Te piko o te māhuri, tērā te tupu o te rākau: language and literacy in marae-based programmes

4. Data presentation and analysis

4.1 Early trends

Worthwhile data came from the earlier research activities, and some of this related to the efficacy and relevance of marae-based learning opportunities in the following ways:

• The significance of environment created by marae-based programmes to enhance the learning of the students
• The significance of being in a place that has evidence of tipuna all around to influence the wairua behind learning
• The significance of supportive roopu, coming together in the same rohe to facilitate learning
• The significance of the inclusion of community places and people to the whole learning experience, and the continual generation of the idea that it is not just the one student who is engaged in learning, but the whole whānau and community
• The significance of the system behind marae-based learning opportunities to continue to reflect the tikanga and kawa of the different rohe
• The significance of marae-based learning opportunities to generate deep emotion that relates to continuing learning for the good of ‘our children’ – in order to lead the way
• The significance of marae-based learning opportunities to engender and promote the acquisition of knowledge that enables students to continue through a degree programme
• The significance of marae-based learning opportunities to promote language development in te reo Māori, writing in te reo Māori, and critical thinking.

4.2 Improving access to foundation learning opportunities

New opportunities

Marae-based learning was seen as a chance to bring learners back to their groups, and communities back to their roots and to their Te Aho Matua (Māori philosophical framework). Opportunities are there through the realisation that adults can still go back to get an education regardless of where they began. The improvement of access to foundation learning opportunities posed both pragmatic and ideological considerations. From a practical point of view participants acknowledged the usefulness of having marae-based learning within their rohe (geographical area), being brought to them in this mobile model of delivering a degree to the people. Several areas are remote, and some distance to the Whakatane Campus base of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. There was praise for the Wānanga’s initiative in going to the people rather than the other way around; travel was a decisive factor in participants’ ability to attend the marae-based learning opportunities. Weekly cluster groups were also a favourable talking point, as were the noho marae that saw groups of students coming together for whole weekends of study.

Desire and passion to learn the language

In response to the question relating to the importance of being able to do their programme on the marae, the overwhelming answers all related to the pursuit of te reo Māori. That is, the greatest factor influencing access to foundation learning opportunities is the foundation of te reo Māori – the desire and passion to learn the language. There was general agreement among participants that not only an effective way, but the only way, to “pursue te reo” was through doing the programme of learning on the marae. The response from participants varied about whether the same importance should be given to reading and writing in te reo, but there was a clear emphasis on the need to develop and use oral skills. One of the participants from Whangaparaoa summed up his situation:

The language was spoken of as the primary vehicle for tikanga, and having the latter was important in aiding the participants to conduct themselves properly and confidently on the marae. Several participants felt whakamā (shy) that they could not speak Māori before their programme began. The situation was exemplified to another extent through the experience of one of the participants, who noted that during his time of schooling (he is currently approximately 40 years old), kids at his schools had mostly Pākehā teachers, and then were exposed to the Rangatahi Series language learning materials at high school, but “there weren’t people who could speak Māori”. His journey of learning the language then became similar to that of the other participants:

Working as part of a group was a huge help for those who had little or no experience of talking on the marae, but who anticipated their input would be needed before too long. The programme structure of marae-based learning opportunities set out by Awanuiārangi was seen as a successful vehicle to facilitate this learning.

Influence of mokopuna

All participants were in general agreement that the ‘pull’ of wanting to access further learning opportunities was galvanised by a need to show their mokopuna (grandchildren) that their kuia and koroua (grandparents) could speak the language that was now part of the younger ones’ schooling in Kura Kaupapa environments. Several of the participants are heavily involved in those Kura environments and the primary schools especially have become a logical extension of the marae and therefore the community. Overall, the participants agreed that marae-based activity and what happens at the school are ‘intertwined’. One participant revealed that his leadership role on the Board at his local school meant that he was in a more visible position and there were expectations from his children that he speak Māori; he wanted to extend his involvement at the school, to being able to “stand on the paepae”. Not only that, he “did not want the children to beat him”. Before starting the marae-based programme he used to “sit in the back and just listen”, and occasionally speak up when things were said, for example about tikanga. After the first year, however, he is:

