Site visit for Building Regula...
Our NZ Certificate in Building Regulatory Environment (BRE) in-class stream of students had the opportunity to see their learning...
Friday 11 November was a very special day for ECE akonga from Ashton Warner and Future Skills Academies as we had our much-anticipated visit to Te Herenga Waka o Orewa Marae in Silverdale.
Early Childhood Education Programme Manager, Amanda Shribman, says early childhood education students visit a local marae each year as part of the bicultural practice course - an integral part of training in early childhood in New Zealand.
They are welcomed onto the marae and each student does a mihi which is great for confidence building and making links with others.
They take part in several workshops including full immersion Te Reo and the making of herbal remedies.
The Academy has had a special relationship over the last 20 years with Te Herenga Waka (Silverdale) marae and quite a few students from the marae have attended the Ashton Warner programme, says Amanda.
AWA campus ECE lecturer Stephanie Brosnan says what made the day so important was that it was the first time the Royal Oak and Stanmore Bay akonga had met each other.
“We had been practising our pepeha and waiata and these were delivered with pride and mana after the formal pōwhiri. It was a wonderful display of whanaungatanga and whakamana despite the torrential rain and power outage,” says Stephanie.
Kaumatua Kereama taught the students about Te Ao Māori and then after a kai we participated in two workshops, one in full immersion Te Reo and the other relating to traditional Māori medicine using native plants.
“Experiencing first hand culturally responsive environments is vitally important in early childhood education and as educators we are committed to upholding the principles of Te Tiriti,” says Stephanie.
Our early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki states that “all children should be able to access te reo Māori in their ECE setting as kaiako weave te reo and tikanga Māori into the everyday curriculum” (Ministry of Education, 2017).
Therefore, visiting the marae and gaining new knowledge, understanding and skills will help us all in our teaching and learning journeys.
Students were accompanied by Future Skill Academy Kaitohutohu Māori, Edith Chaney, Ashton Warner Academy lecturers Stephanie and Sue, and Future Skills man-of-many talents and van driver for the day Jon Revill.
