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See below for English translation
Kua eke te whare o Rotorua’s Digital Natives Academy (DNA) ki te tihi o te maunga o te ao mātauranga. Kua whakawhiwhia e rātau ki te tohu Private Training Establishment (PTE) he tohu nā New Zealand Qualifications Authority(NZQA).
He tohu nui whakaharahara e whakahīhī ai te whare o DNA. Ko te ritenga o tenei whare he amo, he tuku mātauranga, he tuku mōhiotanga ā hiko nei ki te rangatahi.
Ka nui ngā poupou o te whare nei. Tuatahi ake, ko te ahurea Māori me te mātauranga Māori te parata o te waka.Tokorua ngā rangatira o tēnei whare ko Nikolasa Biasiny-Tule tētehi o rāua, koia te rangatira whakahaere, wheoi anō hai tāna:’ E noho ngākau whakaiti ana mātau, engari he mahi nui kai te aroaro, engari ka māmā ake nā te mana o te tihwhikete nei. Ka puta te rangatahi he kete mātauranga ki tētehi hope, he tiwhikete ki tētehi hope’.
I hua ake a DNA i tētehi kowhao i kitea e ōna rangatahi nō rāua e mahi ana me ngā tamariki i ngā tau onamata. Ara ake te titiro me te tangi o te ngākau ki te hunga rangatahi e āhua noho ana ki te kura me te hunga kua wehe kē i te kura. Engari ko te tāhūhū e whakakotahi nei i a rātau katoa ko te ao matihiko. Nā reira te terenga o te kaupapa hou nei.
He whakatō take o te ora, take o te ao ki te puku o ngā tauira e mārama kehokeho ai te huarahi ki mua i a rātau kia whai take ai rātau ki te ao ā matihiko nei. E ai ki ngā tatauranga o te motu, e mea ana e wha paiheneti anake o tatau he Māori e whai nohanga ki te ao matihiko he ahakoa e mea ana te titiro pae tawhito, ā te tau e rua mano e toru tekau, ka eke te hunga mahi Māori me te hunga nō Poronēhia ki te taumata o te toru tekau paiheneti te rahi.
E titiro nei ngā kanohi ki te puku o Rotorua me ngā wānanga awhina, akoako i te hunga hiahia ki te whai mātauranga matihiko, kāore e tino kitea ana.He ruarua noho iho me tēnei puna mātauranga kai te kawea e māua.
‘Nō mātau te whiwhi kai te puku o te whare tō mātau pouako kamehameha, he mātanga whakaako mātauranga matihiko rangatira me tōna pikituranga whaihoki he rangatira tokorua kauawhiawhi i te hunga rangatahi.
Kāpuia katoatia he ohu mana nui e mahi tahi nei ki te kawe i te rangatahi ki te paepae o te āpōpō’.
E ai hoki ki a Potaua Biansiny-Tule te pou tuarua o tēnei whare:’ Ki te kore mātau e whakaū mātauranga o te ao hou ki tēnei reanga ka noho noa ēnei rangatira ki tahaki, rānei ka noho noa tātau te Māori ki te kei o te waka”.
Ko te mātauranga me ngā puna o tēnei whare he huhua. A matihiko koina te pou tokomanawa, engari ko etehi hoki o ona kawekawe, ko te tātai kōrero, ko te waihanga kōrero, ko te mahi toi, ko te whakaahua matihiko me te waihanga whārangi ipurangi. Ko te whāinga nui hoki ko te hauora o te tauira.
Ka pakekengia a Native Tech ka huri ngā kaupeka ka toro atu te kete mātauranga o tēnei whare ki te pūmana rorohiko, te pūkaha rorohiko, te mōhiohio horihori me te tātari tāuru. He ngāwari noa ngā kaupapa o Native Tech, e puare kau ana ngā ringaringa ki te hunga hia mātauranga, he herekore, he māmā noa te nama ki ngā tauira engari ko ngā hua he rau e whakahono ai te tauira ki te ao hou ki te ao o te hangarau matihiko.
Ko te taha ki te mātauranga he mana nui. Ka oti i ngā tauira ngā wānanga ka whakawhiwhia e rātau ki ngā tiwhikete mai i te taumata tuatahi tae ki te taumata tuawhitu. Engari mō te wā nei ko te aronga o te wānanga e titiro pū noa ki te taumata tuatahi tae ki te taumata tuatoru.E ai ki te pouwhakahaere matua ki a Marcus Powell:’ Nā te mana o tēnei tiwhikete ka mana hoki ngā tauira ka kuhu mai ki tēnei wānanga, ka riro ki a rātau he tiwhikete mana nui horapa kau te whenua, he ahakoa haere ai rātau ki whea, me tenei tiwhekete ka puare noa ngā whatitoka, mahi , ngā whatitoka whai mātauranga ki a rātau’.