In the wānanga experience, many Māori have returned later to study, and students are referred to by their teachers as “late learners, adult learners” and many had even “fallen by the wayside”. As one group participant stated:

Also, when knowledge is ‘internalised’ it can be passed to others, for example:

Hunger for Māori knowledge

The impetus to participate in further learning was also supported by the growing experience that now Māori are generating their own ways and situations of learning, which comes from several factors including

Shift in awareness

The ‘awareness’ factor was nominated by several of the participants, including two who expressed how the role of the Treaty of Waitangi claims had provided a “huge increase and effect on the growth of awareness”. There was a call from several of the participants, both students and teachers, to use marae-based learning opportunities as a way for family and sub-tribe (whānau and hapū) to direct the kind of learning that would take place. Learning away from the marae was seen as providing little cultural context. The static classroom was an example of the kind of legacy that hindered access to learning opportunities for Māori learners; many voiced negative experiences of this type of learning mode. But more importantly, the link was made to the kinds of environment that improved learning opportunities, for example:

4.3 Enhancement of foundation learning opportunities

Marae as access point

The marae is seen as the access point and foundation for learning; marae and wānanga are learning bases and are therefore sites for enhancement of any kind of learning. It is about being safe on the marae and knowing and accepting one’s place. It is also about acknowledging the marae as a resource for learning and as a source of identity development:

Identity development and reaffirmation through a different kind of wairua

The idea of the marae being a resource for identity development is not new, but another idea was put forward regarding the enhancement of foundation learning opportunities being reaffirmed through marae-based education, to not only “embody identity” but also to “reaffirm who we are”. This meant offering people what they wanted to learn in the best possible way. As one participant stated:

Enhancing learning opportunities comes from the validation of the learner, of their wairua and their mana. From trying to improve learning through traditional methods of schooling, going to a marae-based programme was where “the wairua is different…when you are in the wharenui[sleeping house/ meeting house], they are giving back your mana…giving back your kōrero”.

There was a general call for Māori to come back to their marae and this was exemplified in the words of one of the participants from the Te Pouhono programme:

Stepping stone to success

And in other ways, two other participants called for an assessment of how marae-based learning has always been there for Māori learners to have the potential to epitomise success and needs to be acknowledged as a stepping stone to further learning:

However, as one participant stated:

At the end of their first year of the programmes, most of the participants nominated an improvement from a 2/10, to an average of 6/10, particularly in spoken language proficiency.

Strength of leaders to enhance learning

The validation of the learner and the learning mode presented by the marae-based programmes is seen as coming from the strength of the leaders of the whānau, hapū and iwi. This was a repeated call from several of the participants – the notion that, for example:

The next point crosses into pedagogical approaches that saw the tutors in the programmes employ “immersion techniques” to learn the language and tikanga. These practices gave many of the students the confidence to participate and take an active role in their learning. They had no articulated mainstream theoretical underpinnings apart from a tacit awareness and experiential acknowledgement that to immerse oneself in the language is the best way to acquire proficiency and the ongoing flexibility to move between marae. A note needs to be added here that the learners’ faith in the tutors was of a deeply trusting nature that bordered on the level of awe, not just for the knowledge the tutors held, but the fact that the learners had been given the opportunity to access that knowledge. For some learners this process was a profound spiritual awakening, and for others it was a process of validating the spirituality that was both implicit and explicit in mātauranga.

