On the Fringes: Identity development for taitamāhine Māori in one secondary kura auraki

Abstract

Despite Aotearoa NZ’s progress in the last 50 years towards enacting Te Tiriti o Waitangi and realising educational success for Māori as Māori, remnants of colonial ideologies remain in educational structures, systems, pedagogies and curriculums. The intergenerational cultural degradation that Māori have experienced through 200 years of racialised and assimilative educational policies are being exacerbated through the current government’s educational reforms. This research shows that educators and schools have the power to and must pushback against the government’s systemic attacks on the mana of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori identity.

The strength of this thesis lies in the voices of the participants; the students, their mothers and teachers, which are presented through collaborative stories. Together they illustrate the barriers to positive tribal identity development for taitamāhine Māori as being cultural essentialism, racial micro and macroaggressions, and teachers not taking full agency to address these. The enablers to positive Māori tribal identity are identified as unfettered support and access to te ao and mātauranga Māori, positive peer recognition as Māori, culturally safe and responsive learning environments, and the conscientisation and agentic discursive (re)positioning of teachers to become agents of change.

This thesis uses a metaphor of weaving to illustrate how a kākahu or cloak of self-sustaining positive tribal identity for taitamāhine Māori can be nurtured and woven through secondary education. When school leaders and educators power-share with Māori and listen to the voices of whānau, hapū, iwi, and work with Māori institutions and organisations within the framework of Ka Hikitia – Ka Hāpaitia, they can support the tribal identity of taitamāhine Māori to flourish. While this research focusses on experiences in one urban single-sex girl’s secondary kura auraki, the findings have implications for all schools and educators committed to addressing inequity in education.