Iwi Launches New Education Initiative During Maori Language Week

The theme for Maori Language Week this year is Mahi Kai or working food and Tauranga iwi Ngai Te Rangi is launching a major education initiative using this auspicious week as its starting point.

Iwi Spokesman Paora Stanley says his team thought long and hard about the meaning and implication of learning and understanding te reo.

“We see Mahi Kai as being the Food of Chiefs which is learning and education. There is a saying:

Ko te manu kai i te miro The bird which feeds on the miro
nona te ngahere. Owns the forest

Ko te manu kai i te matauranga The bird that feeds on education
nona te ao. Owns the world.

“We see health, education, wellbeing, and self actualisation all being related therefore we decided it would be appropriate to launch our process of inquiry and strategy development in education in Maori Language Week as being symbolic of that interconnectedness."

Stanley says the iwi has been working on developing an education strategy focusing on lifting the success of children of Ngai Te Rangi in the education system and ensuring that our young people feel they own the world.

There are several initiatives under that strategy including exploring what role te reo has in the overall education success of our children.

“If we have desire to lift the reo of Ngai Te Rangi in Tauranga Moana we must encourage all of our young people to learn te reo at school and continue through to university.”

We want to explore what te reo gives young Maori and whether success in te reo can lead to success in other subjects. That will be one of the strands of inquiry over the coming year.

For the past six months the former principal of Hamilton’s Fraser High School, Martin Elliott, has been working with Ngai Te Rangi forming plans around education. He has been developing base line data about that shows how Ngai Te Rangi children are doing in each school. What that data shows is Maori children are not getting basic skills at primary school that allows them to build success at intermediate and high school.

A dedicated team of concerned staff, with the help of Martin Elliott have developed an initiative to get parents focused on the need for Year 8 students to be active in preparing for their first year of high school.

“At this time of year students and parents should be thinking through which subjects they want to do engaging with the high school they will be going to.

“Experience shows Maori children generally are less active in deciding what their future line of subjects should be. The importance of the first year of high school is that it sets the direction for the rest of their time there and so leads to the direction they could take in tertiary education. It requires careful thought.

“What we find is often those decisions don’t tend to get made by Maori children until they turn up for school on the first day of the year. By that time a lot of the more popular subjects have full classes and so they are left with what is available. It does not set them up well.”

This week the iwi will be sending a letter to all Ngai Te Rangi children explaining what they COULD be doing now to ensure they have a better chance of success at high school.

The iwi is also planning an open day at the iwi offices where children and parents in that Year 8 age group will be able to meet with teachers from the high schools so they can learn more about the subjects and what they must do to get into them.

Elements of the larger education strategy will be released throughout the year.