4.4 Pedagogical impacts of different ideologies

The phenomenon of language shift to create ‘safety’

There appears to be an almost direct swing from the privileging of English as the dominant language of teaching and learning, to that of te reo Māori as the dominant medium of instruction in the two programmes. The idea of ‘safety’ was mentioned several times by different people in relation to the level and extent they could speak Māori, and the marae was seen as “the foundation to build a strong base, of identity, and of learning in a safe environment”. The start of the learning journey was seen to begin on the marae and then to venture outwards. Again, the main vehicle for this safety was seen to be through the language, not as an isolating entity but one that was both symbolic and an activity of freedom:

Socialisation and ‘conditioning’ through language

When relating to their past experiences, nearly all the participants, and particularly those in the group discussions, agreed with being ‘conditioned’ into a certain way of learning; for those lucky enough to have te reo language classes at school, these were also somehow disconnected from real life. This way of learning was nominated as the ‘traditional kura’ (mainstream schooling), and both implicit and explicit reference was made to the idea of colonisation still having an influence on current learning situations. For example:

The juxtaposition of two worlds

Not everyone had negative experiences of the ‘Pākehā world’ of schooling. For example, the kuia on the degree programme had the following insights to share, including the different roles taken by the people around her:

But in comparing those past experiences to current marae-based learning, they were seen generally among the participants as part of a world dominated by the classroom and a formality that was both overwhelming and overbearing. That is, there is a sense that Māori are still “dominated by Pākehā”, and Māori children and Māori knowledge still struggle for status and recognition. The kuia also supported these sentiments. In the words of another participant, she felt as if she was “on another planet and nothing made sense”.

However, there is no denying that learning on the marae appears to have even more of a formal structure than the Pākehā classroom, particularly in regard to rules and protocol of tapu and noa, mana and tikanga,who can speak and who cannot, highly specified turn-taking and schematic rituals. But whereas the Pākehā classroom “weighs you down”, the following observation points to a different outcome of marae-based learning:

Pedagogical practices to enhance individual learning for community gains

The quality of delivery and the knowledge base of the lecturers were seen as defining factors for the success of marae-based programmes and for developing confidence in the participants. There were common goals that had much to do with being linked to each other through the Mātaatua waka connections, as well as common whānau, hapū and iwi relationships. The embodiment of learning was emphasised through comments about individual lecturers, their knowledge and “beautiful āhua” (character, being, personage), but also about individuals who were willing to help each other. One kuia from Waiohau was quite specific about the knowledge of the lecturers, and how she needed to interact with them. Compared to the other participants, her reo was of a very high standard, and this she acknowledged, but for her it was now about displaying “authentic knowledge, otherwise the lecturers would be disappointed”. Her words echo the others when the structure of imparting knowledge takes on new dimensions in a marae setting:

When the participants spoke of getting back their mana, wairua, mauri, or getting back their kōrero, they highlighted that these occurred mainly through the experiences of searching for whakapapa (genealogical links, relationships), for hapū and iwi. The outcome of learning was never seen as being just for the individual student, but for other people around them, including their tupuna (ancestors) and kaumatua (elders). There was always something to learn and knowledge was never taken for granted. For example, not one student rated themselves higher than a 2/10 in relation to their oral Māori language skills, and yet all were seemingly ‘fluent’ and would have had to have a certain proficiency in the reo before starting their programmes. Nearly all participants credited their improvement in the reo as being influenced by working as part of a group. One participant drew memories from a long time ago, and reminisced:

Nowhere is the pedagogical impact of the different ideologies more pronounced than in the system of relationships that exists through marae-based learning opportunities and the nature of working towards a collective, and yet still successful, outcome. The participants talked about not only learning about tikanga and kawa (practices of tikanga), but actually applying these to everything they did on each of the marae they visited, and throughout other aspects of their lives. The learning that takes place on the marae became a chance “to live it, and breathe it”. The wharenui is “like our kura” (school), and when the students sit in the wharenui, and tell their stories, they get the strength of the mātauranga on the marae; their tipuna are there alongside them, as are their koroua (elder male) and kuia (elder female). Because of the adult age of the learners, many of them can remember being encouraged by their elders to pursue education – in their cases, “Pākehā knowledge”. They reinforced the view that they were not seeking education just as an individual, but with the full collective support of whānau, who gave them money and karakia (prayers). In at least two situations, the participants were “sent by the elders” to obtain this education. Three of the participants highlighted the acceptance Māori have in a marae-based learning environment and that while the teacher or ‘subject expert’ might hold the ‘qualifications’, it is the elders who retain the mana because they are the ones with the knowledge of whakapapa and tikanga.

