The View from My Window: Pūhoro academy founder Naomi Manu (Rangitāne, Ngāti Kahungunu) on putting an extra “m” in STEMM.
The word I’d use to describe my grandmother Selina is “awhi”, a cuddle. Warm and safe. That’s what she was for me growing up. That’s what she remains for me now. And that’s reflected in the way I’ve designed Pūhoro, as that steady hand of manaaki all the way through. For some of our students we may be the only people telling them how incredible they are, how incredible their potential is and that we believe in their dreams.
I was the first person on both sides of my family to go to university. At school, I was very much into the arts. I just didn’t see science or maths in my future. But by 2030, most jobs are going to require some level of STEM competency. Less than two per cent of the current scientific workforce identify as Māori, and we know our young people tend to transition into careers that follow their parents or their parents’ social network, so there’s a whole lot of work to do.
Recent research has shown the devastating impact of streaming in schools. And the students who are streamed out of maths and science are disproportionately Māori and Pacific, more than any other population group. By Year 11, when we start working alongside our rangitahi, many have already developed a deep sense of not being good enough.
They drop science and maths when it’s no longer compulsory, or they aren’t eligible to continue because they’ve been streamed into low-level programmes and don’t have the right achievement standards. Then if they do decide they want to get into something like engineering or medicine, they have to do a foundation-level course and end up paying an extra year of fees.
