Far North to host first te reo Māori Inspiring the Future course

Far North Kahika Mayor Moko Tepania is leading Inspiring the Future - an event for students held only in te reo Māori for the first time - in Kaikohe next month.

In a national first, a schools-based programme that uses local role models telling their career stories to inspire young people will be held entirely in te reo Māori, in Kaikohe.

The Inspiring the Future (ITF) te reo Māori event will be held at Mahinga Innovation Centre, Kaikohe on November 8, with Far North Kahika Mayor Moko Tepania leading the sessions. It’s being run by the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) with support from Far North District Council.

Inspiring the Future is a schools-based programme that uses local role models, who reveal their career stories, to widen the career horizons of the young people taking part. This will be the first event to be done solely in te reo Māori.

In recent years 308 ITF events have been run with over 22,000 interactions between young people and the world of work. Sessions usually are in a classroom or hall, and involve lively interaction between ākonga and role models.

Two similar sessions will be held at the Kaikohe event, one in the morning and another in the afternoon.

Up to 100 ākonga from local kura are expected to be involved, including Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hokianga, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Taumarere, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe.

Inspiring the Future is a programme that challenges stereotypes that can limit young people’s potential and through the programme they are introduced to role models from the world of work in a way that makes them think about the thousands of study and career opportunities available to them.

At the beginning of a session, the jobs of the volunteer role models are unknown. The students try and find out what they do through a quick-fire Q&A session. At the end of that, the role models go off stage, and the students try to guess what each does.

The role models then reveal what they do, and the students have the opportunity to talk to them more about how they got there and what they love about their work.

Inspiring the Future is based on local and international research. In 2019, children and young people from across New Zealand took part in an important national survey called Drawing the Future.

Students in primary and intermediate schools were asked to draw pictures of what they want to be when they grow up. Schools and students responded with enthusiasm, with over 7700 drawings submitted in a few weeks.

The results show more than half of these students aspire to one of just nine most popular jobs. Inspiring the Future aims to change that.

The Kaikohe event will also have education providers giving out study information.

For more details on Inspiring the Future go to inspiringthefuture.org.nz.