Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau Te Moananui a Kiwa: Te Ohonga Ake o Te Reo - The re-awakening of Māori language Publications
Publication Details
This is the final report of Te Kōhanga Reo o Puau Te Moananui a Kiwa and tells the story of the journey undertaken by the whanau of this service during the time they were a designated Centre of Innovation between 2003 – 2006
Author(s): Hariata Rawinia Pohatu, Kanewa Stokes and Herewini Austin
Date Published: January 2006
Executive Summary
Te Tamaiti o te Ao - Child of the Universe, there are no boundaries to your learning. (Maxwell, p.26).
This report tells the story of the journey undertaken by the whanau of Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau Te Moananui a Kiwa during the time when they were a designated Centre of Innovation, 2003 to 2006.
The introductory chapter follows a kauapapa Māori format, by providing the whakapapa to Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau Te Moananui a Kiwa. It shares the aspirations of the founders of the Kōhanga reo movement, the context of the kōhanga reo movement yesterday and today, and the aspirations of whānau ā kaupapa at Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau for their kōhanga reo and for their tamariki.
Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau Te Moananui a Kiwa
Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau Te Moananui a Kiwa derives its name from Pūau Te Moananui ā Kiwa Kopua, a person who worked tirelessly in the Pt England and Glen Innes areas as a Māori Health Officer and Life Member of Ruapōtaka Māori Women's Welfare League. It was her fervent desire to establish a kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa Māori for the people of the Eastern suburbs of Tamaki Makaurau. After a long-term illness Pūau passed away on the 15th March 1990.
The physical establishment of the kōhanga reo was brought about through the mahi and aroha of Kia Tutuki Trust administered by Maurice Taimana, past principal of Bairds Intermediate School, supported by Whaea Ma Taimana and his whānau. Sadly, Maurice passed away on 19 February 1992, leaving the kōhanga reo and kura kaupapa as a legacy from his whānau and as a memorial to Pūau Te Moananui a Kiwa Kopua.
Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau Te Moananui a Kiwa started in 1991 at the old Tamaki Girls' College, and shifted to a permanent site at the Glen Innes Intermediate School in 1993. It operates within two buildings with three licences for a maximum of 100 mokopuna: 75 children over the age of 2 years, and 25 under 2 year olds. The rolls during the 2003 to 2006 period averaged 45 tamariki.
The mahi of Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau-as for all kōhanga reo-is guided by Te Korowai, the charter developed by the Kōhanga Reo National Trust. A key goal is the retention of te reo Māori through restoration of its use in day-to-day interactions. The innovation of the kōhanga reo organisation comes from the foresight kaumatua had in initiating the movement to ensure the retention of te reo me ōna tikanga. Another kauapapa of the movement is whānau development. All tamariki, parents and kaimahi are considered whānau operating within a Māori paradigm. Thus, decisions are driven by the whānau ā kauapapa of O Pūau.
Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau was nominated by the Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust as the only kōhanga reo to represent the movement in round one of the centres of innovation (COI) programme, a new initiative announced in Ngā Huarahi Arataki (Ministry of Education, 2002). At a Purapura hui, called at short notice by Iritana Tawhiwhirangi in December 2002, Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau accepted the responsibility and the challenge. This nomination was considered to be recognition of the capacity and capability of Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau. It also meant the kōhanga O Pūau was not only representing themselves but also all other kōhanga reo. The sense of obligation and commitment to the kōhanga reo kaupapa was integral to O Pūau whānau accepting the responsibility, regardless of their not fully understanding what COI was or what the full implications of their participation involved. This sense of obligation and responsibility has been fundamental in pushing kaimahi to continue and complete the COI journey regardless of the many challenges they faced.
Nan Peti Hynes later suggested that the whānau o Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau call the COI project, Ngā Mahi Auaha (NMA), and this became the title for the work and the project team.
Te Ohonga Ake o Te Reo is the title of the final research report. It both captures the kauapapa of the kōhanga reo movement and what happened during the journey of discovery by the whānau of Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau.
The Kaupapa of Te Kōhanga Reo
The Kōhanga Reo National Trust Website describes the philosophy as:
Pono ki te kaupapa; puna ko te reo.