Kua puta noa te haurongo o Native Tech ki te ātea nui o te motu. Kua hono noa atu rātau ki te kura o Media Design, nō te tau ko pahemo i whakamihia tēnei kura mō te nui o te tauira i oti i a rātau te taumata tuawha o te kaupapa Digital Creativity Foundation he waru tekau mā waru paiheneti te rahi o ngā tauira i eke ki te tihi o te maunga.
Engari anō he tokorua o ngā tauira i whakawhiwhi turanga mahi ki DNA. Karekau noa iho te aronga o DNA ki te ao o te mātauranga kai te arumoni hoki rātau kua whakaarangia hoki e ratau te whare Native Industries nā konei e kitekite ai ngā tauira ko ngā hua moni ka puta i te otinga i ā rātau mahi kura. Ka hia kē ngā kaupapa mahi kai te tarouma o te kamupene, ka puta ēnei kaupapa ki te motu a ngā marama tata nei.
Ko tetehi atu o ngā ama o te waka o DNA ko Te Papatipu Matihiko he kāhui toa matihiko Māori e kauawhiawhi ana tetehi i tetehi. He wānanga hoki tēnei e titiro noa ana ki ngā ao e rua, Pākehā mai, Māori mai me te aro nui ki te tuku mātauranga anō ki te hunga hiakai e mana ai te ao e nōhia nei e tātau katoa.
Mō te roanga atu o ngā whakamaramatanga tirohia ēnei wāhi:
— Na Raimona Inia i whakamaori
A Rotorua academy that provides hands-on training in digital and creative technology to rangatahi has launched its certified education arm
Rotorua’s Digital Natives Academy (DNA) launched the Native Institute of Digital Technology (Native Tech), which has been certified as a Private Training Establishment by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.
This certification marks a significant milestone for Native Tech which takes a holistic approach to learning using Te Ao Māori worldviews and Mātauranga Māori methodologies and pedagogies as its foundation.
Co-founder of DNA and Director of Native Tech, Nikolasa Biasiny-Tule, says: “We are thrilled to receive this recognition from NZQA, which will enable us to further expand our programme and provide a certified pathway for rangatahi to gain essential skills and related qualifications in the digital and creative technology sectors.”
Native Tech emerged from the gap DNA experienced while delivering programmes to tamariki and rangatahi over the last 9 years, in particular those most at risk of disengaging from formal education, or those who had already disengaged.
Native Tech is a strategic response to the challenges rangatahi face when it comes to digital equity and the lack of clear pathways into digital and creative tech.
The stats are sobering, Māori represent only 4 per cent of the tech sector and demographics show that by 2030, 30 per cent of the workforce will be Māori and Pacific Islander. With the lack of local digital and creative tech pathways, the training and education opportunities in Rotorua are even more dire.
“Native Tech takes a holistic approach to our tauira, is collaborative and project based. We have an amazing, registered teacher, digital tech tutor and junior tech assistant who work alongside two professional and experienced rangatahi navigators. “Together our team will help students co-construct not only their learning journey but will support them to find their purpose and their path”, says Ms Biasiny-Tule.
Potaua Biasiny-Tule, DNA co-founder, InternetNZ executive board member and Te Komiti Whakauru Māori chair adds: “Unless we prepare this generation for the future of work, which has digital components woven into the fabric of every industry, employment opportunities for Māori will continue to lag behind”.
Native Tech focuses on preparing students by offering training in a wide range of digital fields, including storytelling, content creation, illustration, animation, and web development. A key focus is on tauira hauora and wellbeing while providing wraparound pastoral care.
Over the coming years, Native Tech’s programmes will focus on software development, computer engineering, artificial intelligence, data analysis and systems administration. Native Tech programmes are designed to be accessible, free and/or low-cost to students, and aims to bridge the gap in digital and creative technology education.
Importantly, Native Tech will provide digital and creative tech qualifications and has the capacity to provide access to Levels 1-7, though the focus is on levels 1-3.
Marcus Powell, programme & general manager, says: “This certification as a PTE allows us to offer our students recognised qualifications that will help them transition into further education or employment opportunities in the digital and creative technology industries.”
The Native Tech programme has already shown promising results, with a pilot partnership with Media Design School, the most awarded Tertiary Institute in Aotearoa in 2022 seeing 80% of students successfully completing the Level 4 Digital Creativity Foundation programme, with two students offered employment at DNA in 2023.
Not only is DNA and Native Tech focused on training and education they have launched their commercial arm in the form of Native Industries, a Māori led and owned tech, innovation and creative design studio. This onsite studio allows students to see how skill progression and passion lead to real mahi. To date the studio is working on a number of exciting projects which will be launched over the next few months.
In addition, DNA and Native Tech work with partner organisation Te Papatipu Matihiko (TPM), a collective of Māori tech focused organisations. TPM offers programmes in both Te Reo Māori and English and is focused on building the digital infrastructure needed to transform the lives of whānau across the motu.
For further information visit: www.matihiko.org.nz
'We really have something special going on here,' the academy co-founder says.