First international students enrol in Awanuiārangi’s indigenous teaching degree

• Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi will offer its indigenous-focused teaching degree to international students for the first time.
• Fifteen students from the Tulalip tribe in Washington State have enrolled in the course.
• The degree aims to teach through an indigenous lens, with Awanuiārangi’s approach highly regarded.

Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, based in Whakatāne, is to deliver its unique teaching degree, which has a focus on teaching through an indigenous lens, to international students for the first time.

Awanuiārangi chief executive Wiremu Doherty says the institution’s relationship with the indigenous tribes of Washington State in the US has been over a decade in the making.

“Kua nuku atu i te 12 tau a Awanuiārangi e mahitahi nei i te taha o ngā iwi taketake o reira. I tīmata atu i ngā iwi o reira, te taha whakarunga, te taha whakararo o Seattle, ērā iwi. Nā rātou anō i rangahau ngā wāhi, kia tukuna ō rātou uri ki te mahi i te tohu kairangi. Ko tō rātou hiahia, kia mahi ai i roto i tētahi wāhi e whakamana nei i te ao iwi taketake. Koinā ka kitea mai mātou i Aotearoa nei, mai i reira. Koinei te hononga i ngā tau kua huri atu i te 12 tau. Ko Tulalip tētahi o ngā iwi nei.”

Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi chief executive officer Wiremu Doherty. Photo / Supplied

“We Awanuiārangi have been working in collaboration with those indigenous tribes for over 12 years. It began with the tribes north and south of Seattle. They did some research on where the best places were to send their descendants to complete their doctorate degrees. Their wish was to do this through an institution that empowered indigenous learning. With that, they found us in Aotearoa from there. This is the relationship that has happened over the last 12 years and the Tulalip people are a part of that."

Now 15 students from the Tulalip tribe in Washington have enrolled in the course. Doherty says the engagement Awanuiārangi is getting from the Tulalip students is positive and they are excited to learn how to become teachers with a strong devotion to their culture.

“Āhua rua tau ki muri, ka tīmata tō rātou pātai mō ā tātou mea huarahi whakaako i te kaiako, kaiako Māori. I reira te hiahia, i runga i tō rātou kite i te kaha o Aotearoa ki te whakamāori i ngā kaiako, te whakamāori i ngā kura. Koirā tō rātou hiahia, koirā te whakawhirinakihanga ki a mātou, ki a Awanuiārangi.”

“About two years ago, they started asking questions on the ways we train teachers, Māori teachers. There has been a want, bearing in mind they could see how Aotearoa is persistent in creating Māori teachers, Māori schools. That’s what they want, that’s what we at Awanuiārangi lean on."

For the past 16 years Awanuiārangi has been offering PhD courses in the US and Canada but this is a first offering of a bachelor degree overseas.

Doherty says they are looking to follow a similar structure of delivering lessons to the same way some courses are offered here.

“Kei te āhua whai mātou i te huarahi i whāia e mātou mō te tohu kairangi. Ka noho ngā tauira nei i roto i ō rātou ake kāinga. Engari, i ia tau ka whakawhiti mai ki Aotearoa nei. Ka whakawhiti mai mō te rua wiki pea, i te tuatahi, ki te kite i ā rātou hoa tauira i konei, ki te titiro i ā tātou momo kura e pūmau nei i roto i te reo. I tua atu i tērā, ko ngā kaiako o konei ka whakawhiti.”

“We follow a similar path with how we teach the doctorate degree where students complete their work from home. But every year they will come here to Aotearoa. They will come here for two weeks maybe, at first, so they can see their fellow classmates here, look into our styles of schools, which are staunch in Māori language. Other than that, our teachers will also go there,“ he said.

The Awanuiārangi-led degree will begin next year, and will focus on delivering ways of teaching through an indigenous lens, one that Awanuiārangi is highly regarded for.

Doherty says they will find ways of teaching their new overseas students to a high quality and ensure their needs are met.

“Koinei ka pērā te ako i ngā tauira nei. Ko ngā kaiako ka whakawhiti atu i konei. Ākene pea he rima ki te waru wā i te tau ka whakawhiti mai i konei ki reira. Ko ngā wāhi kei te noho tawhiti, mā tēnei momo ipurangi nei hei hono, kia pai ai te manaaki i ngā tauira i roto i ngā wā kāre mātou i reira.”

“It will be similar to how they learn. Teachers will go over there, maybe for five or eight times a year. And for those hard to get to places, zooms and other forms of internet learning will be there to join, to ensure we look after those students when we aren’t there.”