Strengthening kaupapa Māori in early childhood education

Both Te Whāriki and the DOPs uphold the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand and the principle of partnership inherent in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Over the past few years, the Ministry has worked with early childhood professional development providers to help teachers strengthen kaupapa Māori in early childhood programmes. This effort has been expressed through the distribution of a number of books, games, audio kits, and videos and through kaupapa Māori professional development programmes. We hope that the following stories from participants in different kaupapa Māori programmes will encourage other centres and services to take up the available opportunities for training in this area.

Feedback on the kaupapa Māori programmes

Dunedin College of Education: Te Kura Akau Taitoka

Ka Awatea – The Beginning aims to improve and enhance curriculum and programmes that reflect a bicultural partnership. Te Ao Marama – The Enlightenment aims to build on participants' prior knowledge and their learning experiences in kaupapa Māori, with a particular focus on the DOPs and bicultural programmes and practices. As part of both programmes, parents, teachers, and management groups explore and discuss how bicultural practices can become a reality in programmes for children and visible in management systems.

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In April of 2001, we got a notice of an out-of-town workshop. It could easily have been put in the "too hard to get to" basket, but this notice jumped out and said, "Take this workshop, make the effort." "But do I need it?" I asked. "Don't I already teach my children Māori songs, poi, and stick games and do my best to follow Te Whāriki?" After rearranging work schedules, organising babysitters, and arranging transport, Ave, Chris, and I went off to Alexandra. Our facilitators soon had us under their spell. The story of our beautiful Aotearoa came alive Ð this wasn't what I remembered from my history books in the 1950s. The Treaty became much more than a national holiday in February. The hours flew by. At the next session, we were asked if we would like to finish our course with a marae stay. This offer meant a lot of extra work for our facilitators, who even visited our playcentre and wrote a mihi for us. Soon, the big day came. As we were greeted and welcomed onto the Murihiku Marae in the traditional way, we felt we had truly stepped into another world: a world of strength and perseverance, a world of beautiful laughter, song, and art. We left with minds full of new ideas, hearts full of gratitude, a deeper understanding, and puku full of kai. May we continue to grow together. Marilyn Smillie on behalf of the staff of Frankton Playcentre, Queenstown

Early Childhood Development's kaupapa Māori module

This programme helps teachers to develop and expand their knowledge of Māori values and understanding so that they are able to provide more bicultural programmes and practices for all children.

Our ECD facilitator challenged us to find a local legend based on a local place name, to learn about it, and to plan how we might present this to the children. Our teaching team focused on Te Mata peak. We researched and learned about the Ngāti Kahungungu and the story of the chief Te Mata. We told the story to the children, and they joined in. The legend became a project. The children made a model of the mountain and acted out the story. It was really enriching and fun. We also put the children's nametags inside a Māori motif. This was really appreciated by the parents. It was great. Without professional development, we would never have got around to doing these things. Heather Simmons, Head Teacher at Wycliffe Ngā Tamariki Kindergarten, Napier

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Auckland College of Education: Te Kura Akoranga o Tamaki Makarau

Te Huarahi Māori offers mainstream centres support and a variety of delivery options in their implementation of a meaningful taha Māori programme.

We were very fortunate to be able to access the wealth of knowledge and experience that was given with aroha by the facilitators from Auckland College of Education. We worked through a programme of set modules and were able to ask for additional support whenever we needed it. Our centre is multicultural, including children from New Zealand Māori, Russian, Irish, Indian, Scottish, and many other backgrounds. From our very first module, the facilitators made everyone feel at ease. Because we are located in a low socio-economic area, we particularly valued being shown how to utilise resources we had already or could obtain easily to make teaching resources and play equipment. The centre and the adults benefited but most of all our tamariki. The children learned to value themselves and gained a great sense of belonging. Learning to share and accept all our cultures has created a wonderful sense of whanaungatanga (togetherness) and mana in our centre as a whole. Near the conclusion of our modules, our Playcentre Association asked us to create a pōwhiri to help relieve the tension felt in some centres over learning about Māoritanga. We accepted and welcomed the challenge. Prior to the pōwhiri, the facilitators both made extra visits to help us with drawing up plans and gave us additional information and encouragement; they even supported us on the night. Without their help, we would not have felt adequate to take on this task. Now we have the confidence. Bringing Māori culture into our centre has impacted positively on our parents and children from many cultures and made it less scary for everyone involved. We have been given the confidence to learn about, utilise, and implement Māoritanga, no matter what our individual heritages may be. There are so many ways of celebrating Māoritanga, including holding whānau days, grandparent days, and culture days or cooking and serving some special foods. The key is to keep trying and to remember that efforts deserve praise Ð we are all learners. Indida McGregor and Christine McFarlane, for the whānau of Whangahauauru te Whare Kohungahunga (West Harbour Playcentre), Tamaki Makarau

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