The following policies laid the foundation of Kōhanga Reo in 1982:
- Total immersion in Te Reo Māori in Te Kōhanga Reo daily operations
- Whānau decision-making, management and responsibility
- Accountability
- No smoking in Te Kōhanga Reo. (This was later extended to become 'the health and well-being of the mokopuna and whānau'.)
The kauapapa of kōhanga reo is expanded thus:
Kōhanga Reo provides a location and a purpose for people of all ages to meet and work together. The Kōhanga Reo kaupapa is powerful in drawing people together to support each other and work towards the ultimate goal of a bilingual and bicultural nation.
Kōhanga Reo has been established in every district to ensure that every family has access. These centres will provide for the mokopuna and the whānau not only a place of learning te reo me öna tikanga Māori, but an environment of whānaungatanga where the mokopuna will be nurtured within the bosom of the whānau, where te reo Māori will prevail and where love and care will spring from the whānau. (To visit the Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust website go to the 'Downloads/Links' inset box, top right).
Historical context
In the 1960's rapid urbanisation occurred. Māori shifted from their tribal areas to the urban areas in search of work, life style and other goals. Between 1973 and 1978, the first Māori language survey undertaken highlighted that the Māori language was dying (Benton 1991). The survey findings noted that the majority of native Māori speakers were aged 45 years or older. The 1976 Census figures around that period also suggested 12 percent of the Māori population of 405,000 were native speakers of Māori, which equated to approximately 48,600 people. The decline of the Māori language sent alarm bells out to Māori. In 1977 the Department of Māori Affairs adopted the Tū Tangāta philosophy which aimed at re-establishing Māori cultural values, a cornerstone of that programme being te reo me ōna tikanga. In response to the concern about the decline of the Māori language, the first kōhanga reo opened in April 1982. It was supported by the Department of Māori Affairs.
In the decade after 1982, many Māori participated in kōhanga reo. At that time, the movement had the human resource of fluent speakers, and many kōhanga reo were located within marae settings.
The late 1980s was a period when the Fourth Labour government initiated radical state sector reforms, which were inclusive of decentralisation and devolution. Māori Affairs devolved, and the services it provided for Māori went to other mainstream government departments. In 1989, the government administration of the Kōhanga Reo National Trust transferred to the new Ministry of Education where kōhanga reo were classified as early childhood education centres. Kōhanga reo became bound by legal requirements to comply with the Education (Early Childhood Education) Regulations that took no account of the special characteristics of this innovative movement. Over the 15 years after the transfer, the most detrimental effects for the kōhanga reo movement came from the discourse that occurred because it was seen from the outside only as an early childhood education organisation focused on children. From the inside, Māori have seen teaching and learning in kōhanga reo as contributing to the Tino Rangatiratanga of all tamariki and whānau (Ngā Taumata Whakahirahira, cited in Te Korowai 1995:18).
Today, remembering the age of the native speakers in 1976 was mostly aged 45 years or older, the age of native speakers would sit at approximately 72 years and older. Moreover, 20 more years of urbanisation have had a big impact. The realities kōhanga reo face today is that they do not have the access to these speakers as they did then; some do not have regular contact with marae. Colonisation continues to affect Māori and life styles have changed. Whānau do not have the ability to attend and participate at a daily level within kōhanga reo, as many need to work and/or study.
A diagrammatic representation of this context was shared with the whānau at Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau when they were grappling with the NMA data that painted a worrying picture of their realities in 2005. It is shown in Diagram 1 below.
Diagram 1: Contextual Situation
Aspirations of kaiwhakahaere for Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau
The philosophical underpinning of Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau is Te Korowai, the charter for the kōhanga reo movement. It holds the principles that weave the korowai of the movement, which cloaks the dreams and aspirations of the Māori people for its mokopuna and future generations. These principles were accepted by both the kaimahi at Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau and the research associates involved with NMA. The first research associate was Mere Skerritt-White from the University of Waikato and, when she moved, Nan Hariata Pohatu and Kanewa Stokes were appointed as kairangahau from 2004.
In addition, kaiwhakahaere at Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau use several whakatauki to guide them. The booklet that introduces Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau to their whānau ā kauapapa opens with the following whakatauki.
E kore koe e ngaro
He kaakano i ruia mai i a Rangiatea Kakaro
He taonga tuku iho
Na ngā tipuna
(You will never be lost
For you are the seed sown from Rangiatea
A cultural heritage
From our ancestors.)
