For Immediate Release June 30, 2004
From NZEI Te Riu Roa Media Release

NZEI Te Riu Roa Holds Hui In Motueka

Around 200 NZEI Te Riu Roa members will gather at Te Awhina Marae in Motueka this Saturday (July 3) for the start of Hui-a-Tau, the education union’s annual hui held to discuss Maori education and Maori issues.

NZEI Te Riu Roa has 43,000 members working as teachers and principals in primary, intermediate and area schools, as teachers in early childhood, as support staff in primary and secondary schools, as special education staff in early childhood centres, primary and secondary schools and as school advisers.

Hui-a-Tau runs from Saturday July 3 to Tuesday July 6.

“It is a chance for NZEI Te Riu Roa members to focus on Maori education and Maori issues,” says Laures Park, who as the union’s Matua Takawaenga is responsible for Maori members and Maori education.

“It’s also a great opportunity to spend time with other members working in Maori education.”

“We have members working in early childhood centres, in primary schools, in area schools, in secondary schools. Some are in mainstream centres and schools, others work entirely in Maori.
Hui-a-Tau is a chance for all of them to meet and mingle and to talk about providing quality education for the tamariki Maori of Aotearoa,” says Laures Park.

Reports will be presented on NZEI Te Riu Roa’s Maori Education Strategy, Te Rautaki Matauranga Maori, which looks at ways of helping to raise the achievement levels of tamariki Maori, and on Te Reo Maori For All, the union’s plan to support the Government’s Maori Language Strategy, which aims to have the majority of Maori proficient in te reo by 2028.

There will be workshops for members working in early childhood, as support staff in schools, in special education and as Resource Teachers Maori.

Hui-a-Tau organisers have also recognised that there is a great deal of interest among Maori in the foreshore and seabed issue. Guest speakers include Rita Powick, a member of the Marlborough iwi, who’s foreshore and seabed claim sparked the current debate and Mereana Pitman, a key figure in the foreshore and seabed hikoi.

Other speakers include NZEI Te Riu Roa National President, Colin Tarr and Alice Derbridge, from the Ministry of Education, who is involved the Numeracy Develoment Project and the Curriculum Stocktake.

ENDS

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NZEI Te Riu Roa

New Zealand Educational Institute

NZEI Te Riu Roa members work in every community in New Zealand, leading and advocating for quality public education.

We are the 50,000 principals, teachers and support staff who work in primary, area and secondary schools as well as early childhood centres, special education and school advisory services. We come together as NZEI Te Riu Roa - New Zealand's largest education union, a Treaty based organisation and a powerful advocate for quality public education.

We have the most important job in New Zealand - educating for the future.

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