He Waka Eke Noa Conference
Wednesday 15 July 2009
Hon Dr Pita Sharples; Associate Minister of Education
Energy Events Centre, Rotorua
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If anyone had told me in my Te Aute days, that one day I would be the virtual authority on E-learning; ultra-fast broadband; fibre-drop; FarNet and digital stories, I’d have said, ‘yeah right, and man will walk on the moon’.

Well forty years ago, on the 21st July 1969, that giant leap for mankind did take place.

Within twenty years the concept of a moonwalk was so normal, that it became popularized in a break-dancing move which every self-respecting Maori youth could perform.

Walking on the moon shifted from out of this world, literally; to one of the most popular dance moves of the century.

In much the same way, the IT revolution has transformed our world, in ways unimaginable since the very first computer, an IBM 650, was leased by the Treasury in 1960.

In the mid 70s, computers on campus were still very much the domain of isolated units of academics; and only the elite had their own home PCs.

Three decades later, the 2006 Social Report confirmed that 66% of New Zealanders lived in households with access to the internet.

And in February of this year, two youth in Otara, Wiki Ripia and Ngawai Manual, were selected with 24 other youth from across the world to be part of the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network’s Clubhouse Scholarship programme.

The Clubhouse gives young people an opportunity to collaborate on project with members across the world, through the network intranet site, “The Village”.

Within my lifetime then we have come from an era of one computer in the country; to our rangatahi being connected to the global village through web conferencing, video and audio conferencing and online connectivity.

And so today, we witness one small step for our tamariki; one giant leap for kaupapa Maori, as we celebrate all of the amazing initiatives that Maori medium education are demonstrating in their mastery of information communications technology.

Why do I say all of this is just one small step for our tamariki?

Firstly, we cannot get away from the fact that despite the IT explosion, whanau Maori and Pasifika families, have the lowest levels of household access to the internet of all New Zealanders.

In 2006, while 77% of Asian families and 70% of European families had access to the internet at home, just 47% of Maori and 38% of Pasifika peoples had household access.

Until the other half of our whanau are also switched on to the net, we will always be a step behind.

But secondly, and more positively, we know that that the younger our mokopuna are, the more at ease they appear to be in navigating the information age.

In fact my mokopuna are the ones that tell me how to wind up the Blackberry and how to access Google-Maori.

With these steps in mind then, the kaupapa for this conference is ‘he waka eke noa’ – a canoe on which everyone can embark.

We are talking about a waka in which Papa can sit alongside the moko; in which kohanga, primary and secondary teachers can pick up the hoe and paddle us forwards, into learning environments which are not just about e-Learning capability; but they are ultimately about advancing our opportunities as tangata whenua.

This is a waka I am truly proud to be onboard.
I am passionate about raising the performance of our education system so that tangata whenua can experience the success they are entitled to.

To do that, all of us must paddle together, committed to lifting the performance of the system, for and with Maori.

It is about getting everybody onboard, to invest in teachers and schools working with students, to achieve excellence in Maori-medium education as a hallmark of the New Zealand educational landscape. And IT is a key part of the strategy for success.

As I understand it, this waka, the information communications technology focused hui, has been going full-steam since it was first established in 2004.

The waka is set on four broad paths:

* Kaihautu: leadership and management;

* Te reo taki – te reo Maori me ona tikanga;

* Kaitataki – teaching and learning; and

* Kaihoe : whanau and community.

I want to pay tribute to all of you here, who do so much to strengthen these pathways, to lead our whanau onwards.

I am really pleased that after considerable pressure, we have finally achieved an investment of nearly $70 million of new funding to extend the twenty free hours early childhood education to more children, including kohanga reo as a bit part of this.

We have to do more than this of course.

Opening the gates to kohanga takes more than a push in the right direction. It is also about making sure that whanau know the service is there, that it’s easy to get to, that whanau can afford the travel costs to get there, that they can afford the fees.

