Lisa Davis
Ko Māhuhu ki te rangi te waka
Ko Maungakiekie te maunga
Ko Waitematā te moana
Ko Ngā Oho, Te Taoū, Ko Te Uringutu ngā hapū
Ko Ngāti Whātua te iwi
I am honoured to be the first guest editor of He Rourou, a gathering of shared thoughts to elevate collective potential, symbolising the journey to success, exchange of knowledge, and achievement. He Rourou is about empowering, growing, and engaging collective voices and knowledge and sharing them to generate kōrero, collaboration and maybe some magic.
As you read through the papers, you will gain insight into the complicated web of an indigenous approach. How systems, whether knowingly or unknowingly, perpetuate inequitable institutions, inspiring stories of change-makers, teaching methods creating positive effects on learners, and the significance of mindset above all else.
As you dive into the presentations from the authors, we begin with a piece from Mere Waaka (Ngāi Tūhoe). He Reo Rāitu highlights a problem that many of our marae and papakainga face in today’s world. Whānau discuss Karanga, the embodiment of mana wahine, and the needs to ensure that our rangatahi and future generations embody the Karanga tradition. As many of our whānau relocate to the big cities and our kaumatua pass away, the community shares whakaaro on how things are now and how we might use digital technologies to ensure our marae thrive, ensuring tikanga is learned and karanga is heard across generations of whānau.
The Effect of Wānanga-Based Learning in Supporting the Development of Teacher Agency in Computational Thinking by Jessica Petersen examines how digital technologies, concepts and initiatives can boost secondary school kaiako’s (teachers’) confidence. Their confidence in creating, developing, and delivering computational thinking-focused learning experiences, as well as the importance of collaboration and peer coaching. She emphasises the value of Māori kaupapa and how it can help guide learning responsively. Specifically looking at wānanga as a dynamic learning environment to share knowledge, experiences, feedback, and debate and ako, the idea that all people have valuable knowledge to share and that learning occurs as kōrero (conversation) between equals. It was exciting to read that participants found the learning activities applicable and effective across various learning areas during their sessions. As it is becoming more critical to continuously be on the lookout for strategies, Jessica helps teachers gain agency and construct to create lessons compatible with ever-changing technologies to enhance their own experience and those they inspire and guide in the classroom.
Jeska Martin’s paper on How Student Stress, Anxiety, and Confidence During COVID-19 Influence Student Wellbeing provides insights into a student’s first-year NCEA testing experiences and how the COVID-19 outbreak impacted their general health. Like everyone else, kids are anxious about their academic achievement when they’re afraid of failing. To be a more effective instructor, Jeska emphasises vulnerability throughout her evaluation when modelling excellent wellbeing practises for her pupils, especially our young Pasifika kids. Creating safe environments for people to communicate and share their concerns is as important as being honest and vulnerable. Apply what you can learn from Jeska’s essay about student support by putting her ideas into action.
Begin Where You Are: Developing a Critical Place Pedagogy in a Bicultural Senior English Class in Te Tai Tokerau by Tim McVicar challenges his teaching through action research to engage pākehā learners in critical dialogue about local history in this thought-provoking paper. Inspired after a talk with a friend while working in Nablus, Palestine, Tim looks at techniques to engage learners from a dominant culture to study, think, and suggest solutions to acknowledged discrepancies. Tim explores the Northern wars, colonisation, institutional discrimination, and inequality that Māori faced, as well as the consciousness-raising of learners, by employing a critical pedagogy of place within the English curriculum. His research portrayed a positive conclusion as well as a method for schools to legitimise, support, and equip students with the tools and a safe space to investigate difficult aspects of New Zealand’s past and present. The time has come to evaluate and expose colonial baggage, as well as how we might foster more tolerance and respect across ethnic communities in Aotearoa.
