Thurs 10 Nov 2022

Click here to read the story of Te Tauoma maunga, Te Tauoma whenua, Te Tauoma tāngata as told by Matua Harley Wade.

When listening to Matua Harley kōrero about the landmarks, I felt the mamae of his people, who are now just resettling back into their tūrangawaewae, and who have for two centuries suffered the loss and displacement of their people. It was also a feeling of pride and awe to hear the names and narratives of these significant landmarks, for it is a symbol of the resilience and strength of their people to hold this space and speak life into these names and narratives so that they do not become like the moa. I know I will continue to speak life into these names and narratives because it is my responsibility as tangata whenua, but also as a long-time member of this hapori and whenua that has sustained and adopted me.

What is the significant moment of learning?

Like me, a lot of these ākonga are not mana whenua or even Māori, but feel strongly about their connection to this community, to ‘GI’, to East Auckland. Therefore, the following are some reflective questions that came to mind:

• What are the kōrero of the Ngāti Pāoa people about our surrounding landmarks and sites? How can I use these kōrero tuku iho and hītori to empower all my ākonga?
•  How can I weave a Tiriti-based and place-based curriculum into my teaching and learning?
•  How can I make this curriculum responsive to the culturally diverse whānau, ākonga, hapori, and school aspirations and expectations for my ākonga’s learning?
•  Can this curriculum support a sense of belonging for all my ākonga?
•  How can it reflect the identity, language, and cultures of the ākonga who are in front of me?
•  How can I help navigate and mediate the potential tensions that these local narratives can create, such as the different cultural norms, roles, responsibilities, and beliefs?

How did I come to this moment of learning?

Matua Harley pulled out the mere pounamu, or the greenstone weapons, which were used by his ancestors in the battle at Mokoia and Mauinaina and have since been handed down as taonga tuku iho to his immediate family. All three of these taonga were brought to life by the kōrero tuku iho on the actual site where the battle had taken place. It was a hair-raising phenomenon. The taonga, the kōrero, and the whenua upon which they belong had transported me back in time. In my mind’s eye, I saw the prosperity of Ngāti Pāoa, of their trading and exchanging with eastern, western, and southern tribesmen. I dared to imagine the anguish and pain of Ngāti Pāoa when Hongi Hika descended upon them with an unbridled vengeance, watching as their family members were slain and desecrated. I projected into a time when Ngāti Pāoa had fled in fear to their kin in the greater Waikato, leaving behind their homes, their dead, and the lands, mountains, oceans, and waterways with which they had developed profound synergy. It was magical and powerful, but also heartrending and distressing. I felt excitement at learning this new knowledge but also felt guilt for the part my northern ancestors played in their demise. Weirdly, I also felt a stronger sense of belonging. These taonga, the mere pounamu, had done that for me. They had made tangible the pivotal events, of birth, life, and death, which had then opened the window to my own, and that of my colleagues, wonderment, and awe. This is the power of tangata + whenua + taonga that Paul Tapsell has written and continues to speak about. Taonga are mnemonic devices, whose main purpose is to aid in the transfer of knowledge (2022, p.30).

While listening to Matua speak life into these taonga and the surrounding landmarks and the centuries of occupation, trade, exchange, residency, war, settlement, displacement, resettlement, life and death of the Ngāti Pāoa in this area, I thought also about the layers of kōrero that came after, including the Māori urban drift, and the Pacific migrations from the islands to the land of milk and honey. These migrants are the grandparents and great-grandparents of our ākonga. These are the stories of our students and even our migratory ancestors. I was left wondering how I could interweave the kōrero of mana whenua, taonga, and the kōrero of our migrant ancestors (including Māori and non-Māori) to help strengthen and reinforce my student’s connection to place, to their hāpori, but also to their own tūrangawaewae and papa kāinga wherever that may be.

Who is speaking to this learning?

We, as people (especially as Māori and Pasifika), feel strongly about our connection to place. Place and identity are inextricably linked (Rimoni, 2011). For Matua Harley and his Ngāti Pāoa kin, their connection is buried centuries deep with the bones and taonga of their kin, they are sung in the deeds and discoveries of their ancestors, they are etched into the mountains, islands, and rivers, they are spoken in the narratives, names, and histories of these fertile and much-loved lands. It is the oral histories that validate Ngāti Pāoa’s continued rights of authority (mana whenua) and belonging to Te Tauoma. Tapsell (2022) goes further to include a connection to place through whakapapa: “Kāinga represent the fundamental genealogically ordered relationship of belonging – anchoring tangata to whenua – in a universe organised by a system of ambilineal kinship and descent (whakapapa)” (p.1). Whakapapa is the heart and core of mātauranga Māori and is virtually embedded in every aspect of the Māori worldview (Mahuika, 1998, p.219). Whakapapa is a relational ontology, as well as an explanatory and organising framework of names, phenomena, and events that link back to a shared narrative and ancestry to Te Kore, Io, to the gods, to the ancestors, to everything.

