Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc chairman Bayden Barber was first to address the principals in attendance and reflected on his own children’s journey through the education system.
He said that “education needs to be a key pou [pillar] for our tamariki in Ngāti Kahungunu, and schools need to further consider what they are doing to better their relationship with ākonga and whānau. Parent-teacher interviews aren’t good enough. It needs to be more than that”.
Throughout the day a number of inspirational educational leaders spoke about their journey and what their schools were doing to better reflect Te Tiriti o Waitangi, biculturalism, local curriculum and ultimately lifting the cultural capability of its staff.
Ngahina Transom (deputy principal) and Tania Henare (assistant principal) of Frimley School presented their kaupapa titled “Kahungunutanga in Action”, which speaks to the school’s curriculum and how they have embedded Kahungunutanga as part of their delivery within the classroom.
Tamatea High School principal Robin Fabish spoke of how his school has partnered with hapū of Te Whanganui a Ōrotu to better engage mana whenua and the local marae.
Camberley principal Amohia Rolls had the hard task of addressing racism, bias and discrimination that is occurring within the schooling system and the effects it has upon the communities, whānau, ākonga and kaiako.
Amohia has created safe spaces within her school that are available to whānau and ākonga and they have become a natural space of healing for the Camberley community.
Concluding the day was Mātauranga Māori advisor Putiputi Te Wake Munro with an overview into the tertiary sector and the reforms that are currently happening with EIT - Te Pūkenga, and vocational education.
Whiria te pūkenga was presented by Putiputi, which is a framework that outlines staff cultural capability development and is being adopted by the sector to elevate the status of mātauranga Māori within programmes and courses that are delivered.
The day was structured to allow a wide range of voices to be heard with an accumulation of education leaders across the education sector sharing the good work, the barriers and struggles that are happening at present within our schools and institutes.
Robin Fabish said: “Kei roto i te ngākau o te nuinga o ngā tumuaki, he hiahia nō rātau kia akiaki i ngā tamariki Māori i roto i ō rātau kura. He hiahia nō rātau te whakatikatika, engari kāore rātau e mōhio he aha te huarahi pai kia whakatinana i taua whāinga.”
Fabish also said that one of the important things about Kahungunu is that there are plenty of resources and plenty of opportunities for get the support needed, it was just a matter of working together with colleagues, other principals, other schools to make the connections with iwi, whānau, hapū and our marae - so that we don’t have to do this alone, we can work on this together, and at the end of the day our whole society will benefit from our mokopuna finishing school in parity with non-Māori.
“My dream is that when my own mokopuna finish school, whatever mode they go through, they will be strong in Te Ao Māori; they know who they are. They can fully participate in the Māori world with the reo, tikanga, mātauranga. But also, in Te Ao Whānui [the wider world], that they’re confident, they are healthy, and they can prosper so they have all the advantages that are their birth right,” Fabish said.
“We are wanting to demonstrate that this is an approach by Kahungunu, for Kahungunu,” Lee Kershaw, Kaiwhakahaere Matua Kauwaka, said.
The day was a first for Kauwaka, which facilitated the wānanga, working alongside Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc, and the Ministry of Education. If you would like more information, please contact info@kauwaka.co.nz
Lee Kershaw–Karaitiana is Kaiwhakahaere Matua/General Manager, Kauwaka.
