MĀori Caucus

He Whakatauki

"Ko te manu e kai ana i te miro, nōna te ngahere.
Ko te manu e kai ana i te mātauranga, nōna te ao."

The bird that partakes of the miro berry reigns in the forest.
The bird that partakes of the power of knowledge has access to the world.

The critical issue for the Māori Caucus

The critical issue for the Māori Caucus is to develop the Association’s Māori membership. This responsibility is made lighter by the appointment of:

• Cheryl Stephens to the position of President Elect
  
• Dr Katarina Edmonds, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi to the Māori Caucus

And by the re-appointment of:

• Professor Linda Smith, the University of Waikato to the position of President
  of the NZARE Council
• Dr Colleen McMurchy Pilkington, the University of Auckland to the position
  of the Council member;
• Dr Mere Kēpa, the University of Auckland to the Māori Caucus
• Dr Linitā Manu’atu, Auckland University of Technology to the Pasifika
  Caucus.
  

The Māori Caucus of NZARE supports the interests of members. Through Māori
Caucus you can make contact with other caucus members

NEWS

Wellington-based Charitable Trust, the Pacific Cooperation Foundation (PCF), has developed a new Leadership Pacific website in partnership with the Leadership Pacific programme based at Victoria University in Wellington. The website will provide a medium for discussion on leadership issues across the Pacific region, and will connect leadership clusters to achieve the strategic vision of growing a new generation of Pacific leaders.

» Go to http://www.LeadershipPacific.org

Open letter about national standards

Following on from a Aka Tokerau (Northland Maori Principals’ Association) meeting – this letter is to express our extreme concern regarding the introduction of National Standards for schools.

» Download letter (PDF, 119KB)

CURRENT MĀORI Research Projects

Dr. Nancy Higgins, Dr. Hazel Phillips, Dr. Graham Wilson & Karen Stobbs

Growing kāpo up Māori: Accessing paediatric ophthalmology services

This nationwide research project is about how kāpo (blind or vision impaired) Mãori children and young adults, with their whānau, are accessing ophthalmology services and about kāpo Māori children and young adults, themselves. We will do this by talking to whānau and by establishing a paediatric vision database. We want to know how many kāpo Māori children and young adults are in New Zealand, about their eye problems and health, and, find out if anything is a barrier for them or their whānau when seeking an eye specialist or a diagnosis. Māori and Pākehā researchers will be working together with a research advisory committee from Ngāti Kāpo O Aotearoa in this project.

» Download full summary (PDF, 218KB)

~ ~ ~

Dr Colleen McMurchy, Faculty of Education, the University of Auckland

Current research (that I have published in) involves:

• Politics of curriculum policy development (Pangarau curriculum)
• Māori high achievers in maths at secondary school (longitudinal)
• Optimum learning environments for Māori learners in Bridging/Foundation studies (MoE contract)
• Professional development for Māori teachers in Māori Medium contexts (published monograph)

The first study is involves me and the other three (3) projects are with a team of researchers.

~ ~ ~

Dr Joanna Kidman, Fullbright Scholar, He Pārekeke, Victoria University of Wellington

My research interests are:

• Sociology of Māori Education, Higher Education,
• Sociology of Knowledge,
• Indigenous Perspectives of Science education,
• Indigenous Populations and Development Education, and
• Comparative Education.

~ ~ ~

Dr Steven. S. Sexton, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa (TWoA), Auckland

I am researching in a new area around Males in Primary Education. In some previous work (focusing on predominately western student teachers in a western setting), I saw that most student teachers do not really see the gender of their teachers as important. It is the characteristic of those teachers that stood out. Since joining TWoA and talking to males on the programme, it does seem that for them (Māori males) that Gender does matter and matters a great deal. I began my exploratory research this year with the Year 1 male student teachers (all young men under 21) into prior teachers of significance and why they were significant. They provided some interesting tidbits that I hope to cultivate and develop next year as we continue to build the working relationship here that will allow me some more access to their thinking and why male teachers from their past were so significant to their view of themselves as students then and teachers to become.  This will be added to as I develop a relationship with the males joining our programme next year in Year 1.