What significance does whakapapa have for Māori in a time where whakapapa ties are not being maintained? I am thinking of my ākonga who have little to no access to their whakapapa. What we do know is that whakapapa, like place, is crucial to Māori identity (Mahuika, 2019; Te Huia, 2015; Kukutai et. al., 2020; Webber & O’Connor, 2019). Whakapapa, as mentioned, is what anchors tangata to whenua within what Dr. Kathie Irwin calls a genealogical positioning system or GPS (personal communication, October 5, 2021). This GPS tells us precisely who we are, and where or from whom we came, and through it, we know exactly where we are and where we are headed. According to Te Rito (2007, p.4):

“Whakapapa has had a major part to play in the resilience of Māori and their ability to spring back up. It is to do with that sense of being essentially at one with nature and our environment, rather than at odds with it. As tangata whenua, we are people of the land who have grown out of the land, Papatūānuku, our Earth Mother. Having knowledge of whakapapa helps ground us to the earth. We have a sense of belonging here, a sense of purpose, a raison d’etre which extends beyond the sense of merely existing on this planet.”

Mead too states that “whakapapa is belonging” (2003, p.43). Therefore, now more than ever before, it is important to know where we are genealogically positioned. Knowing the links that connect us to everyone and everything is legitimising and empowering.

The question is then, how can I harness this power of whakapapa and place and its connection to student identity and belonging within our educational spaces? The answer, perhaps, is in place-based education. Place-based education is where students are taken to the place to learn, rather than teaching about the place from the confines of our classrooms. According to Rachel Tūwhāngai, “The community is the classroom, and the classroom is the community. You don’t learn about what is happening there; you go out there” (personal communication, April 19, 2021). For Wally Penetito, to begin the journey to a more localised curriculum based on place, we must start with “where our feet are” (n.d.). This would require, Penetito says, that kaiako form relationships with the knowledge holders (who are mana whenua) in our communities. Fortunately for us, we were afforded the opportunity to listen to the narratives and histories of a surviving remnant and descendant of the Ngāti Pāoa upon his tūrangawaewae.

The journey has begun. It is now up to us, how we interpret and integrate this into our curriculum. There is great potential here to incorporate, from a Ngāti Pāoa perspective, the founding histories and korero of the original inhabitants of this whenua and their ecological, political, economical, ritual, social, and spiritual engagement with their whenua. The solutions are and have always been in our past, in our histories – mā muri ka ora a mua.

Why does this matter as a teacher for social justice?

Penetito talks about three strands of place-based education: curriculum, pedagogy, and challenging our preconceptions and built-in values, norms, and beliefs. Place-based education cannot occur without first opening our hearts and minds to alternative ways of looking at and viewing the world. Throughout our hīkoi with Matua Harley, he would challenge both tangata whenua and tangata tiriti by speaking about the often unspoken truths of revenge, conquest, colonisation, displacement, mispronunciation, oppression, and ignorance. These are the truths of the indigenous and the oppressed the world over. Healing and true freedom from the shackles of oppressive thinking can only begin to enter our consciousness as teachers of social justice when conversations and dialogue occur with and not for the oppressed because for far too long, says Matua Harley, “our history has been written and told not by us. This is our time to tell our story” (Wade, personal communication, November 10, 2022). In his Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire (1970) states that “solidarity requires true [and truthful] communication” (p.77). As kaiako for social justice, we are charged with affecting transformative change in the lives of our rangatahi. According to Ann Milne, “Change is only possible when we have the courage to move outside what is comfortable” (2012, p.3).

How will this look in my practice moving forward?

So where to from here? Designing the teaching, with the guidance of Matua Harley, and the learning, in collaboration with my ākonga and colleagues, I intend to create a local place-based curriculum around hītori and kōrero tuku iho about our surrounding areas. This unit will begin with a hīkoi with Matua Harley to the same places we visited as staff. I will employ the 6 stage inquiry learning process to activate ākonga prior knowledge and facilitate the addition and presentation of their new-found knowledge. From here, we can progress to project-based learning where ākonga finds a problem within the ecology of the whenua to solve, reconnect ākonga to the taiao, and re-create the resource management practices of their ancestors. There is also an opportunity here to do a myriad of integrated units of work with Science (i.e. stars, lunar calendar, middens, carbon dating), History (i.e. battle at Mokoia and Mauinaina), Social Studies (i.e. indigenous world views), Technology (i.e. designing taonga, miniature dioramas of pā sites), English (i.e. speeches and responses on local stories), and even Maths (i.e. measuring narrow parts of awa to widest, the measure of the mountain). Engaging in regular dialogue and wānanga with Matua Harley is a must to ensure that the integrity and mauri of these kōrero are kept in tact.

