New Zealand Gazette – 2008 – No. 32

Page 745

✨ Education Policy



22 FEBRUARY 2008 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 32 745

PART 5

AHUATANGA AKO

Taken altogether, the perception of children being central in an ever expanding world of experience which is accessed through the people with whom they associate and language, the implications for the curriculum become evident. This model provides for every aspect of learning which the whānau feel is important for their children, as well as the requirements of the national curriculum.

A further and final consideration is how best to achieve this in practice.

Ahuatanga Ako lists the principles of teaching practice which are considered of vital importance in the education of children. Kura Kaupapa Māori therefore:

  • assert that teaching and learning be a happy and stimulating experience for children.
  • practise karakia as a means of settling the spirit, clearing the mind and releasing tension so that concentration on the task at hand is facilitated.
  • value the presence of supportive adults as important participants in the teaching/learning process.
  • emphasise the particular value of concentrated listening as a skill to be thoroughly learned by children.
  • encourage the use of body, mind and all the senses in learning; listening; thinking and quiet concentration; visualisation and observation; touching; feeling and handling; questioning and discussing; analysing and synthesising; testing hypotheses; and creative exploration.
  • adopt teaching practices and principles which accommodate different styles of learning and motivate optimal learning.
  • honour kaumatua as the repositories of Māori knowledge and invite their participation as advisers and fellow teachers.
  • expose children to the protocols of hospitality in the home, at school and on the marae, and require their participation at cultural functions in roles appropriate to their ages and levels of maturation.
  • accept that healthy relationships between brothers and sisters, younger and older siblings, children, parents and elders are the joint responsibility of the kura whānau.
  • encourage older children to care for the young ones and to occasionally assist in their learning activities and younger children to accept the guidance of their older peers.
  • emphasise the importance of creating a learning environment which is interesting, stimulating and reflects the Māori world.
  • expand the learning environment to include marae, the wide-open spaces of bush, sea and sky, libraries and museums, and all other places which contribute to learning.
  • welcome innovative ways of stimulating the learning of children but encourage self-motivation.
  • provide for the special interests that individual children may have in the development of self-directed learning.
  • encourage shared and co-operative ways of learning.


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Online Sources for this page:

VUW Te Waharoa — PDF NZ Gazette 2008, No 32


Gazette.govt.nz — PDF NZ Gazette 2008, No 32




✨ LLM interpretation of page content

🎓 Official Version of Te Aho Matua o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori and Explanation in English (continued from previous page)

🎓 Education, Culture & Science
Education Policy, Māori Language, Kura Kaupapa Māori, Te Aho Matua, Te Ira Tangata, Bilingual Competence, Language Policy, Total Immersion, Whānau, Cultural Heritage, Teacher Training, Environmental Education, Natural World