Rotorua conference unveils te reo Māori subject association

Long-time member and supporter of PPTA/Te Wehengarua, Tihi Puanaki, with president and teacher Chris Abercrombie. Photo / Annabel Reid

A new te reo Māori subject association has been launched as another means to strengthen the community of Māori educators, who say they can feel isolated.

The announcement was part of the 30th annual Post Primary Teachers’ Association/Te Wehengarua (PPTA) Māori Teachers’ Conference held on July 6 and 7 in Rotorua.

Nearly 200 secondary school teachers attended the conference, which aims to provide a dedicated space for Māori educators to come together.

PPTA vice-president and fulltime teacher Te Aomihia Taua-Glassie said until now, every other curriculum had a subject association except te reo Māori.

A subject association is a membership-based group that supports and advocates for educators in a specific subject area.

The te reo Māori subject association built on the conference’s purpose to connect Māori educators so they had a space to share challenges and collectively help keep te reo alive.

Taua-Glassie said Māori educators were “hunting hui [gatherings] just to be near each other”.

The conference stopped them from “sitting there lonely”.

“Sometimes we are the only Māori teacher [in the school]”, Taua-Glassie said.

PPTA president Chris Abercrombie said New Zealand needed more Māori teachers to teach in te reo across all subjects.

He said although he was Pākehā, he knew that schools could be isolating for Māori.

Abercrombie acknowledged progress had been made since he was a student, such as the integration of kapa haka and NCEA achievement standards in te reo, but said schools were not always a successful or welcoming place for Māori.

The history and social studies teacher at James Hargest College in Invercargill said that must change.

“We as a nation can’t afford not to.”

Like Abercrombie, many non-Māori teachers attended the conference to learn te reo Māori for the benefit of rangatahi (young people) and Māori colleagues.

190 teachers attended the Māori Teachers' Conference in Rotorua. Photo / Annabel Reid

“What’s good for Māori, is good for everyone,” Abercrombie said.

Retired teacher Tihi Puanaki said the goal for many non-Māori keen to learn about Māori language and culture wasn’t to become Māori but to instead feel comfortable in those spaces.

She said people too often found themselves unsure of how to act or what to do but through attending hui, like the conference, and being open to learning, they were able to be comfortable regardless of whether they could speak fluent te reo Māori.

Puanaki recalled how meaningful it was when one of her colleagues recognised the extra demands placed on her as a Māori teacher, such as when she attended weekend hui.

“She would say to me, ‘You’ve been busy all weekend, take some time out this morning, we’ll cover [your] relief’.

“That’s the support of your colleagues when they understand and it’s actually fantastic when you have that,” Puanaki said.

In terms of learners, Abercrombie said the Māori-medium education – where instructions are primarily in te reo Māori - produced excellent results.

Abercrombie said the Māori-medium education is what suits Māori learners.

“ ... They produce amazing young people [and] they go on to do amazing things.”

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi spoke at the Māori Teachers' Conference in Rotorua. Photo / Annabel Reid

His point had been earlier touched on by Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi’s Youth MP and Ōpōtiki College head boy, Kupa Poihipi, during a general debate at Youth Parliament this month.

He had a vision for a “localised curriculum”.

“As Year 13 student it’s difficult for me to connect with the education on offer, especially for Māori learners such as myself, and I know I’m not the only one,” Poihipi said.

The Te Pāti Māori co-leader was among the guest speakers at this year’s conference.

Waititi shared that he came from a long line of teachers and that his father had dedicated 60 years to education.

Waititi said his father had told him: “I have lived 84 white years on this earth.”

Co-leader of Te Pāti Māori Rawiri Waititi spoke at the Māori Teachers' Conference in Rotorua. Photo / Annabel Reid

He said those words reflected the deep impact of colonisation and the importance of living and leading “by design, not by default”.

Spaces needed to be created where Māori thrived as Māori rather than conforming to systems not designed for them.

Waititi believed Māori in the current education system were living “by default”.

The MP renewed the call for an independent Māori education authority.

Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.