Workshop Abstracts for Teachers Conference 2017
Teachers to choose one of the following six workshops (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6) for the 10.30am Conference slot and enrol into HR.NET.10.30am Rangimarie 2
Workshop 1: Charlotte Mildon – Aroha; an ancient Maori healing pedagogy in ECE
The word Māori means normal or natural. Te ao Māori (the natural world) means being at one with everything that exists in nature. Aroha is at the very core of every whānau (family) who descends from mother nature. Aroha (unconditional love) is something that is felt deeply and aligns with the prophecy of the Tohuna with the return of the Atua Wāhine (divine feminine), who are all about the unconditional aroha (love) of all whānau (families) in the universe.
My observation of the personal and professional philosophies of student teachers in ECE, revealed a deficit of healing pedagogies. So many teachers had no idea how to love themselves, truly and deeply yet it is one of the greatest healing lessons in life. On centre visits, I observed many student teachers encourage conflict resolution with the tamariki but were unable to practice this with peer students, staff members or whānau at home. Quality family time was often a lesser priority while trying to manage increasing workloads, study commitments, staff dynamics and dealing with children’s behaviours in the centre.
So many ECE student teachers suffered as a result from unhealthy lifestyles, depression and physical un-wellness. Healing with aroha as an ECE teacher is a blueprint that can live on in the minds and hearts of future generations, who will in turn teach their own tamariki to heal themselves and their natural environment that YOU may grow old in. The children may not understand all the words you are saying but they certainly know the energy of teachers who love themselves and are instinctively drawn to them. This workshop will explore ways in which you can discover deep spiritual healing insights of aroha to release mamae (painful) emotional memories that often cause physical imbalances and un-wellness. It will also share some practical techniques and rituals of Māori healing that link in with nature to maintain your holistic wellbeing as an ECE teacher, using the ultimate pedagogy Māori, aroha.
Charlotte Mildon is of Irish, Welsh and Māori descent. She is a mokopuna (grandchild) of the Takitimu canoe that carried the Tohunga Māori (the healing priest/priestess) to Aotearoa and her tribal affiliations are Ngati Ruapani, Hinemanuhiri, Rongomaiwahine, Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou. Having being mentored in her work by traditional Tohunga and Tohuna (wisdom keeper), Charlotte uses a range of pedagogy Māori in her teaching practice. She specialised in lecturing mātauranga Māori with Te Rito Maioha, (previously Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa Early Childhood New Zealand), for 5 years while completing her masters and doctoral research in traditional Māori healing. Her current work as a Te Oomai Reia romiromi Māori healing practitioner, extends to cultural supervision, professional development and Māori healing workshops both nationally and internationally. She is driven by passion as an educator, to inspire people to access the innermost healing powers and sacred wisdom within, through the ancient te reo Māori, otherwise known as, ‘the voices of nature’.
10.30am: Angus
Workshop 2: Bea Joblin - PUKANAMai – discover your Pukana!
An interactive workshop that balances a discussion of the power of your Pukana with new games, songs and activities to get you thinking about how Pukana can be used as an example of the Whakamana strand of Te Whāriki, to empower tamariki and teachers alike!
Your Pukana is an expression of your ihi me tō wēhi, or your personal power, and is a powerful way of asserting your beauty, strength and brilliance as an individual. How can we bring the act of Pukana into our waiata practice at mat times, and the philosophy of Pukana into our wider culture, to model to children the joy and excitement of being fearlessly yourself?
Bea is a registered ECE teacher, drama teacher and artist from Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara/Wellington. She is a fluent speaker of te reo Māori with a background in kaupapa Māori early childhood centres, and a passion for increasing use of Te Reo within the arts and education.
10.30am: Amokura
Workshop 3: Jennie Ritchie – Enhancing teachers’ understandings of Tātaiako
In this presentation Jenny aims to enhance teachers’ understandings of Tātaiako by focussing on key Māori concepts, and illustrating how these have been applied in early childhood care and education by drawing upon their research. Links will be made to key ideas from Te Whāriki, Te Whatu Pōkeka, and Ka Hikitia – Accelerating Success. Jenny will ground this synthesis of understandings from these key Ministry of Education documents in a philosophical foundation drawn from Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Some provocations will be posed, with the intention of extending teachers’ current understandings and thus enabling them to deepen their commitment to delivering on the expectations of these documents, and thus enhance their capacity to deliver Tiriti based and culturally sustaining practice.
