi, councils, businesses and government to make important decisions about where to fund and locate services and infrastructure across the motu; services like hospitals, schools, roads, public transport and parks and recreation facilities, power, internet, water, and housing.

The 2023 Census Teacher’s Toolkit includes a tailored lesson plan, activity pack and a competition in which students can create their own census.

Dancer and entertainer Elvis Lopeti has been brought in to inject some fun and humour into the lessons through TikTok videos that will be available for use in the classroom and at home. The lessons are aimed at Years 3–7 but can also be adapted for Years 8–10.

“We hope that the excitement these lessons will generate in classrooms will spill over into homes across the nation and encourage all whānau to take part in the 2023 Census,” says Simon Mason, deputy government statistician and deputy chief executive census and collections operations.

“We look forward to seeing what tamariki and rangitahi come up with when developing their own censuses and what’s important to them.”

Elvis Lopeti, whose most recent claim to fame is choreographing the dance routine with superstar Rihanna at the Superbowl in the United States, flew to New Zealand to film his TikTok videos at Waiau Pa School in Pukekohe.

“It was great fun to be part of this really important kaupapa. The census plays a vital role in determining the needs of our communities. Getting tamariki and rangatahi involved in the 2023 Census will benefit us all in future,” says Elvis.

“I mean who knows, sitting in one of those classrooms could be a future royal family dance crew member or maybe even a prime minister. I hope the videos bring a little energy to the classroom and that they enjoy them as much as I loved making them,” he says.

For further information and to download the resources.

There are around 100 stationery voucher prizes, valued at $100 each, up for grabs for those participating in the census competition.

The Teacher’s Toolkit is available in English, te reo Māori and nine Pacific languages. It has been developed with teachers, alongside tamariki and rangatahi, and reflects connections to culture, values and community. The toolkit aligns with level 2 and 3 social studies curricula.

The toolkit relates specifically to the 2023 Census and is not part of the CensusAtSchool programme.

Census community engagement advisor for Te Wai Pounami South Island, Lio Fasi, is a former youth worker in alternative education and helped develop the toolkit.

“This new toolkit will be a real asset to teachers when talking about the census. It’s an opportunity to educate and connect our tamariki to the value of the census in a way they can relate to and easily understand,” he says.

After attending a focus group, Esther Sauvao Pasene has already got her family participating and her sister signed up as a census collector.

“We hope that the excitement that these lessons will generate in classrooms will spill over into homes across the nation and encourage all families to take part in the 2023 Census.”

Simon Mason

Upper Hutt School Principal

Position commencing 6 June 2023 or by negotiation

Upper Hutt School is a high performing Year 1 to 6 primary school catering for approximately 400 students in the exciting, vibrant, and growing city of Upper Hutt. Upper Hutt school has a long proud history dating back to 1864. Our school attracts students from a diverse background - 46% NZE, 23% Māori, 9% Indian, and 5% Asian and African. The school benefits from an engaged, connected, and supportive school community, a warm, friendly, and positive school culture, and a dedicated and talented team of staff.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced leader to join our wonderful school and build on its many strengths and successes.

An application pack is available online at www.educationgroup.co.nz/ appointments/upperhuttschool. If you have any queries, please contact Tanya Prentice or Kay Hawk at admin@educationgroup.co.nz or phone 09 920 2173.

Applications close 1:00 pm Friday 3 March.

To

Scan the QR codes with the camera on your device.

The School and Board are looking for a leader who:

• Will build on the current safe and successful “village” culture of the school

Will build positive and genuine connections, relationships and partnerships with staff, students, parents, whānau and the wider community

• Has a passion for Te Ao Māori and its implementation

• Values and supports diverse learners through effective and innovative teaching and learning practices

• Will be visible, available, approachable, willing to listen and open to the ideas of others

• Will provide clarity of vision and direction and adopt a school-wide collaborative approach to developing and delivering the vision

If this is you, we strongly encourage your application.

view the PLD, general notice listings and vacancies at gazette.education.govt.nz

Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Rangi

40 Burns Street Ohakune

Email: chair@ngatirangi.school.nz

TUMUAKI (KAIWHAKAAKO HOKI)

Wā kikī, ka tīmata a te wāhanga tuatahi o te tau 2023

Ko te reo pōhiri tēnei o Koro Ruapehu ki te Tumuaki hou o Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Rangi ki Ohakune, kia ārahina tō tātau kura ki te keokeonga o tō tātau maunga e tū mai nei.

Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Rangi, based in Ohakune at the foothills of Koro Ruapehu, is seeking qualified applicants for the position of Tumuaki, to lead, grow and develop our school to reach heights akin to the pinnacles of our ancestral mountain.

Applications close at 5:00pm on 23 February 2023. If you have any questions or wish to have a confidential discussion, please make contact with the Presiding Member, Elijah Pue via email on chair@ngatirangi.school.nz or call 027 740 6253.

The application pack can be found on our website www.ngatirangi.school.nz.

Tumuaki | Principal Westland High School

Westland High School is a co-educational secondary school looking to appoint an inspirational leader to “Piki ko tahi ki te taumataExperience Success Together” and take our school into the next stage of its development as an advanced, high performing secondary school for our amazing “Cool Little Town” Hokitika. The Westland region offers a wonderful lifestyle with a large focus on the outdoors, set within a dynamic arts and cultural environment, with a strong community commitment to Te Ao Maori.

As Tumuaki you will be able to clearly demonstrate that you thrive on the challenge of leading a school; significantly raising student achievement; engaging staff and enhancing community perception. You are a natural communicator and leader of learning, who encourages others to grow, develop and upskill their teaching practice and who inspires by example. You are systematic, and process orientated. You will prioritise the wellbeing of staff and students and build a culture that has our students at its centre and fits well with the school’s values of Manaakitanga, Whanaungatanga, Rangatiratanga and Kaitiakitanga.

For more information on our school: www.westlandhigh.school.nz

Application packs are available by emailing: katefleming2@westlandhigh.school.nz

Applications close: 12pm Friday 17 February 2023

Campbells Bay School Principal | Tumuaki

U8

Years 1-6

Opening in 1925, with a history of almost 100 years of providing a quality education, we are a well-run and well-resourced school with amazing students, exceptional staff and a supportive Board and community. We pride ourselves in developing students with strong foundations in educational achievement, and more than that, students who are well-rounded, kind and caring people who contribute positively to their community.

We need a passionate, knowledgeable educator to lead a talented team, able to deliver rich learning experiences for the 900+ students in our care. Someone who is able to create an environment where every child has a strong sense of belonging, can thrive, and achieve genuine success. A leader who can ensure these words are our day-to-day reality!

Our new Principal will be visible, warm, and engaging with students, staff, whānau and our wider school community. Ready to make your mark quickly, you will be future-focused and have a sense of urgency to build on our school’s current success.

The successful candidate will;

• Be a dynamic, strategic and futurefocused leader

• Have high expectations for individual student learning and success

• Ensure quality teaching and rich learning experiences for all students

• Model our values of whakaute|respect, atawhai|kindness and manawanui|resilience

• Champion cultural diversity and be inclusive of all ethnicities, backgrounds, and identities

• Effectively lead the school through the ongoing development and implementation of a refreshed and coherent CBS curriculum

• Be capable of continuing to integrate te ao Māori and te reo Māori into CBS culture and curriculum

• Be an excellent communicator with high EQ and outstanding people skills

• Be committed to ongoing improvement of themselves and the school

• Have proven ability to lead, inspire, coach, and empower individuals and teams

• Build wellbeing capability for themselves and across the team

• Have strong financial and administrative skills

Gold Star helps you prioritise your mental health

Get on board with Gold Star and join like-minded colleagues who are learning more about mental health, to help in your everyday life.

The Ministry of Education and EAP Services are behind Gold Star, a wellbeing programme designed specifically with early childhood, school and kura workers in mind.

Visit Gold Star online to find our webinars and eLearning modules that are made especially for you, to help better understand mental health, and how we can improve our wellbeing.

Remember, you always have access to counselling through EAP Services. Talking with one of our fully registered counsellors can make a world of difference. You can make an appointment here: bit.ly/3IQhYlu

Find us at www.goldstar.nz

Sign up for Gold Star for free and discover the benefits:

• Help you feel less stressed at work

• Build resilience in times of change

• Guide your personal development or career direction

Sign up for free

Scan the QR Code to sign up and start your first module.

www.goldstar.nz

• Give you tools to handle conflict or tension in the workplace

• Offer resources to support you with lifestyle or health issues