Whakataukī - There should be an active use and integration of whakataukī with the aim to have at least one integrated into each unit of work which can be recited daily and used as a focus for the learning. – please refer Aotearoa New Zealand section under the Ngā Ritenga Practices heading.

 

A culturally responsive lens/aspect needs to be applied to all themes and subjects in regards to subject content and world view.  In all subjects it is important to consider the following:

• Presentation of self

• Cultural lens perspective

• Perspectives through a range of cultural lens

• Cultural responsiveness

• Mana enhancing actions

• Environment

 

In searching for their sense of place in the world, the student can experience that the world has many facets, many points where the spiritual interacts with the ordinary.  The student needs to be supported in the beginning of their journey towards personal identity. 

 

The rhythms of tapu me te noa may provide a safe foundation from which the student can explore their interactions with the world.  The everyday practice of ‘Tapu me te Noa’ allows the students to experience this state of being.  

 

Exposure to reading and listening to contemporary Māori writers and speakers, musicians, artists, actors, film makers, leaders is important at this age as role models and for the perspectives that they bring.  

 

Te Reo Māori should be used as much as possible to give simple daily instructions in the classroom. 

 

There is an expectation that kupu are incorporated into written work and activities as much as possible.  It is important to note that there could be dialectic differences depending on the location of the kura.

 

It is an expectation that school wide initiatives are supported within all lessons as much as possible including  waiata and karakia.

 

All camps should connect with Marae closest to the campsite area so they can speak specifically about the whenua.  This could include the students researching local history prior to the event.

 

Māori Story Curriculum  

As teachers in Waldorf/Steiner schools we are conscious of and follow a prescribed story curriculum which relates directly to the pedagogical development of the children in our care and their changing developmental stages. Being conscious and active in constructing and providing for our students in our schools, a dual and continuative narrative is essential.  Our aim is to take our children on an unbroken journey from simple nature stories from Aotearoa and as well pakiwaitara, through the Māori creation stories through to biographies of prominent Māori who have shaped our country.  In the High School, stories should be told; read and studied that describe times of conflict and political struggle within a Māori context as well as representing strong Māori role models.

 

Though the prime provider of these stories will be the class teacher in the lower school and subject teacher in the high school, the value of engaging with mana whenua in this process is necessary to ensure history is genuine and locally relevant. 

 

Story curriculum in the High School needs to be sequential, built on foundation of LS and it must relate to impulses for each year.  Stories in the LS should not be political.