Dr Jenny Ritchie has been involved in the early childhood care and education sector since the 1970s, as a childcare worker, kindergarten teacher, parent, teacher educator, education researcher, and more recently, a grandparent. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Victoria University of Wellington. Her research and teaching has focussed on understanding how to apply a commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi within early childhood and teacher education. More recently her research focus has shifted to exploring the ways in which applying Māori conceptualisations can enhance our care for the planet.
10.30am: Rangimarie 1
Workshop 4: Rawiri Smith – Using Powhiri to promote collaboration and bring communities together.
Collaboration is important in New Zealand as a method of bringing communities together to work on complex problems. A useful collaborative model is the Powhiri, practiced by Māori for hundreds of years.
Ko Maungarake taku maunga kaitiaki - My mountain guardian is Maungarake
Ko Ruamahanga taku awa orange - My life giving river is the Ruamahanga
Ko Takitimu te waka o oku tohunga tawhito - The canoe of my ancient priests is Takitimu
Ko Ngati Kahungunu taku iwi - My tribe Ngati Kahungunu
Ko Ngati Kaiparuparu me Ngai Taneroa me Ngati Muretu oku hapu - My sub tribes are Ngati Kaiparuparu, Ngai Taneroa and Ngati Muretu
Ko Nukupewapewa taku tangata me kaiwhakaora - My person and liberator is Nukupewapewa
Ko Rangikaiwhiria Reiri raua ko Rangiuea Namana oku poupou - My grandfathers are Rangikaiwhiria Reiri and Rangiuea Namana
Ko Ida Ihaka Namana raua ko Hera Huaki oku nanny - My nannies are Ida Ihaka Namana and Hera Huaki
Ko Frances taku whaea - My mother is Frances
Ko Rawiri Smith taku ingoa - My name is Rawiri Smith
No Wairarapa ahau - I am from Wairarapa
Rawiri (Ra) Smith is an Environment Manager (Kaiwhakahaere Taiao) for Kahungunu Ki Wairarapa, an indigenous tribal authority in Wairarapa, New Zealand.
As a proponent of indigenous models from New Zealand, he is a part of national initiatives (Our Land and Water National Science Challenge Collaboration Lab, Land and Water Forum), a part of political bodies at a regional level (Greater Wellington Regional Council’s subcommittee, Te Upoko Taiao, Ruamahanga Whaitua Committee), a part of district organisations (Masterton District Council, Sustainable Wairarapa, Te Hauora Runanga o Wairarapa), and a part of traditional Maori entities (Ngati Kahungunu Ki Wairarapa Tamakinui-A-Rua Treaty Trust, Kahungunu Ki Wairarapa, Hurunui-o-Rangi Marae Trust). Most of these organisations operate under collaborative ideals and seek to synthesise an indigenous knowledge base with other knowledgebases.
10.30am: Rangimarie 3
Workshop 5: Te Kahu Rolleston - Feel the Flow Papamahi!
The point of this exercise is to learn/store information, in a fun way. We will discuss a topic Ngā Atua Māori and collectively share what information we have as a group. When there is enough information collected from kōrero we will begin composing the words as a collective. Once the words are created we will create the movements as a group. Eventually we will have a nifty rad, chant/poem/rap/song that we can jam to and use as a resource whenever we need to know information about our chosen topic!
Te Kahu is from Tauranga Moana. He is passionate about the power that words have, to educate heal and inspire action. Out of the things he has done, Te Kahu says he gets the most joy from the change he can see in young people within an hour. Young people go from shy and scared to share, to confident and looking like they have just climbed a Maunga. “This is real fruit of the mahi”. Sharing a skill with people that they can use after he leaves, is something he finds to be much more special than just speaking or performing.
Te Kahu has won the National spoken word poetry slam. In 2016 he travelled to Guam for the world Pacific Festival, where he won the Inter Island Spoken word poetry slam. He has run Spoken word poetry workshops and performed at hundreds of places all over Aotearoa and a few places overseas also. These include a bunch of international conferences, over a hundred schools, rangatahi groups, Kōhanga, Universities, Education Institutions, Pacifica festival, Ahi Ka Festival, Te Ra o Te Raukura Festival, Newtown festival.
He has also completed the Banff world indigenous arts centres writer’s residency in Canada. Te Kahu has a goal of making learning fun for all ages by mixing learning with his passion for words.
10.30am: Soundings
Workshop 6: Arapera Witehira: - How has the tikanga practices of my marae shaped me to be a leader today?
