Spotlight Videos

Achieving equity and excellence in education for Māori students

The success of Māori students at school is a matter of national interest and a number of recent initiatives have been implemented in New Zealand schools to address the educational disparities between Māori and non-Māori. Many of these initiatives have been premised on an influential Māori education strategy called Ka Hikitia (2009, 2013). The overall goal of the Ka Hikitia strategy is to enable Māori to enjoy and achieve educational success as Māori and the Ministry of Education has described this as being when “Māori students have their identity, language and culture valued and included in teaching and learning in ways that support them to engage and achieve success” and when they “know their potential and feel supported to set goals and take action to enjoy success” (MOE, 2013, p.13). The research further suggests that enabling Māori to succeed as Māori involves: * Implementing teaching and learning approaches in schools that are engaging, effective, and enjoyable for all Māori students * Having appropriately high expectations for all Māori students * Tracking and monitoring what works to support excellent Māori educational outcomes * Developing productive partnerships with whānau, iwi, and community that are responsive and reciprocal – leading to collective action, outcomes, and solutions This presentation will outline the objectives and key findings of three recent research initiatives/projects: 1) Ka Awatea: An iwi case study of Māori student success 2) Māori Achievement Collaboratives (MACs) 3) The Starpath Project University of Auckland's International Speaker Series: 8th November in the Whangarei Central Library, 6pm - 7pm

Assoc Prof Melinda Webber, Director of The Starpath Project, University of Auckland

8/11/2017 5:00:00 AM

Ancient Wisdom for Modern Problems

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia maintained knowledge traditions with their own philosophies and epistemologies that originated in ancient Australia, at least six millennia before the present day. They have been transmitted from generation to generation over thousands of years by knowledgeable people. As questions about the sustainability of human systems and natural environments become the key challenges globally, the realisation has dawned on environmental thinkers that Indigenous populations lived in parts of this continent for at least 65,000 years, adapting and innovating as they witnessed an Ice Age, the disappearance of the megafauna, the rising of the seas, and the drying-up of the continent. In this paper, I look at several instances of the relevance of ancient Indigenous knowledge to modern problems in Australia and discuss their relevance to the endeavours of scientists and researchers from a range of disciplines. Professor Marcia Langton AM is an anthropologist and geographer, and since 2000 has held the Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. She has produced a large body of knowledge in the areas of political and legal anthropology, Indigenous agreements and engagement with the minerals industry, and Indigenous culture and art. Her role in the Empowered Communities project under contract to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and as a member of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians are evidence of Professor Langton's academic reputation, policy commitment and impact, alongside her role as a prominent public intellectual. In 1993 she was made a member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her work in anthropology and the advocacy of Aboriginal rights. Professor Langton is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, a Fellow of Trinity College, Melbourne and an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College at the University of Queensland. In 2016 Professor Langton was honoured as a University of Melbourne Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor. In further recognition as one of Australia’s most respected Indigenous Academics Professor Langton has in 2017 been appointed as the first Associate Provost at the University of Melbourne. Brought to you by the Public Policy Institute and the Faculty of Education and Social Work based at the Tai Tokerau Campus, University of Auckland. University of Auckland's Global Issues Series: 2nd May 2019 in the Whangarei Central Library, 6pm - 7pm

Professor Marcia Langton AC, Professor, Associate Provost, and Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne

2/05/2019 6:00:00 AM

Bilingualism or not? Exploring the relationship between bilingualism and academic achievement.

One of the biggest decisions any parent or whānau can make is what school they should send their children to. When their child is bilingual, or their whānau wishes them to become so, there are even more issues to consider. Is bilingualism an advantage? Is immersion/bilingual education effective? Will my child more likely succeed in so-called mainstream (English-medium) education or in Māori-medium education? If I do put my children into Māori-medium education, or any other form of bilingual education, what are the implications for acquiring English literacy and wider academic success? In this presentation I address all these issues, drawing on my work nationally and internationally in bilingual/immersion education over the last 30 years. I will highlight what the research evidence consistently tells us and address widespread misunderstandings about bilingualism, learning and achievement that are still held, not only by parents, but also teachers and policy makers, in Aotearoa New Zealand today. University of Auckland's International Speaker Series: 20th September 2017 in the Whangarei Central Library, 6pm - 7pm

Prof Stephen May, Professor in Te Puna Wānanga (School of Māori and Indigenous Education) in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland

20/09/2017 6:00:00 AM

High expectation teaching and the creation of equitable outcomes for all students: implications for Northland schools

In areas of New Zealand, such as Northland, that have high proportions of Māori students and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, educators have struggled to ensure equitable outcomes for all students. Yet, this need not be so. There is clear evidence that when teachers have high expectations for all students and institute high expectation practices into their classrooms, all students can succeed at the highest levels. New Zealand has the highest disparity of any OECD country between our highest and lowest achievers. This is because of the way that classrooms and teaching are structured. A move to schools founded on high expectation principles facilitates achievement at the highest levels for all students. In order for success for all to become a reality, structural changes need to be made to the ways in which teaching is delivered in classrooms. This lecture will present research evidence for the endorsement of high expectation practices and will provide clear practical guidance for the implementation of high expectation principles into every classroom. University of Auckland's International Speaker Series: 10th May in the Whangarei Central Library, 6pm - 7pm

Prof Christine Rubie-Davies, School of Learning, Development and Professional Practice in the Faculty of Education

10/05/2017 6:00:00 AM

People and place: the population on the eve of Tuia – Encounters 250

Early in March 2018 Statistics New Zealand Tatauranga Aotearoa undertook an official count of how many people and dwellings there are in Aotearoa New Zealand, te tatauranga ā-ture o ngā tāngata e noho ana Aotearoa me o rātou whare noho. The results from this census will begin appearing around June 2018, with most of the detailed analysis being completed by mid-2019. In October 2019 we will mark a very significant 250th anniversary of “the early meetings of Māori and Europeans when Captain James Cook and Tahitian chief and navigator, Tupaia, arrived in 1769 – a pivotal moment in New Zealand History when two great traditions of voyaging and exploration (Pacific and European) met on and off the coast of Aotearoa” What does the population of Aotearoa New Zealand look like 250 years after these initial encounters? In this presentation I will introduce some of the contemporary characteristics of Aotearoa’s population to provide a context for some of the other presentations in this University of Auckland-Tai Tokerau Campus series which is supported by the Royal Society Te Apārangi. My focus will be on international migration – a modern version of the voyaging and encounters that Cook and Tupaia’s visits 250 years ago initiated. In the course of the presentation I will make reference to Northland’s Te Tai Tokerau’s population around 2018 and some of the distinctive features of this region’s contemporary demography. Professor Richard (Dick) Bedford QSO, FRSNZ is a population geographer who specializes in migration research and since the mid-1960s he has been researching processes of population movement and demographic change in the Asia-Pacific region. His major research interests are circular forms of population mobility within and between countries, immigration policy, and the relationships between population movement and social and economic transformation in rural and urban areas in New Zealand and the Pacific. He is currently working on implications for New Zealand and Australia of population developments and migration trends in the Asia-Pacific region over the next 30 to 40 years, including the impact of climate change on migration. University of Auckland's International Speaker Series: 14th March in the Whangarei Central Library, 6pm - 7pm

Professor Richard Bedford, Emeritus Professor, University of Waikato and Auckland University of Technology President, Royal Society Te Apārangi

14/03/2018 5:00:00 AM

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