Professor Wally Penetito, He Pārekereke, Victoria University of Wellington

~ ~ ~

My current research is around:

• Developing a sociology of Māori Education,
• Getting Education into the community (environments, histories of relations, eco-justice themes),
• Relations between culturally grounded curriculum and culturally responsive pedagogies; and
• Developing a philosophy of Education for Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Heeni Jenkins, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Auckland

~ ~ ~

Ko te reo Te kakahu whakataratara o Tuhoe
"Te rakau tu- taratahi o te poroporoaki"
Na Agnes McFarland

Ko te rakau tu-taratahi e whakapuaki ana i nga korero mo nga ahuatanga katoa o te poroporoaki ki ta Tuhoe titiro. Ara, ko nga tohutohu ko nga whakatupatohanga me nga tikanga, hai kawe i te poroporoaki i nga wa o te mate kia tareka ai e nga whakatipuranga te whai haere i nga taonga tuku iho a nga matua tipuna mai i te ao kohatu ki te ao rino i runga i te marae-atea tae noa ki roto i te tipuna whare me te maha noa atu o te whakaaro rangatira i te po whakamutunga tae noa atu ki te nehunga. Poroporoaki is about oral poetry - its nature, its social context and significance from a tribal perspective (Tuhoe). This paper is primarily intended as a contribution to the ceremonial use of poroporoaki on the marae. The central importance of the oral performance of poroporoaki is keeping alive a poetic art form of language which emphasises the natural connection that exists between the human voice and the speech patterns employed. The transmission of this type of knowledge base is very important in Maori society.

~ ~ ~

I am a member of the Research team working on the Living life in Advanced Age Cohort (LiLAC) Longitudinal study funded by the Health Research Council and Ngā Pae o te Märamatanga, New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) hosted by the University of Auckland.

» Download full description (PDF, 102KB)

Dr Mere Këpa, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, the University of Auckland

~ ~ ~

Primary research interests:

• Māori material culture
• Dress, clothing and textiles
• Recovery of indigenous Māori science and technologies
• Relating these subject areas to their broader Pacific origins

Work currently submitted for publication in 2010 includes:

• ‘Introduction to Maori Dress' in Berg (10 volume) Encyclopaedia of World Dress. Volume 7: Australia , New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Part 7: First Nation People (Maori) of New Zealand.
• Draft title ‘New ways of seeing' - a chapter for a new book on the cloak collection of Te Papa Tongarewa.

» Download full description (PDF, 70KB)

Dr Patricia Wallace, University of Canterbury

Research activity

Jenkins, H. (2009). He aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata? What is the most important thing in the world, it is people, it is people. Is Wananga approach simply a revival of traditional pedagogical techniques? National Maori Student Conference, 8-11 October 2009, Puketeraki Marae, Karitane, Dunedin.

Jenkins, H. (2009). Revitalising, Retelling, Reconscientizating and Relearning is this the Wananga Way? NZARE Conference, Rotorua, 31 Nov – 4 Dec 2009.

NEW PUBLICATIONS

Ajit K. Mohanty, Minati Panda, Robert Phillipson, & Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (Eds.) (2009). Multilingual Education for Social Justice: Globalising the Local. Website: http://uri.fi/EO/

Tove Skutnabb-Kangas,Robert Phillipson, Ajit K. Mohanty & Minati Panda (Eds.) (2009). Social Justice through Multilingual Education. Website: http://tiny.cc/6eRkp.

Skutnabb-Kangas, T. and Dunbar, R. (In press). Indigenous Children’s Education as Linguistic Genocide and a Crime Against Humanity? A Global View. (Guovdageaidnu/ Kautokeino: Gáldu, Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, www.galdu.org). See http://www.tove-skutnabb-kangas.org/en/most_recent_books.html

Forthcoming New Zealand Conferences

» New Zealand conferences 2010 (To be completed)

Overseas conferences

The Charles Darwin University and the Catholic University of Australia will host 'The 6th International Conference on Indigenous Education: Pacific Rim' Dec. 18-20, 2010 in Cairns, Australia. The First Nations University of Canada: Centre for Academic Exchange will co-host this event. The Call for Abstracts is forthcoming in January, 2010.

» Other overseas conferences 2010 (To be completed)

AWARDS

NZARE Group Award

The NZARE Group Award alternates between quantitative, Måori and Pasifika group research. The award comprises a written citation and a cash prize of $1000. More about the NZARE Group Award...

Te Tohu Pae Tawhiti Award

Te Tohu Pae Tawhiti Award for research in Māori Education recognises researchers who have made a significant contribution to Māori education by conducting high quality research over an extended period of time. The Award comprises a written citation, a taonga and cash prize of $1500. More about the Te Tohu Pae Tawhiti Award...

Past events and information

» Māori Caucus Archive pages: 2008 | 2009

MĀori CAUCUS Contacts

Your representatives on the NZARE council are:

	Katarina Edmonds, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi Email: katarina.edmonds@xtra.co.nz View Katarina's bio (PDF, 74KB)
	Mere Kepa, University of Auckland. Email: m.kepa@auckland.ac.nz. View Mere's bio (PDF, 32KB)