title: Reclaiming Kaitiakitanga : An intergenerational perspective of Kaitiakitanga within Te Parawhau

authors: Walker, Erana

subjects: Kaitiakitanga

abstract: Kaitiakitanga is a concept that is utilised widely throughout the Māori world for the protection and preservation of cultural aspects to Māori. Through years of application by westernised mainstream processes the value has largely been restricted to the realms of environmental protection. This restriction has often been the result of misinterpretation of Kaitiakitanga and its relevance as a concept to Māori. The purpose of the thesis is to question how the perspective of Kaitiakitanga is constructed in the minds of representatives from the hapū of Te Parawhau. To test for variance, the research spans across two generations of hapū members. Using Whakawhiti Kōrero for data collection as well as Kaupapa Māori methodology as guidance, the thesis explores perspectives of two generations of Te Parawhau descendants around Kaitiakitanga and how it can be developed to aid in the growth and prosperity of the hapū. Key themes highlighted by the analysis encompass ideas of connectedness as well as spiritual, physical, environmental and human elements of responsibility and obligation. The thesis introduces a distinct Te Parawhau analytical framework for its analysis of rich kōrero by hapū members in relation to Kaitiakitanga. Through this framework the value of Kaitiakitanga is tested for relevance to Te Parawhau and its future development. The world view of Te Parawhau has formed the basis of participant perspectives around Kaitiakitanga and leads the researcher to consider that such knowledge is important to the future functionality of Māori value’s. The thesis concludes to show that there are indeed differences in application and perspectives of Kaitiakitanga within the hapū of Te Parawhau.

text: Reclaiming Kaitiakitanga : An intergenerational perspective of Kaitiakitanga within Te Parawhau Kaitiakitanga is a concept that is utilised widely throughout the Māori world for the protection and preservation of cultural aspects to Māori. Through years of application by westernised mainstream processes the value has largely been restricted to the realms of environmental protection. This restriction has often been the result of misinterpretation of Kaitiakitanga and its relevance as a concept to Māori. The purpose of the thesis is to question how the perspective of Kaitiakitanga is constructed in the minds of representatives from the hapū of Te Parawhau. To test for variance, the research spans across two generations of hapū members. Using Whakawhiti Kōrero for data collection as well as Kaupapa Māori methodology as guidance, the thesis explores perspectives of two generations of Te Parawhau descendants around Kaitiakitanga and how it can be developed to aid in the growth and prosperity of the hapū. Key themes highlighted by the analysis encompass ideas of connectedness as well as spiritual, physical, environmental and human elements of responsibility and obligation. The thesis introduces a distinct Te Parawhau analytical framework for its analysis of rich kōrero by hapū members in relation to Kaitiakitanga. Through this framework the value of Kaitiakitanga is tested for relevance to Te Parawhau and its future development. The world view of Te Parawhau has formed the basis of participant perspectives around Kaitiakitanga and leads the researcher to consider that such knowledge is important to the future functionality of Māori value’s. The thesis concludes to show that there are indeed differences in application and perspectives of Kaitiakitanga within the hapū of Te Parawhau.

year: 2016

title: Student voice and agency for Indigenous Maori students in higher education transitions

authors: Amundsen, Diana Leigh

subjects: Social Sciences

abstract: This article reveals the complexities of Indigenous students navigating the neoliberal model of education through an examination of Māori transitions into higher education contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand. In a recently completed doctoral study, the lived transition experiences of Indigenous Māori higher education students were critically investigated from a student voice perspective. Data were collected and analysed through repeated semi-structured interviews, focus groups and visual stories in a semi-longitudinal study with 20 Māori students enrolled in a wānanga, a polytechnic and a university. Using a Bourdieuan theoretical framework for analysis, findings revealed that participants experienced their transition as a journey. Students perpetually evolved their identities and agency in relation to the tertiary education environments and social structures they encountered which supported or constrained transition experiences. Within wānanga, participants felt their Māori cultural identity was highly valued; within polytechnics, there was a sense that Māori culture is included but more could be done; within universities, a need for more inclusive practices to support Māori learner requirements was identified. This empirical research outlines learning for Māori students in higher education, and is a timely addition to knowledge revealing the complexities of teaching in the neoliberal model of higher education with Indigenous people.