Ngā Tohutoro

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Seabury Press.

Irwin, K. (October 5, 2021). When knowledge is not power, then what? [Keynote address]. Ako Panuku Hui ā-Tau, New Zealand. https://akopanuku.tki.org.nz/information/hui-a-tau-2021-ondemand/

Kukutai, T., Mahuika, N., Heeni, K., Ewe, D., & Kukutai, K. H. (2020). Survivance as Narrative Identity: voices from a Ngāti Tiipa oral history project. MAI Journal, 9(3), pp.309-320.

Mahuika, A. T. (1998). Whakapapa is the Heart. In Kokiri Ngatahi/Living Relationships: The Treaty of Waitangi in the New Millennium. Edited by K. S. Coates and P. G. McHugh. Wellington: Victoria University Press, pp. 215–21.

Mahuika, N. (2019). A Brief History of Whakapapa: Māori Approaches to Genealogy. Genealogy, 3(32), pp.1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy3020032

Mead, H. M. (2003). Tikanga Māori: Living by Māori Values. Wellington, N.Z.: Huia Publishers.

Milne, A., Kingi, K., Martin, D., Ungounga, U., Milne, K. (2012). Colouring in the White Spaces: Row, row, row, your boat. Auckland University School of Education.

Penetito, W. (n.d.). Place-based education and Māori history [Video]. Te Kete Ipurangi. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://maorihistory.tki.org.nz/en/videos/place-based-education-and-maori-history/

Rimoni, F. (2011). Identity and its Relationship to Place. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1971462 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1971462

Tapsell, P. (2022). Kāinga: People, Land, Belonging. Bridget Williams Books.

Te Huia, A. (2015). Perspectives towards Māori identity by Māori heritage language learners. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 44(3), pp.18-28.

Te Rito, J. S. (2007). Whakapapa: a framework for understanding identity. MAI Journal, 2, pp.1-10.

Tūwhāngai, R. (April 19, 2021). Progressive Education for Kaiako Māori: MAPPS [Personal Communication]. Professional Learning Development, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Tāmaki Makaurau, New Zealand.

H., Wade. (November 10, 2022). Ngāti Pāoa: Cultural Landscapes Whikoi [Personal Communication]. Teacher Only Day, Te Tauoma, Tāmaki Makaurau, New Zealand.

Webber, & O’Connor. (2019). A Fire in the Belly of Hineāmaru: Using Whakapapa as a Pedagogical Tool in Education. Genealogy, 3(3), 41. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy3030041