Māori were acknowledged as being “really strong at getting people to come together on education to help ourselves”, and no more so than on the marae. This participant, along with others, knows that it is not about excluding the ‘Pākehā world’ but sometimes working with and alongside it for the advantage and collective good of her people. They have a deep understanding that several of the marae are losing their elders and that “our children are in trouble” and therefore there is a great need to return to the marae. She, like several of the other participants, and her hapū embrace technology; they bring the computer and other learning opportunities to the marae, and as she says, “it’s not that we’re giving the mana to others”, but it’s about collaboration and discussion with others.

The understanding that getting an education was the main thing that was going to help Māori was an opinion prevalent throughout the interviews and discussions. However, the focus of the kind of education did not waver among the participants, for example:

The feeling of ‘ease’ in going back to the marae for education and further learning was influenced by past experiences of schooling that was ‘hard’ and being made to “feel like an alien in the Pakehā world”, but also balanced by an acknowledgement that getting back the reo and knowledge of tikanga will have pragmatic outcomes, but is never-ending:

4.5 Data analysis

As indicated in the methodology section, the analysis of the information is presented the following table that captures the dynamic relationship between the overall goals of the project, and the information provided by participants in response to interview questions that were linked to these goals.

Table 4 - Data analysis

Goal	Case study 1	Case study 2
Goal 1: Broadening our understanding of the utility of marae-based education to provide, develop and improve foundation learning opportunities for Māori learners across a range of different education programme contexts.	The marae does not just provide the context for learning but is the resource for learning. It acts as an effective system that combines the knowledge of kaumatua and tipuna with the efforts and input of the lecturers, as well as the programme set out by Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. The lecturers are there to make explicit what has been tacitly known by many for a long time, that is, the power and centrality of te reo Māori as the main medium to foster successful learning Being on the marae heightens a sense of awareness about not just the wairua of the place, but about the environment to generate exciting learning through metaphorical language, karakia, waiata, kiwaha and whakapapa. For example, from the data ‘starting from the beginning is likened to having the ‘right whāriki for the whare …’. There is nothing that cannot be done on the marae; technology and computers can be easily introduced, experts can come onto the marae to speak. In fact one of the resources asked of students undertaking the degree programme is that they have their own computer, and many of them do bring along laptops. Because the Wānanga has had more experience with facilitating this kind of education, they can deploy to any marae site and students will observe and learn through strict protocols.	The access to the marae is easy, with the wharenui representing the kura. The awakening to learning comes from going back to the marae, to the roots of who Māori really are. The marae provides a safe environment for learning, and involvement in this type of learning happens best through learning with whānau, hapū and iwi. The tikanga and kawa of the marae use the language of te reo, as a vehicle to grow knowledge among community members.
Goal 2: Building evidence of the ways that marae-based education programmes help to foster holistic learning for Māori learners in order to enhance foundation learning and also to improve retention and successful outcomes in tertiary education programmes.	There is a strong sense of still being dominated by the Pākehā, but at the wānanga, people are given status; mana and qualifications go hand in hand. There is a general recognition that while reading and writing are important – especially writing – it is the ability to kōrero in te reo Māori that is of the utmost importance to the students. They recognise the need for ongoing foundation learning skills in how to write, and how to present work to meet the standards of an academic degree. Learning the reo goes hand in hand with accepting responsibility and the right place on the marae. This impetus has driven an average rating at the beginning of the degree programme from a 2/10 to between 6/10 and 7/10.	There is the idea that mainstream education experiences conditioned Māori, not just necessarily in how to learn, but in the way they wanted people to learn. The system did not help then and it does not help now; there is a reaffirmation that looking to the future of Māori and the kind of education that is privileged, requires looking to the past. Learning te reo makes students want to be really confident. Working with whānau to apply the correct tikanga on the marae has improved engagement with literacy and language. Last year they would have rated themselves between 1/10 and 2/10, but this year they gave themselves close to 4/10.