NZEI Members Hold Hui in Feilding

NZEI Members Hold Hui in Feilding

Around 170 members of NZEI Te Riu Roa will gather at Hato Paoro College, near Feilding, tomorrow (July 1) for the start of Te Kahui Whetu, the education union’s annual hui to discuss Maori education and Maori issues.

NZEI Te Riu Roa has 45,000 members. They work as teachers and principals in primary, intermediate and area schools; as teachers in kindergartens and community owned early childhood education centres, as support staff in primary and secondary schools; as special education staff in schools and early childhood education centres and as school advisers.

Te Kahui Whetu 2006 runs from Saturday July 1 to Tuesday July 4.

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

“We have members working in early childhood education and schools. Some are educating students entirely in Te Reo Maori, others work bilingually,” says Laures Park. “Te Kauhu Whetu is a chance for them to meet and talk about their shared goal of providing a quality education for the tamariki Maori of Aotearoa.”

“Our aim is to raise achievement levels for Maori students and to ensure they know who they are as Maori, so that they are able to walk confidently in both the Maori and Pakeha worlds.”

Te Kahui Whetu includes a range of speakers.

Professor Mason Durie, the assistant vice-chancellor (Maori) and Professor of Maori Research and Development at Massey University, is speaking at 7.30pm on the opening night of the hui, Saturday July1.

He’s preceded at 6.30pm by Tihirau Shepherd, the principal of Hato Paoro College, which is a Catholic Maori boarding school for boys. He’s a member of the National Executive of the secondary teachers union, the PPTA, and a member of NZEI Te Riu Roa.

Maori Party co-leader, Tariana Turia, is speaking at 6.30pm on Sunday July 2. Her speech will be followed at 7.30pm by a panel of Maori MPs discussing the political scene 12 months after the election. They are Greens MP Metiria Turei, New Zealand First MP, Pita Paraone and Maori Party MP Te Urora Flavell.

Dr Farah Palmer is speaking at 6.30pm on Monday July 3. She has a PhD in the sociology of sport and lectures in sports management and coaching at Massey University. She also captained the Black Ferns, the New Zealand women’s rugby team, to two World Cups.

ENDS