title: Wāhine Māori engagement with literacies

authors: Masters-Awatere, Bridgette

subjects: Literacy

abstract: Wāhine Māori engagement with literacies (2023) is a case study report in collaboration with Te Whakaruruhau. It has been undertaken as part of a larger project, The expression, experience and transcendence of low skills in Aotearoa New Zealand (2019–2024), the aim of which is to provide policy recommendations to improve life-course trajectories and socio-economic outcomes for adults with low literacy and numeracy skills in Aotearoa New Zealand. Broadly speaking, Wāhine Māori engagement with literacy examines the framing and application of literacy measures in contemporary New Zealand culture. More specifically, it is about the lives and learning of wāhine (women) Māori (the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) within that culture and their attitudes towards, and complex relationships with, literacy as it is defined in their own lives and in the current setting. The study aims for a holistic understanding of lived literacies in driving the development of educational policies by public institutions and private groups. Reframing literacy as literacies is posited as a means to empower marginalised groups and to challenge the dominance of the Eurocentric education paradigm. Formal learning in English-language schools cannot be the extent of national literacy standards as it disregards Māori epistemological and ontological realities and can discount wāhine, many of whom may prioritise other modes of literacy. Centring their perspectives will bring about a more culturally inclusive future, one that makes space for the development of emotional and cultural literacies—as well as other forms such as digital, media, visual, financial, and health literacies—alongside the conventional version of literacy that has a monopoly in the present system.

text: Wāhine Māori engagement with literacies Wāhine Māori engagement with literacies (2023) is a case study report in collaboration with Te Whakaruruhau. It has been undertaken as part of a larger project, The expression, experience and transcendence of low skills in Aotearoa New Zealand (2019–2024), the aim of which is to provide policy recommendations to improve life-course trajectories and socio-economic outcomes for adults with low literacy and numeracy skills in Aotearoa New Zealand. Broadly speaking, Wāhine Māori engagement with literacy examines the framing and application of literacy measures in contemporary New Zealand culture. More specifically, it is about the lives and learning of wāhine (women) Māori (the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand) within that culture and their attitudes towards, and complex relationships with, literacy as it is defined in their own lives and in the current setting. The study aims for a holistic understanding of lived literacies in driving the development of educational policies by public institutions and private groups. Reframing literacy as literacies is posited as a means to empower marginalised groups and to challenge the dominance of the Eurocentric education paradigm. Formal learning in English-language schools cannot be the extent of national literacy standards as it disregards Māori epistemological and ontological realities and can discount wāhine, many of whom may prioritise other modes of literacy. Centring their perspectives will bring about a more culturally inclusive future, one that makes space for the development of emotional and cultural literacies—as well as other forms such as digital, media, visual, financial, and health literacies—alongside the conventional version of literacy that has a monopoly in the present system.

year: 2023-09-28

title: Hoera Te Mimiha

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Hoera Te Mimiha was a rangatira of Ngati Koi, an inferior hapu to Ngati Tamatera, and had affiliations to other hapu. Although to Pakeha he was a mere labourer, in Maori society in Ohinemuri in the 1870s and 1880s he was a leading figure. Details have been traced of his whakapapa, his wider family, and especially his children, one of whom married Hone Werahiko. 
Mimiha spent much time in the Maori Land Court trying to prove his entitlement to be included as an owner of several blocks of land, not always successfully, for he could not prove some of his cases either through ancestry or occupation. Other rangatira with superior whakapapa were able to show the weaknesses of some of his claims, forcing him into giving evasive answers to cross-examination. His evidence did reveal what land he had occupied and farmed.
Mimiha willingly sold land, including his interest in the Ohinemuri goldfield (the boundaries of which he had pointed out to surveyors), and obtained a good income, for a time. Being interested in mining from the early 1870s onwards, he was one of the few Maori willing to descend a shaft at Thames, an experience that encouraged him to push for opening Ohinemuri to mining, even, it seemed, if that endangered Maori control of their land. Having prospected at Karangahake before it was opened to mining in 1875, he participated in this rush and subsequently in the Te Aroha one of 1880, having interests in claims at all three portions of the latter field. When his daughter’s partner was murdered at Te Aroha, he calmed Maori anger, once again winning the gratitude of Pakeha.
Because of selling much of his land, he struggled financially, although unlike some Maori he did not drink his money away. Cutting off part of the ear of a Pakeha accused of raping his wife resulted in several court cases marked by dubious evidence presented by both sides. After being imprisoned for perjury, efforts by Pakeha to have his conviction reviewed resulted in his being judged to have been the only witness not to have lied to the court, but this sordid affair blackened his character.

text: Hoera Te Mimiha Hoera Te Mimiha was a rangatira of Ngati Koi, an inferior hapu to Ngati Tamatera, and had affiliations to other hapu. Although to Pakeha he was a mere labourer, in Maori society in Ohinemuri in the 1870s and 1880s he was a leading figure. Details have been traced of his whakapapa, his wider family, and especially his children, one of whom married Hone Werahiko. 
Mimiha spent much time in the Maori Land Court trying to prove his entitlement to be included as an owner of several blocks of land, not always successfully, for he could not prove some of his cases either through ancestry or occupation. Other rangatira with superior whakapapa were able to show the weaknesses of some of his claims, forcing him into giving evasive answers to cross-examination. His evidence did reveal what land he had occupied and farmed.
Mimiha willingly sold land, including his interest in the Ohinemuri goldfield (the boundaries of which he had pointed out to surveyors), and obtained a good income, for a time. Being interested in mining from the early 1870s onwards, he was one of the few Maori willing to descend a shaft at Thames, an experience that encouraged him to push for opening Ohinemuri to mining, even, it seemed, if that endangered Maori control of their land. Having prospected at Karangahake before it was opened to mining in 1875, he participated in this rush and subsequently in the Te Aroha one of 1880, having interests in claims at all three portions of the latter field. When his daughter’s partner was murdered at Te Aroha, he calmed Maori anger, once again winning the gratitude of Pakeha.
Because of selling much of his land, he struggled financially, although unlike some Maori he did not drink his money away. Cutting off part of the ear of a Pakeha accused of raping his wife resulted in several court cases marked by dubious evidence presented by both sides. After being imprisoned for perjury, efforts by Pakeha to have his conviction reviewed resulted in his being judged to have been the only witness not to have lied to the court, but this sordid affair blackened his character.

year: 2016

title: Support and self-care: professional reflections of six New Zealand high school counselors

authors: Evans, Yvonne A.

subjects: counsellor self-care

abstract: In many Western societies there is increasing demand for counselling; in turn, heightened levels of support needs have been identified for counsellors themselves. Despite calls for practitioners to adopt a more proactive approach to self-care, research suggests many still pay insufficient attention to alleviating on-the-job stress or achieving 'work-life balance'. These issues were examined within the context of inviting six high school counsellors in New Zealand to talk generally about their professional lives. The authors suggest findings support calls for counsellor education programmes to offer structured opportunities for trainees to reflect upon the task of discursively constructing professional roles.

text: Support and self-care: professional reflections of six New Zealand high school counselors In many Western societies there is increasing demand for counselling; in turn, heightened levels of support needs have been identified for counsellors themselves. Despite calls for practitioners to adopt a more proactive approach to self-care, research suggests many still pay insufficient attention to alleviating on-the-job stress or achieving 'work-life balance'. These issues were examined within the context of inviting six high school counsellors in New Zealand to talk generally about their professional lives. The authors suggest findings support calls for counsellor education programmes to offer structured opportunities for trainees to reflect upon the task of discursively constructing professional roles.

year: 2008