March 27, 2015
Emphasis on whanaungatanga
The winner of this year’s Haare Puke Maori Leadership Scholarship for leadership says giving Maori students the opportunity to stay together as a group can help lift achievement.
Kiri Waitai from the Waikato Institute of Technology’s Centre for Foundation Studies won the award for the way she redesigned a health introduction certificate course to deliver classes in a whanau environment where pastoral care was an important focus.
She says it came from her observing that Maori students often fall by the wayside in mainstream classes because they don’t like to ask for help.
Students in her stream, which is open to all who want to participate, spend a lot more time together.
" I have a huge emphasis on whanaungatanga. That our students know each other, that they have a good relationship with me and the other tutors. They just know how to look after themselves because when they move on it goes back into mainstream, back to being an individual and I really wanted them to have a good experience before they moved on so that they could stand alone and be confident in their skills " she says.
The scholarship gives Kiri Waitai $15,000 towards her studies and an additional week of professional development leave.
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