text: Student voice and agency for Indigenous Maori students in higher education transitions This article reveals the complexities of Indigenous students navigating the neoliberal model of education through an examination of Māori transitions into higher education contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand. In a recently completed doctoral study, the lived transition experiences of Indigenous Māori higher education students were critically investigated from a student voice perspective. Data were collected and analysed through repeated semi-structured interviews, focus groups and visual stories in a semi-longitudinal study with 20 Māori students enrolled in a wānanga, a polytechnic and a university. Using a Bourdieuan theoretical framework for analysis, findings revealed that participants experienced their transition as a journey. Students perpetually evolved their identities and agency in relation to the tertiary education environments and social structures they encountered which supported or constrained transition experiences. Within wānanga, participants felt their Māori cultural identity was highly valued; within polytechnics, there was a sense that Māori culture is included but more could be done; within universities, a need for more inclusive practices to support Māori learner requirements was identified. This empirical research outlines learning for Māori students in higher education, and is a timely addition to knowledge revealing the complexities of teaching in the neoliberal model of higher education with Indigenous people.

year: 2019

title: Teacher professional identities in ece: Complexities and contradictions

authors: Kamenarac, Olivera

subjects: Teachers professional identities

abstract: By applying a framework of poststructural discursive studies and theoretical ideas of feminist poststructuralists, my doctoral thesis investigates how teachers’ professional identities have been discursively constructed in ECEC policies and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand over the last two decades. The study draws on discourse analysis of influential policy documents and transcript texts from group and individual interviews with teachers, professional leaders and managers from both community-owned and for-profit ECEC services. Research findings illustrate that the Aotearoa New Zealand ECEC has been torn between tensions created through an interplay of divergent and opposing discursive windows, which set a powerful context for constructions of complex, contradictory and fluid teachers’ professional identities. The study argues that discursive windows of enterprise, economic investment and vulnerability have promoted competition, individualism, entrepreneurship and social-intervention emphases in the sector, and frequently overpowered discourses of collectivism, collegiality, and empowerment, in which democratic education, teachers’ activism and professionalism have been rooted. The study advocates for the advocate-activist early childhood profession and teaching professionals who can bring in a much needed paradigm shift in the contemporary context of ECEC. It is hoped that this research contributes to an understanding of discourses that can strengthen capacity for constructing advocate-activist teachers’ identities at times when the market drives teachers’ work, requiring them to favour for-profit and enterprise interests over the wellbeing of children, families and community.

text: Teacher professional identities in ece: Complexities and contradictions By applying a framework of poststructural discursive studies and theoretical ideas of feminist poststructuralists, my doctoral thesis investigates how teachers’ professional identities have been discursively constructed in ECEC policies and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand over the last two decades. The study draws on discourse analysis of influential policy documents and transcript texts from group and individual interviews with teachers, professional leaders and managers from both community-owned and for-profit ECEC services. Research findings illustrate that the Aotearoa New Zealand ECEC has been torn between tensions created through an interplay of divergent and opposing discursive windows, which set a powerful context for constructions of complex, contradictory and fluid teachers’ professional identities. The study argues that discursive windows of enterprise, economic investment and vulnerability have promoted competition, individualism, entrepreneurship and social-intervention emphases in the sector, and frequently overpowered discourses of collectivism, collegiality, and empowerment, in which democratic education, teachers’ activism and professionalism have been rooted. The study advocates for the advocate-activist early childhood profession and teaching professionals who can bring in a much needed paradigm shift in the contemporary context of ECEC. It is hoped that this research contributes to an understanding of discourses that can strengthen capacity for constructing advocate-activist teachers’ identities at times when the market drives teachers’ work, requiring them to favour for-profit and enterprise interests over the wellbeing of children, families and community.

year: 2018