Within my other portfolio, that of Minister of Maori Affairs, we have been working hard to support whanau by the different priorities we have invested in.
We are committed to building long-term resilience into the Maori economy with the Maori Economic Taskforce; which is working flat out to ensure we have a skilled and trained workforce ready to expand quickly once the recession lifts, as it inevitably must.

We have also invested in whanau advocates in communities to restore to ourselves, the critical importance of whanau as the first port of call. It is about empowering whanau to support each other.

Ultimately, it is whanau that will move our waka forwards in the most enduring and effective ways.

The vital role of whanau must underpin our implementation of Te Marautanga o Aotearoa – the direction for professional teaching, learning and assessment in Maori medium education.

This is not just about outcomes – or national standards - for the sake of it.

Te Marautanga o Aotearoa begins with what Maori medium students need to know, when the universe is open and embracing

It might mean doing as our old people did, getting up at early dawn and learning moteatea.

It will mean having access to the skills and knowledge which will enable our tamariki to participate, contribute to and succeed in both Te Ao Maori and Te Ao Whanui.

And it could mean the highest expectations we have for achieving in te reo Matatini and Pangarau.

These national standards, Nga Whanaketanga Rumaki Maori, can only come from the strongest essence of excellence in Maori. And we mustn’t rush or compromise on something as important as this. We must get it right, and we must define it as ours.

We are living in challenging times –and educational success on our terms must be owned and managed by us all.

We have to be as courageous and as creative as our tipuna were, in navigating the pathways ahead.

For some of our people, we know that traditional study is not achieving the outcomes they need.

That is why Government must work with schools, tertiary organizations and industry training organizations to provide for more flexibility beyond the school gates.

That’s what the Trades in Schools policy is about, and what the Trades Academies will demonstrate.

Across all these pathways, all these initiatives, Information Technology has the potential to both ignite the imagination of our youth while at the same time open doorways to greater learning.

The Government has pledged some $150 million will be available to make kura fibre ready for broadband expansion.

Upgrading school networks can extend the range of subjects available to students through the Virtual Learning Network. This is 21st century transformation through a national online networked learning environment.

And if that sounds as far off as an Apollo 11 astronaut, then just imagine students in the Far North teaching waiata to a group of West Coast primary students for a performance at Franz Josef.

Or in the lower North Island, it’s about a cluster of five kura kaupapa who have joined together, online, to implement a range of activities for students from Years 1-8.

There is an amazing galaxy out there of exciting online projects.

There’s He Whaitua Matihiko Matauranga Reo Rumaki: which uses virtual learning nework services to provided a digitized environment for Maori immersion education within kura.

Or Te Punaha Akoranga a Hiko – a new tool for designing, managing and delivering online collaboration learning activities. They call this visual authoring –creating sequences of learning activities for teachers.

There’s Te Pataka Whakaakoranga a Hiko – an e-learning software platform which is to provide a storehouse of resources to support teachers, designers, writers and students at all levels.

Or there’s Te Ara Whai Whakangungu which is an online training tool for teachers.

And of course many of you will already be familiar with Te Kete Ipurangi – the bilingual portal and web community for teachers and the wider community.

It may sound like a fairly complex road map to me, but fortunately over the first week of the school holidays I’ve heard that around a dozen teachers from kura in Ruapehu, Lower Hutt, Whanganui and Taranaki got together to learn how to translate all these materials to share across kura.

These twelve leaders will be the champions that will drive the waka forward for us all.

And ultimately, that is why days like these two, will be so important in the future for Maori medium education.

Building the capability and strength of our teachers, the leaders within our kura, is vital for achieving the outcomes we all want.

It is about technical excellence, it is about technique, it is about teachers who care, it is about principals and leaders who believe in making a difference.

And perhaps most of all it is about what Keriana Tawhiwhirangi is going to share with us all – the commitment to be magical, to inspire.

We have an amazing future ahead – he waka eke noa is the vehicle that will get us there – and you are what we need to make the transformation complete. I wish you all great strength in charting our direction forwards.

Tena tatou katoa.

ENDS

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