Devender Chendri explores flipped learning and discovers that utilising a flipped pedagogy method has positive effects on learners. To assess the impact of this practitioner research, the study follows guidance from Russell Bishop, such as “Teaching to the North-East.” Devender’s primary purpose was to develop flipped-learning tailoring and customising learning content to meet individual learning demands. This method clearly demonstrated an improved and faster way to learn topics, increased student interaction, and provided more control over the learning process. In essence, the flipped-learning pedagogical technique boosted student academic achievement and advancement notably more than the traditional teaching style. This approach has been amplified in its usability in light of recent lockdowns and learning from home. If you’re searching for new methods to approach things in the classroom, Devender definitely delivers in terms of giving a way to utilise these technologies.
Master of Technological Futures graduate, Iulia Leilua (Ngāti Hāua, Ngāti Hekeāwai), investigates systemic racism through an indigenous lens. Placing herself in a vulnerable position, Iulia unpacks what systemic racism and unconscious bias looks like in our workplaces, and how we might address these issues. The project enabled Iulia to speak candidly about systemic racism, discrimination and their cause and effects. Initially, words such as ‘unconscious bias’ and ‘cognitive bias’ were used to cushion her conversations with subject matter experts so as not to cause offence. As the research project developed, confidence grew and interviewees reflected on the social licence that the world had been given to talk about structural racism and white privilege. Using systems practice, Iulia created a cultural intelligence framework and two systems maps that chart the deep structures of systemic racism and the behaviours that underpin them. With this in our kete we can confront bias and inequity and strive for social justice.
Airana Ngarewa (Ngāti Ruanui) thoughtfully reflects as an early career teacher by casting light on what it means to be Māori in today’s classrooms. He discusses the displacement of our children, the necessity to indigenise the curriculum, and the homogenisation of te ao Māori. The study got me thinking about how we can lower the obstacles to entry. How do we begin to normalise Māori culture in our society? He offers some answers to these issues and suggestions for how we may begin to untangle this complicated web by working together.
In an audio recording, Joni Angeli-Gordon (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua, Te Roroa) talks to Sara Stratton (Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Kahu) about her recent work on Algorithmic Bias and Māori. By using technology tools we are gaining some visible benefits, but do we always see the negative effects? Joni and Sara discuss unconscious bias and how technology can exponentially worsen many of the analogue inequities that exist in society. This kōrero shares practical analogies to explain how algorithms work and what we can do to understand the challenges that are associated with them.
Continuing the theme of data bias, Bex Taylor provides a moving assessment of Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez, a book which exposes how algorithms contribute to the gender equality gap. As a wahine Māori it is something I have experienced and continue to experience in our society, and it reinforces the sense that this is the result of a long-standing style of thinking, a world created for the default male. But don’t worry, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and this is one of them! She discusses the present state of affairs in Aotearoa and how you can make a difference. In the words of Criado-Perez…‘Do it like a woman…and change the world!’
Understanding the workings of privilege systems must be unpacked. Hayley Sparks discusses privilege systems in her review of Elite Education and Everyday Encounters: Examining the Multiple Dimensions of Privilege in Young People’s Lives. The project examines inequality, privilege as a system, and the misconception that New Zealand is a classless society, while also exposing some of the difficulties in discussing advantage and how privilege remains unidentified. Hayley’s investigation into young people and how they are impacted is fascinating since it plays a role in replicating privilege and the methods by which privilege happens, and that there is a need to investigate more.
Everything changed in 2020, but one common thread that runs through all the submissions is that by working together, we can go beyond mere survival and propel ourselves into prosperity. As a collective, our voices and knowledge can have an incredible impact.
Nā to rourou, nā taku rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.
About the author
Lisa Davis is a tenth-generation descendant of Tuperiri, the common ancestor of everyone who whakapapa to Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei. Lisa Davis is the Deputy Chief Executive for Ngāti Whātua ki Ōrākei Trust where she contributes to the design, long-term strategies and engagement activities for the Trust’s 6000+ members contributing to the advancement of whānau.
She is also a member of the ASB Community Council and newly established ASB Tuia Māori Advisory Council and serves as a representative on the Māori advisory board for the University of Auckland’s Cyber Security Research Programme.
A descendant of Auckland’s founding father, Lisa was born into a family of leaders and pulls strength from her homelands of Takaparawhau. Guided by powerful and brave people, past and present, Lisa strives to make a difference every day and contribute to the progress of whānau, community, and the legacy of our many tūpuna.