I am Maori first before I am a lecturer, before I am a facilitator, before I am a leader. Having lived and walked in te ao Māori all my life, my view of ‘leadership’ is one of a pragmatic and respectful context that draws from the lessons of my tūpuna. What are our responsibilities as educators in ECE to acknowledge and implement a curriculum programme that reflects te ao Māori me ōna tikanga. Tikanga - It is our indigenous knowledge’s, it is our ways of being, our ways of knowing our ways of doing. Ka ora tōnu tātou te iwi Māori.
Arapera is currently the Pouhere Kaupapa Māori/Māori Advisor with Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand. Arapera is from the small rural settlement of Matawaia in the North. She is the owner of new total immersion te reo Māori centre in the Far North, Kaitaia.
Teachers to choose one of the following four workshops (8, 9, 10 or 11) for the 1.30pm Conference slot and enrol into HR.NET:
1.30pm:Soundings
Workshop 8: Lucie Zwimpfer - Infant mental health, emotional regulation and brain development.
This presentation will provide an introduction to infant mental health and describe how the principles of infant mental health can be applied in an ECE environment, with a particular focus on emotional regulation and brain development.
Lucie Zwimpfer is a Registered Parent Infant Psychotherapist. She works in the Maternal Mental Health Service and also leads the Parent Infant Mental Health team in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). She speaks regularly on the topic of infant mental health and has a particular interest in how teachers and non-parental care-givers can support the mental health of young children.
1.30pm: Rangimarie 1
Workshop 9: K. Abrahams and B. Thompson from Hastings Barnardos Kidstart Childcare Centre - Our journey to transform a community.
This workshop will share our journey of how our team transformed a community through creative thinking, unwavering commitment, sheer determination and a genuine desire to improve the lives of others. We have developed a strong culture of respect, peace, continuous improvement, shared leadership, and cultural responsiveness in order to engage children, parents, whānau and the community. We will share examples from our nature-based centre of our daily rituals, intentional teaching practices, centre celebrations and events, our beautiful play spaces, meaningful stories of partnerships and tikanga Māori in action.
Kelly Abraham
Tēnā koutou katoa! I have been Centre Manager at Hastings Barnardos Kidstart Childcare Centre for the last 12 years and lead a team of 9 staff. I live on a farm just outside of Hastings with my husband and beautiful daughter and highly value peaceful and respectful partnerships and nature based learning.
Rebecca (Bex) Thompson
Kia ora koutou!
I have been based at Hastings Barnardos Kidstart Childcare Centre since 2009 and am currently leading our infant and toddler room. I come from a large extended whānau and enjoy spending time with my step children and mokopuna. I am originally from Wairoa and highly value bi-culturalism, nature based learning and real experiences.
1.30pm: Rangimarie 2
Workshop 10: Sonja McFarlane - Culturally responsive practice that affirms language, culture and identity.
Culturally responsive practice must surely be the pinnacle of best practice for all educators who are working with tamariki and whānau in early education settings in Aotearoa New Zealand A range of key questions are regularly reflected on as we search for the most appropriate and responsive strategies and approaches: What key concepts and values need to underpin and guide thinking and action? What approaches and strategies are more meaningful and relevant? What variables contribute to how tamariki and whānau may think, feel and behave?
In this presentation, a kaupapa Māori lens will be drawn on to challenge and affirm aspects of conventional western perspectives. A blended approach to unpacking some of these ideas is proposed; ultimately, a Treaty-based framework is offered to guide thinking and theorising, and to promote practice that affirms language, culture and identity.
Sonja Macfarlane (PhD) affiliates to the iwi of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Waewae. Her research, publications and teaching collectively focus on culturally responsive evidence-based approaches in education, psychology, counselling and human development. Sonja’s career pathway has seen her move from classroom teacher to itinerant teacher, to special education advisor, to the national Professional Practice Leader: Services to Māori (Pouhikiahurea) in the Ministry of Education, Special Education. Sonja is an Associate Professor in the School of Health Sciences at UC, working as a Senior Research Fellow.
1.30pm: Amokura
Workshop 10: Dr. Lance O’Sullivan - What it is that builds and sustains strong communities.
Dr Lance O’Sullivan is a Kaitaia based GP who is a passionate advocate for Māori health. His vision is to eradicate all poverty-related illness and making basic healthcare much more accessible to the people of Northland.
In recognition for his achievements, passion and his drive to eradicate all poverty-related illness and making basic health care much more accessible to the people in Northland, Lance was named Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year 2014 and received the Sir Peter Blake Emerging Leadership Award and Public Health Association Public Health Champion awards in 2013 and the TVNZ Marae Investigates Māori of the Year in 2012.
Lance will share his story and his perspective on what it is that builds and sustains strong communities.