Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe
Noema Williams discusses building on a whānau/marae model.
Video
Clip duration: 4:58
Leadership style
"There is a wairua that prevails here."
Ko Whakataha te Maunga
Ko Waitangi te awa
Ko Ngāi Tawake ki te Tuawhenua te Hapū
Ko Ngā Puhi te Iwi
I operate within an inclusive collegial style of leadership that has high expectations of myself and of others. I am passionate about education, I am practical, and I am honest in my approach to people.
I believe that leaders should provide opportunities for leadership in others. My leadership style is one where everyone has the opportunity to try things out. I recognise leadership potential in others and that we have creative, innovative and skilled people around us who can take the responsibility. In our environment, everyone is able to make mistakes, and to learn from them. We know that we will all learn from them too.
There is a wairua that prevails and sustains good leadership in our kura. You can't teach that unless you're doing it. You can feel it, but you can't see it. Wairua relates to all the learning that goes on at our school.
If teachers don't model wairua, if the principal doesn't model it, then everyone will do as they please. In our school, it is the foundation of our culture. It is very much imbedded in what we are as Māori people.
I think leadership is about many people, and comes from many places. It is about learning, and it's about the sharing of knowledge. When I share my knowledge with others, they can then take up the challenge – like a flock of birds in migration – each can take a lead.
Where we are at
"It's based on our whānau/marae model."
Our greatest challenge is to ensure that we are delivering high quality education.
We are a kura. We are a kura kaupapa Māori. We were the first kura to be established in Ngā Puhi, so the expectation that we would deliver the expectations of our iwi and hapu were great. To meet these expectations, we need to know our community, who our elders are, our marae, and our community networks. Our special mission is to actively engage with our community. We need to go to the community rather than expect them to come to us.
Our children bring knowledge with them, and that is via their grandparents, and their parents, and all the other people in their lives. We already have a significant pool of knowledge coming into the school. Our task is to ensure that we build upon that knowledge.
A challenge we have is that most of the people that I work with are, like me, second language learners. Te reo māori is of central significance for us. So we encourage our Kaumatua to come to the school. We encourage parents to come to the school. Parents don't need to make an appointment, they just come. If we're eating, they'll sit down and eat with us. If we're not eating, we offer them our hospitality.
The kaupapa of our kura is based on our whānau/marae model (PDF, 974kb) in which knowledge is gained from parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, cousins, friends and colleagues. The model has survived for thousands of years. I think the whānau/marae concept of culture is one that you actually have to practice. It isn't something you can read in a book. You have to live it every day.
This model is vitally important in our schooling, and is reflected in our small number of rules:
1. We look after each other.
2. The older children look after the younger ones.
3. We keep our hands to ourselves.
In developing the culture of the school, it's not a one-person thing, it's a multi-peopled task.
Where my ideas come from
"My heroes are my old people."
Ahakoa ngā tikanga ēnei a te kura, e hangā mai ana e ngā tīpuna
mai i te marae, mai i ngā āhuatanga whakahaere
o te whenua, me ērā āhauatanga.
(Our grandparents and people in the community can also come in at any time and contribute to the learning. In essence, this is putting into practice the whānau model.)
What is important for us is that we are, first and foremost, Māori. Before we're anything else we are Māori. We are proud to be Māori. It's reflected in the way we do things (PDF, 38kb) – the way we engage with our children, engage with each other, and relate to people from/in the community and beyond.
My heroes are my old people. My heroes are those who are current models of good practice. They could be in business, they could be in a profession, and they could be in the arts.
A good model for leadership is the Alinghi crew, where the essence of the leadership is the good communication among the crew. They communicate with each other.
They all know what the goal is, and they work towards that goal.
Our ideas are not only derived from professional readings and theories, and are not only based on our old people. They come from everyone around us including the children themselves.
What we've been doing
"We have knocked the walls down!"
Three years ago, the children were in a quite an unsafe environment. So we have introduced strategies where we work with the children so that they will be safe.
Our staff works professionally to ensure that whatever they're doing in the classroom will meet the needs of the child.
We also ensure that our staff meets the required qualifications and we have been encouraging them to study for higher degrees. Our staff are now highly qualified, both professionally, and as Māori. Currently, we have four staff members studying for their Masters Degrees.
We are encouraging our students to teach other students. For example, during sports afternoons, the senior children take the lead by organising the activities for the junior children. The senior student "sports leaders" get together and plan the programme. Through doing this, they not only learn the logistics of organising a school programme, but they also learn to recognize the developmental stages of all the younger children.
To support positive change, we have knocked down the internal walls. This has had the effect of opening up the wharekura with the kura kaupapa primary school. It means that children can see what is happening in the areas around their class. We find that the junior students moderate the behaviour of the senior students. At the same time, the senior students are there to pick up the little ones when they need help, and to support them. The open plan environment creates a learning situation where the families can learn together. Our grandparents and people in the community can also come in at any time and contribute to the learning. In essence, this is putting into practice the whānau model.
How do we know?
"The children want to come to school."
I know we're doing a good job because we get good feedback. This comes from the students, from my staff, and from the community. We also invite professional facilitators to review our processes.
We measure against the set goals for the year. If we did not fulfil our goals, we need to explain why not, and then work towards making improvements. Goals that we set for last year may not be appropriate this year. Everything is related to our larger goal – that we engage and involve the wider school community in our kura.
We continually discuss student progress face to face, and through electronic bulletin boards that staff access daily. Staff members anticipate receiving at least three emails per day and this helps us all to keep informed.
Our ultimate goal, the one we are continually asking ourselves and reflecting on is "What is in it for the child? What will take the child beyond school to lead a successful life in the community?"
Our children's feedback is very important in our evaluation. It gives us an idea where they are at, and where they actually want to get to. Generally they themselves have an idea about how they could get there.
Each term we have a teacher/parent interview evening, aku mahi rangatira, led by the children. The children enthusiastically introduce their parents to the schoolwork they have been doing, both on paper and on computer. We find that our children are constantly telling their parents how happy they are at school. They want to come to school. They want to stay at school. That's a huge change and a positive indicator of success.
Where to next?
"We need to encourage others to engage."
Although we are currently delivering quality education, I think we can still do better. I believe we could manage the curriculum provision in different ways and we are beginning that process now. We recognise, however, that everything takes time, and that major change does not occur overnight.
I believe that the way māori people have always managed their lives has worked well for them in the past and can continue to do so in the present. Our new management model is based on the traditional marae system and that will dictate how we develop our school in the future.
Our aim is to take care of the whole person, physically, academically, and spiritually. People in our community are now seeing that this is the type of education they would like for their children.
I don't believe that te reo māori will survive if only māori people have the responsibility with its regeneration. Our language will only survive if the society, at large, also embraces it. It will not survive by māori people alone. We therefore need the support of the wider school community and of society as a whole. We, in our kura need to constantly be encouraging others to engage in this type of education.
This is going to be a huge development. It is our greatest challenge for the future.
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