Standard / Competency	Leaders
Standard 1: Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership Demonstrate commitment to tangata whenuatanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership in Aotearoa New Zealand.	– Understand and recognise the unique status of tangata whenua in Aotearoa New Zealand.   – Understand and acknowledge the histories, heritages, languages and cultures of partners to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. – Practise and develop the use of te reo and tikanga Māori.
Standard 2: Professional Learning Use inquiry, collaborative problem solving and professional learning to improve professional capability to impact on the learning and achievement of all learners.	– Critically examine how my own assumptions and beliefs, including cultural beliefs, impact on practice and the achievement of learners with different abilities and needs, backgrounds, genders, identities, languages and cultures. – Seek and respond to feedback from learners, colleagues and other education professionals, and engage in collaborative problem solving and learning focused collegial discussions.
Standard 3: Professional relationships Establish and maintain professional relationships and behaviours focused on the learning and wellbeing of each learner.	– Engage in reciprocal, collaborative learning-focused relationships with: teaching colleagues, support staff and other professionals; agencies, groups and individuals in the community. – Actively contribute, and work collegially, in the pursuit of improving my own and organisational practice, showing leadership, particularly in areas of responsibility.
Standard 4: Learning-focused culture Develop a culture that is focused on learning, and is characterised by respect, inclusion, empathy, collaboration and safety.	– Create an environment where learners can be confident in their identities, languages, cultures and abilities. – Develop an environment where the diversity and uniqueness of all learners are accepted and valued.
Standard 5: Design for learning Design learning based on curriculum and pedagogical knowledge, assessment information and an understanding of each learner’s strengths, interests, needs, identities, languages and cultures.	– Design and plan culturally responsive, evidence-based approaches that reflect the local community and Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership in New Zealand.
Standard 6: Teaching Teach and respond to learners in a knowledgeable and adaptive way to progress their learning at an appropriate depth and pace.	– Specifically support the educational aspirations for Māori learners, taking shared responsibility for these learners to achieve educational success as Māori.
Tātaiako: Whanaungatanga Actively engages in respectful working relationships with Māori learners, parents and whānau, hapū, iwi and the Māori community.	– Is visible, welcoming and accessible to Māori parents, whānau, hapū, iwi and the Māori community. – Actively builds and maintains respectful working relationships with Māori learners, their parents, whānau, hapū, iwi and communities that enable Māori to participate in important decisions about their children’s learning. – Demonstrates an appreciation of how whānau and iwi operate. – Ensures that the school/ ECE service, teachers and whānau work together to maximise Māori learner success.
Tātaiako: Manaakitanga Demonstrates integrity, sincerity and respect towards Māori beliefs, language and culture.	– Actively acknowledges and follows appropriate protocols when engaging with Māori parents, whānau, hapū, iwi and communities. – Communications with Māori learners are demonstrably underpinned by cross-cultural values of integrity and sincerity. – Understands local tikanga and Māori culture sufficiently to be able to respond appropriately to Māori learners, their parents, whānau, hap and Māori community about what happens at the school/ECE service. – Leads and supports staff to provide a respectful and caring environment to enable Māori achievement. – Actively acknowledges and acts upon the implications of the Treaty of Waitangi for themselves as a leader and their school/ECE service.
Tātaiako: Tangata Whenuatanga: Arms Māori learners as Māori – provides contexts for learning where the identity, language and culture (cultural locatedness) of Māori learners and their whānau is armed.	– Consciously provides resources and sets expectations that staff will engage with and learn about the local tikanga, environment and community, and their inter-related history. – Understands and can explain the effect of the local history on local iwi, whānau, hapū, the Māori community, Māori learners, the environment and the school/ECE service. – Actively acknowledges Māori parents, hapū, iwi and the Māori community as key stakeholders in the school/ECE service. – Ensures that teachers know how to acknowledge and utilise the cultural capital that Māori learners bring to the classroom in order to maximise learner success.
Tātaiako: Wānanga Participates with learners and communities in robust dialogue for the benefit of Māori learners’ achievement.	– Actively encourages, supports and, where appropriate, challenges Māori parents, whānau, hapū, iwi and the community to determine how they wish to engage about important matters at the school/ECE service. – Actively and routinely supports and leads stato engage e‡ectively and appropriately with Māori parents, whānau, hapū, iwi and the Māori community. – Actively seeks out, values and responds to the views of Māori parents, whānau, hapū and the Māori community. – Engages the expertise of parents, whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori communities in the school/ECE service for the benefit of.
Tataiako: Ako Takes responsibility for their own learning and that of Māori learners	– Consciously plans and uses pedagogy that engages Māori learners and caters for their needs. – Plans and implements programmes of learning that accelerate the progress of each Māori learner identified as achieving below or well below expected achievement levels. – Actively engages Māori learners and whānau in the learning (partnership) through regular, purposeful feedback and constructive feed-forward. – Validates the prior knowledge that Māori learners bring to their learning. – Maintains high expectations of Māori learners succeeding as Māori. – Takes responsibility for their own development about Māori learner achievement. – Ensures congruency between learning at home and at school.
Tapasā Turu 1: Identities, languages and cultures Demonstrate awareness of the diverse and ethnic-specific identities, languages and cultures of Pacific learners.	1.1 Understands his or her own identity and culture, and how this influences the way they think and behave. 1.2 Understands the importance of retention and transmission of Pacific identities, languages and cultural values. 1.3 Is aware of the diverse ethnic-specific differences between Pacific groups and commits to being responsive to this diversity.   1.4 Understands that Pacific world-views and ways of thinking are underpinned by their identities, languages and culture.
Tapasā Turu 2: Collaborative and respectful relationships and professional behaviour Establishes and maintains collaborative and respectful relationships and professional behaviours that enhance learning and wellbeing for Pacific learners.	2.2 Understands that there are different ways to engage and collaborate successfully with Pacific learners, parents, families and communities. 2.3 Is aware of the importance of respect, collaboration and reciprocity in building strong relationships with Pacific learners, their parents, families and communities.
Tapasā Turu 3: Effective Pacific pedagogies Implements pedagogical approaches that are effective for Pacific learners.	3.1 Recognises that all learners including Pacific are motivated to engage, learn and achieve. 3.2 Knows the importance of Pacific cultural values and approaches in teaching and learning.