Every Child Deserves a Good Start in Life
The Gift of a Good Start
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.
Kotahitanga
Whakapiringatanga
Manaakitanga
Whanaungatanga
Te Kotahitanga professional development programmes that:
1. Project Overview
The project aims to assist and encourage years groups 6, 7, 8, 9 Maori students transition from Primary to Intermediate then onto High School by engaging in a structured and supportive environment at school with a focus reading, writing, maths, cultural awareness, exercise, and sports.
The target group is Maori students transitioning from Primary (Year 6), To Intermediate (Years 7, 8) and High School (Year 9, 10)
Key resources:
Mentoring & Pastoral Care:
Develop:
Using Māori contexts:
Whanaungatanga:
Manaakitanga:
Kaitiaakitanga:
Mātaiako:
Overall Teacher Judgments:
This might include the kaiako (teacher):
When all of this information is brought together, it gives a clear picture of the areas where the student is progressing well and areas where more work is needed. The kura (school) provide whanau with two written reports each year to let you know how your tamariki (child) is doing in relation to Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori.
These reports should help whanau understand:
Inspire in Education will provide the support, mentors, outside organisations and continued professional development with schools in relation to Maori.
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.
- Ako – teachers can use strategies that promote effective teaching interactions and relationships with their learners.
- Wananga – teachers are able to engage in effective teaching interactions with Māori students as Māori
- Manaakitanga – teachers care for their students as culturally located human beings above all else.
- Mana Motuhake – teachers care about the performance of their students.
- Nga Whakapiringatanga – teachers are able to create a secure, well-managed learning environment.
- 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.
1. Project Overview
The project aims to assist and encourage years groups 6, 7, 8, 9 Maori students transition from Primary to Intermediate then onto High School by engaging in a structured and supportive environment at school with a focus reading, writing, maths, cultural awareness, exercise, and sports.
The target group is Maori students transitioning from Primary (Year 6), To Intermediate (Years 7, 8) and High School (Year 9, 10)
Key resources:
- Tātaiako – see above Effective Teaching Profile consists of six elements.
- Ka Hikitia – see below Kaupapa Māori in education
- Te Whare Tap Kaupapa Māori in education – has links to the Ministry of Educations Ka Hikitia
- Whanaungatanga (building relationships)
- Manaakitanga (caring for each other)
- Kaitiaakitanga (looking after our planet and people)
- Wānanga (process of learning)
- Ako (reciprocal learning)
- Tuakana-Teina (supporting our younger generation)
- Tangata Whenuatanga (place-based)
Mentoring & Pastoral Care:
- Provide and support tamariki and rangatahi Māori with their education
- Create safe spaces that allow them to be who they are meant to be
- Nurture and guide Māori’s unique potential
- Power of personal storytelling
Develop:
- Connectedness | High trust relationships | Positive attitudes | Understanding their strengths | Dreams, and aspirations of the child
Using Māori contexts:
- Tikanga Māori: Karakia | mihi, pepeha | whakatauki | tauparapara | waiata |stories | whakapapa
Whanaungatanga:
- Sharing personal stories | Enhancing relationships between students, teachers, whānau and the wider community | Bringing in role models to inspire tamariki | Learning about the children’s learning styles, treasures, and talents | Creating fun spaces for children to get to know each other | Share who we are with them
Manaakitanga:
- Caring for each other and our environments | Creating opportunities for children to serve others in their community/school | Understanding and implementing Te Whare Tapa Whā
Kaitiaakitanga:
- Taiao/Environment: Using the contexts of the taiao to understand who we are | Looking after our environments (growing trees from seed and then planting them in the community) | Connecting our kids to the awa, maunga, moana (kaitiaki projects like planting awa) | Using key whakatauki that help learn about our connection to the environment | Responsibility we have to our taiao
Mātaiako:
- knowing where the akonga (student) is at so that plans can be made for the next steps in their learning.
- Mātaiako involves: gathering information about the student’s progress and achievement in National Standards | understanding what that information says about where the student is at and then | using that information to improve teaching and learning for the student.
Overall Teacher Judgments:
- Creating the jigsaw puzzle to get an overall picture - Mātaiako will help the akonga (student’s) kaiako (teacher) make overall teacher judgments about the students learning progress.
- An overall teacher judgment is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. The student’s kaiako will gather pieces of information about how the student has been doing and will put those pieces together to create an overall picture of the student’s progress and achievement.
- Just like a jigsaw, the picture has to be made up of a number of different pieces, as no single piece of information will give you a true picture of how well the student is doing. Putting the jigsaw pieces together - Information about the student’s progress can and should be gathered in a range of different ways.
This might include the kaiako (teacher):
- watching and listening to how the student works and plays at kura
- getting the student to assess their own work or other students’ work
- giving the student a range of activities to do
- talking with the student to find out what they know, understand and can do
- gathering results from formal assessments and using assessment tools
When all of this information is brought together, it gives a clear picture of the areas where the student is progressing well and areas where more work is needed. The kura (school) provide whanau with two written reports each year to let you know how your tamariki (child) is doing in relation to Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori.
These reports should help whanau understand:
- the areas where their child is doing well
- the areas where more work is needed
- what kind of help their child may need with their learning
- what the next steps are to help their child progress in their learning.
Inspire in Education will provide the support, mentors, outside organisations and continued professional development with schools in relation to Maori.
