Every Child Deserves a Good Start in Life

Every child is entitled to have a good start in life.  It isn’t where you start in life, it's what you do with life that determines where you end up in life, and we are blessed to be living in a country that, no matter where we start, we have opportunities so long as we believe in our self, we believe in the society and the country, and we believe that we can self-improve and educate our self as we go along. And that's the key to success.

But it begins with the gift of a good start. If we don't give that gift to each and every one of our tamariki (children), if we don't invest at the earliest age, we're going to be running into difficulties. It's why we have a dropout rate of roughly 25 percent overall and almost 50 percent of our minority population living in low-income areas because they're not getting the gift of a good start.

"Teaching and learning should bring joy. How powerful would our world be if we had kids who were not afraid to take risks, who were not afraid to think, and who had a champion? Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be. Is this job tough? Yes. But it is not impossible. We can do this. We're born to make a difference."

So, it's so essential that we put this culture back into our schools, whanau, communities, and students. 

So how?

Through an Effective Teaching Profile for Maori students - Inspire In Education links in with the Education Councils, TATAIAKO

The Effective Teaching Profile consists of six elements.

1. Ako – teachers can use strategies that promote effective teaching interactions and relationships with their learners.
2. ​Wananga – teachers are able to engage in effective teaching interactions with Māori students as Māori
3. Manaakitanga – teachers care for their students as culturally located human beings above all else.
4. Mana Motuhake – teachers care about the performance of their students.
5. Nga Whakapiringatanga – teachers are able to create a secure, well-managed learning environment.
6. Kotahitanga – teachers promote, monitor and reflect on outcomes that in turn lead to improvements in educational achievement for Māori students.

Kotahitanga

• ​Monitor Maori student achievement data and use this information to modify teaching practices, sharing this information with students and whanau so that they are fully involved in the learning journey. 
• Target: To have more Maori learners, engaged and focused on achieving National Standards in Reading, Writing and Mathematics by the end of Year 8. 

Whakapiringatanga

• Creating future-focused learning environments. Exploring the types of learner and teacher practices, and environments that promote learning and also develop skills of collaboration, resilience, and citizenship.

Manaakitanga

• Aim for all students to learn in an inclusive environment that celebrates and responds to cultures from across the globe.

Whanaungatanga

• We believe that effective home-school partnerships are a key ingredient in student learning and that our local community provides many rich opportunities for students to learn in authentic situations alongside the people within the community.

Te Kotahitanga professional development programmes that:

• supports teachers to improve all Māori students' learning and achievement, enabling teachers to create a culturally responsive context for learning which is responsive to evidence of student performance and understandings
• Enables school leaders, and the wider school community, to focus on changing school structures and organisations to more effectively support teachers in this endeavour.