Te ohonga ake i taku moemoeā, ko te puāwaitanga o ngā whakaaro: The Moerewa School Story Keri Milne-Ihimaera Ngāi Tahu A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Māori Development and Advancement January 2018 i Thesis Consent Form This thesis may be consulted for the purpose of research or private study provided that due acknowledgement is made where appropriate and that the author’s permission is obtained before any material from the thesis is published. Signed: ____________________________ Date: ______________________________ Declaration To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where the acknowledgement has been made. This thesis contains no material, which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. This thesis will be saved and stored at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and made available for future students and researchers to read and reference. Signed: ____________________________ Date: ______________________________ Copyright Copyright is owned by the author of this thesis. Permission is given for this thesis to be read and referenced by you for the purpose of research and private study provided you comply with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). This thesis may not be reproduced without the permission of the author. Copyright 2017, asserted by Keri Milne-Ihimaera in Whakatane, New Zealand. ii Dedication This work is dedicated to the 17 students who were in the Senior Class at Moerewa School in 2012, who exemplified success every day, through their leadership and tenacity to achieve culturally, socially and academically. The never ending love, support and care that was shown to these amazing young women and men by their whānau and wider community must also be acknowledged. The insistence of their teachers, and support staff to believe always in their potential, and to do “whatever it takes” to guide these young people to success, is now also recognised, documented and mostly appreciated. Nō reira, nei rā te whakamānawa ki a koutou. Aku nui, aku rahi, aku whakatamarahi ki te rangi, tēnā koutou katoa iii Acknowledgements This work has made it through to this final stage due to the help and support of many people. This is a collective achievement. Firstly, I want to acknowledge the staff, students and community of Moerewa School from 2005 – 2014 when I had the privilege of being the Principal in the school. I learnt a great deal from all of you, and was humbled by your request for me to document this story on our behalf. I thank you all for your continued interest and support. I wish the community, the school, the staff and its students all the best for the future. It has been an absolute honour to be able to spend time discussing this work with my thesis supervisors, Distinguished Professor Graham Smith and Associate Professor Richard Smith from Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. I recognise your contributions to the academy, and have genuinely enjoyed your advice, critique, insight and discussions. To my extended family, who have supported, helped, and been interested along the way, thank you. I must single out the first Doctor in our whānau, who has done more than help and guide this work. The hours of reading, re-working, advice, challenge and encouragement are the reason this work has made it to this completion stage. Mum – there are not enough words to express my deepest thanks, appreciation, admiration and love for you, and for your support of me. Tēnei ka whakamiha i a koutou e aku nui, e aku rahi, koutou kei aku poutuara, kei aku poutaunaki e kore e ārikarika aku kupu whakamihi i a koutou. Ko te puna aroha e kore e mimiti. My final acknowledgements are to my own. To my husband David. My children, Chey, Blake, Georgia and Kairangi. You were all with me during the journey that was Moerewa School. You were impacted also. You stood solidly by my side and were iv my constant source of safety and unconditional support. Your interest in this writing has been constant, and your help and encouragement have meant that I got this over the line! My roles as Mum, Nanny and Hon are the titles I’m the most proud of. Thank you all so much. E kore e mutu ngā mihi aroha ki a koutou. To my mokopuna, Atareta, Te Haakura, Tiipare and Te Hiringa o te Raa, who think that everyone has a Nanny who sits on the sofa writing a Doctorate on their laptops, surrounded by whānau craziness, love and support. v I hope that this work, and the work of other educators means that the education system you engage with, treasures your Māori world view, and expects nothing less than for you to reach your fullest potential. Me whakatipu ki te hua o te aroha, me whakapakari ki te hua o te mātauranga. Nurture them with love, and strengthen them with education. vi Abstract On 23rd April, 2012 the Minister of Education disestablished the Board of Trustees at Moerewa School, a rural, predominantly Māori school in Northland, New Zealand, and appointed a Commissioner. The Commissioner’s arrival in the school the very next day was recorded on national television and in print media in the day’s national news. What happened in this small Māori community to invoke the highest level of statutory intervention from the Minister of Education, and what were the events that brought the school and community to such prominent national focus? The Moerewa School experience is a story of a community and a people marginalised and rendered powerless in a Eurocentric education system. It is also a powerful counter-story. The events played out in the media, only told one part of the story. This case study uses the narratives of the Moerewa community who were actually involved, as students, parents, teachers, school leadership, and whānau, to tell the story from their perspective. This school’s experience is mirrored in many similar schools and communities across the country, where statutory intervention, designed for schools defined as failing, should not have been the option. Their experiences, while possibly not as public, are stories of disempowerment in communities that were led to believe the education system gave them autonomy to shape an education model to fit their children. The case of Moerewa School, and the Moerewa community’s battle for educational sovereignty pitted white privilege and a monocultural, white-centred system, against a Māori community who were very clear about their aspirations which were Māori-centric. This dream, clearly articulated in the community’s submission to the Ministry of Education in 2003, was that Māori knowledge, a Māori voice, history, tikanga and experiences be the foundation of their children’s learning. The vision was driven by the whakapapa of the community’s history and the history of the whānau involved. The ensuing battle was between an urban and centralised government bureaucracy and a small rural Māori community. The whānau and the vii community brought their own experiences of colonisation and assimilation through the tools of education into the whakapapa of the struggle. The fact that key players in the government-led decisions were Māori added a further layer of complexity. The community is left with many scars from this battle. In many ways they believe they triumphed in the end. In other ways, and from the position of the students involved, they lost. This is a Māori community. The study of this case was conducted under Kaupapa Māori research and Whakapapa methodologies. TribalCrit methodology also connected this study to the wider picture of the alienation of Indigenous youth from schooling and education on an international scale. Data was gathered in ways that were Māori-focused, through korero, with both individual and in groups, in locations chosen by the participants and in ways that they chose. This is a story which we will co-construct to accurately reflect the experiences of the participants. Ultimately, I hope it will be a story which will heal. viii Table of Contents Thesis Consent Form _______________________________________________________________ ii Declaration ______________________________________________________________________ ii Copyright ________________________________________________________________________ ii Dedication ______________________________________________________________________ iii Acknowledgements _______________________________________________________________ iv Abstract ________________________________________________________________________ vii TABLE OF CONTENTS _______________________________________________ IX List of Figures___________________________________________________________________ xvi List of Tables ___________________________________________________________________ xvi List of Images ___________________________________________________________________ xvii CHAPTER ONE: A NEW DAY DAWNING __________________________________ 1 Introduction______________________________________________________________________ 1 Ko wai au?_____________________________________________________________________ 2 The Moerewa Community Submission _______________________________________________ 3 The Research Purpose ___________________________________________________________ 4 Research Questions _____________________________________________________________ 5 The Research Rationale __________________________________________________________ 5 Outline of Chapters ________________________________________________________________