Te Ara Taiao o Ngāmotu

Dallas and Taiohi at Moturoa Primary School

Te Ara Taiao o Ngāmotu, Kairuruku (coordinator), Dallas Ngaio Tahuaroa-King of Taranaki Tuturu, Te Atiawa, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui descent is excited to be involved in this network of kairuruku to enable a collaborative education model and is particularly happy with the potential of aligning of Hapū aspirations to that of the kura (Schools), their whānau, organisations and the community.

“At the moment I’m working on establishing tuakana roopu (senior student leadership teams) in two Schools. By establishing these roopu (groups), the more senior taiohi will be able to refine their leadership skills, share in project development and management, blend mātauranga and science in te Taiao projects and ultimately share, lead and enable tiena roopu (junior student leaders). Identifying and developing the teina roopu will be part of the next step,” she says.

“That’s nice,” said I, with only a smidgeon of understanding of what Tuakana-teina as a philosophy really means, so I asked her, “Tell me more about this Tuakana- teina concept in the context of your mahi.”

“The ‘tuakana teina’ concept can also encompass intergenerational learning available from whānau and hapū knowledge bases and other members of the community with expertise to share. The concept is quite fluid and is a reciprocal one that is often reversed due to the tiena holding knowledge on a subject that the tuakana has no knowledge of. Essentially everyone is at once a student and a teacher – I love this about our culture and I’m very keen to assist with connecting people to each other and to te Taiao,” states Dallas.

Here at Te Ara Taiao network, we are also very excited, Dallas! Can’t wait to see how this collaborative model of education lifts everyone’s knowledge and connection to the beautiful places where we live.

Kindly contributed by Vicky Dombroski, TE ARA TAIAO O WHAI-TARA KAIRURUKU-EDUCATION COORDINATOR.