Ehara taku toa i te toa taki tahi engari he toa takitini.
(I come not with my own strength but bring with me gifts, talents and strengths of my whānau, iwi and tipuna.)
Toi te kupu, toi te mana, toi te whenau.
(Without Māori language, prestige or mana Māoritanga will cease to exist.)
With these whakatauki as the back-drop to life in Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau, it was no surprise to find, when the NMA rōpu surveyed whānau that the majority of families expected kaimahi to teach their tamariki te reo me ōna tikanga Māori.
To help introduce O Pūau, some profile information from the surveys follow. The May 2004 whānau survey questionnaires showed that over half of the respondents (25 of 41) had been involved in Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau for less than 2 ½ years, and the majority of them (71 percent) had only one child attending although many had three or more children living at home. Only about one-quarter of the respondents had older children who attended kura kauapapa Māori or total immersion/ bilingual units. The proportion intending to use kura kauapapa Māori or total immersion/ bilingual units in the future was markedly different - 63 percent intended to send their pre-school aged children to a school where they would continue to be educated in te reo Māori. Thirty-one had been brought up in urban cities. Tribal affiliations were diverse, with the biggest number making whakapapa connections with Ngapuhi. Over 20 other whakapapa identifications were provided.
The September 2005 survey questionnaires showed that 22 of 39 respondents had been in O Pūau for less than 2 ½ years. A smaller proportion (18 percent) had older children in kura kauapapa Māori or total immersion/ bilingual units, and a similar proportion (60 percent) intended sending their kōhanga child/ren to a school where they would continue to be educated in te reo Māori. Twenty of these whānau had been brought up in urban locations.
Ngā Mahi Auaha research
The NMA research addresses the interests of the whānau at O Pūau and across Aotearoa. After a period of being in the `mists' with regard to the research, and after much deliberation, the NMA rōpu formulated its research question:
Working with Mātauranga Māori, what changes and actions in Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau Te Moananui a Kiwa will:
- enhance Te Reo Māori learning?
- contribute to strengthening Māori identity, making mokopuna feel whole?
- prepare mokopuna for success in their life's journey in the world?
It reflects the image of the tamariki/ mokopuna that opens this chapter: that mokopuna are children of the universe who have no boundaries to their learning.
A waiata that Nan Henrietta Maxwell chose to reflect this image of the child is Tipu e Ngā Uri.
Tipu e ngā uri i roto i tenei ao
He ao hurihuri kia tūpato rā
Kei te hotu te manawa
He roimata i maringi
Mōu te mokopuna
Kua pūāwai koe.
Kimihia he ora, he mana mohou e
Kia tūpato rā e
I ō haerenga
Kei te hotu te manawa
He roimata I maringi
Mōu te mokopuna
Kua pūāwai koe.
(Grow up oh precious one in this ever-challenging world
Being very careful for nothing.
My heart aches and tears fall
For you have now grown and blossomed.
Journey forth and pursue the highways and by-ways of life
To further your development.)
The elements of the NMA research question help shape the structure of this report. Chapter One gives an overview of the research methods used by Te Kōhanga Reo o Pūau in NMA. Chapters Two, Three, and Four address in turn Te Mana Reo (te reo), Te Mana o Ngā Tipuna (Māori identity) and Te Mana Atua (life's journey, Arikitanga). Chapter Five is entitled Te Mana o te Ao Tūroa and shares findings about three action research cycles focused on teaching and learning, and moving from a state of confusion to kauapapa-based research. NMA then moved to make the central focus te reo me ōna tikanga Māori. The final chapter, Te Mana Hā, describes the point where whānau came to accept each other and, at the same time, asked questions about the effectiveness of the kōhanga reo movement if it were to continue with idealistic expectations.
References
- Benton, R. (1991). The Māori language: Dying or reviving? A working paper prepared for the East-West Center Alumni-in-Residence Working Paper Series.
- Maxwell, H. (2000). He pitopito kōrero/ waiata mō te maramataka whakapapa o Te Kōhanga Reo te tau rua mano. Wellington: Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust.
- Ministry of Education (2002). Ngā huarahi arataki / Pathways to the future. Wellington: Learning Media.
- Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust. (1995). Te Korowai. Wellington.
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