Letter to the Editor, Thursday July 14, 2016

Conform or else

Ahakoa ko tenei Te Wiki Reo Maori, ka wepu tonu te Tahuhu Matauranga i nga kura kaupapa o Tai Tokerau e pa ana ki te Putea COL.

I tuku tono matou i tera tau kia noho kotahi ai nga kura kaupapa Maori e 9 hei Hapori Ako. He aha ai, i te mea, he mahi mokemoke te whakarauora te reo i waenga i nga kura aunoa. He pai kia huihui matou nga kaiako, nga tumuaki hei whai haere i nga mahere rautaki whakapakari i a matou me a tatou tamariki mokopuna. Ma enei hui kia pakari nga reo katoa o Ngati Whatua, o Ngapuhi o Muriwhenua hoki.

He maha miriona taara hei tautoko i nga kaupapa ako i roto i nga kura. Ko te whakautu a waha o Te Tahuhu, me hono matou ki nga Hapori Aunoa. Ki te kore, ka ngaro putea ki a matou mo te mahi whakangungu.

Despite an open invitation from the Ministry of Education last year for all school communities to submit applications for funding for Communities of Learning (COLs), the application by Nga Kura Kaupapa of Tai Tokerau has been ignored. The nine kura kaupapa Maori from Oruawharo to Kaitaia are being bullied into joining local COLs.

We are told, unless you join a local COL you will miss out on professional development opportunities and funding in 2017. No pressure.

Kura Kaupapa Maori o Tai Tokerau have high academic achievement success results in NCEA. One of the verbal responses we have received is that we are "geographically challenged" This is not substantive in these days with modern day technology.

We are not trying to distance ourselves from our other teaching colleagues - we will continue to work and share innovative ideas with each other. However, we are being asked to tag on to a model which doesn't quite fit us.

Only 1000 tamariki, or three per cent of the Tai Tokerau school population, attend kura kaupapa, however, we have 90 per cent responsibility for revitalising te reo and our local mita in our communities. The whnau who have chosen Te Aho Matua model of learning have taken an active stance to provide reo Maori education for their children, an opportunity perhaps they did not have in their youth.

KKM principals and kaiako have the unique task of teaching most of our curriculum in te reo Maori. Teacher workload in kura kaupapa is very high, as we also have to craft 90 per cent of our lessons and authentic assessments. We are passionate about designing lessons relevant to the local iwi, hapu, and to prepare our tamariki for potential future pathways.

We have no problem in looking at ways to uplift our numeracy and literacy. Where we differ is we want to accentuate korero and the rich whanau learning that every child brings with them to kura.

All nine Tumuaki o Tai Tokerau have individually expressed these whakaaro to MOE officials, without any prompting, but no one in the MOE Tai Tokerau is listening.

Although every kura was invited to set up COLs, we set the same targets as other successful applications, we are being bullied to fit in or go without next year. No equity, not fair.

HILDA HALKYARD-HARAWIRA
Tumuaki
Te Rangi Aniwaniwa