Te Mana Kōrero Professional Development Programme

Māori enjoying education success as Māori.

Te Mana Kōrero professional development programme has been developed by the Ministry of Education to help teachers focus on quality teaching practices that can better realise Māori potential by engaging Māori students in learning.

Te Mana Kōrero draws on the evidence that show what is working for Māori students from programmes such as Te Kotahitanga and Te Kauhua.

Back to top

Te Mana Kōrero – Relationships for Learning – 3

This is the latest in a series of three DVD professional development packages. It focuses particularly on the need to build and sustain strong, effective and mutually respectful school and family/whānau/ community links if Māori student achievement levels are to be raised.

This important resource shows principals, teachers, students, parents and other whānau talking about the importance of forging strong relationships and exploring the ways that have worked well for them.

Back to top

Te Mana Kōrero – Strengthening Professional Practice – 2

The second in this series expands on the key messages used in the first video and strengthens the message that professional development can make a significant contribution to enhancing teacher capability to make a difference for Māori students.

This DVD emphasises the importance of teachers and other school staff:

• Engaging students meaningfully in the learning process and sharing the responsibility for setting learning goals.
• Forming positive and mutually respectful relationships with students.
• Undertaking focused and sustained professional development within a collaborative and reflective learning community.
• Making teaching and learning decisions based on data from a wide range of sources.
• Using student's prior knowledge and local community expertise within the delivery of the curriculum and the learning process.
• Developing close relationships with whānau to support learning.
• Using ICT innovatively to promote learning.

Back to top

Te Mana Kōrero – Teachers Making a Difference – 1

What does successful teaching of Māori students look like?

The key messages are:

• A strong belief in high expectations – Māori students do and can achieve.
• You make the difference – This programme explores ways that teachers can make a difference using evidence-based pedagogy.

Teachers are encouraged to:

• reflect on how we teach
• develop expectations
• create an inclusive environment
• explore the curriculum
• learn about our students
• pronounce each student's name correctly
• develop partnerships.

Underpinning the key features of each of these successful professional development programmes are important Māori concepts or principles. Attending to these principles is essential if Māori students are to feel truly valued and therefore meaningfully engaged in classroom learning activities. Some of these principles are:

• Ako – the promotion of effective and reciprocal teaching and learning relationships where everyone is a learner and a teacher
• Manaakitanga – the care for students as culturally located human beings above all else
• Mana motuhake – the care by teachers for the academic success and performance of their students
• Whakawhanaungatanga – the nurturing of mutually respectful and collaborative relationships between all parties around student learning.

Back to top