Reo Māori courses being cancelled, teachers being rerouted and a degree pathway being stopped go against Te Pūkenga New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology’s Tiriti obligations - and students are demanding it do better.
In Christchurch, Ara-Te Pūkenga Te Puna Wānaka students – who are often asked to haka pōwhiri at graduation ceremonies they themselves cannot access – laid down a wero (challenge) to the tertiary education institution to ensure it abides by its “relentless pursuit of equity”.
Its Tiriti obligations leader “regrets” the degree had to stop due to declining enrolments, but students at the Christchurch campus say it should be about reviving the language, not “bean counting”.
Level 4 ākonga (student) Matt Calman (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa) said Ara puts barriers in place for students by cancelling courses last minute and forcing them to put their studies on hold for months. Even if high-level courses did continue, fees kept rising.
Calman became an “accidental activist” at Ara’s Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori Manawa Reo event, by delivering a speech alluding that it meant nothing unless Ara genuinely committed to high-level reo Māori learning.
“I just want continuity of delivery of the courses, the fees to be set at a reasonable level so it’s not a barrier to most reo Māori ākonga, and the pathway of a degree to be reinstated so you can go beyond intermediate level.”
He did not even know what it was they were turning up to support, as they had nothing to do with Manawa Reo’s creation.
“Are we just there to chant karakia, sing waiata and haka?”
‘For me, it’s just suppression again, of the reo.’
Calman’s first inclination that Ara’s reo Māori pathway was unstable was when his course was delayed for six months at the start of 2023.
His class laid a formal complaint in March.
Ākonga were often the Māori face of the institute, taking part in “upwards of a dozen mihi whakatau at Te Puna Wānaka, welcoming groups from within and outside of Ara”.
Their support should be reciprocated, it said.
Another complaint, seen by Stuff, by a former ākonga in 2021 – which was left unanswered – raised concerns about a lack of equity and Ara not upholding its Tiriti partnership role.
Ara created a “poor reputation” due to its reo Māori courses not coming with certainty of progression – contributing to a lack of enrolments.
Calman said stopping ākonga reclaiming their language was like “slapping down our tīpuna [ancestors] again”.
“People are coming here to grow their Māori identity, you’re playing with some very deep things that have gone back generations to where family have had their language ripped from them.”
The course gave him so much more than the language, like what it meant to be Māori, and the strength he did not have growing up outside te ao Māori.
His level 4 course was full-time, level 5 was only a part-time evening course which was not accessible to many, and levels 6 and 7 were also only available as part-time evening courses, he said.
The Bachelor of Māori Language and Indigenous Studies degree was stopped in 2020, and staff had been asking for it to be reopened every year since.
“For me, it’s just suppression again, of the reo.”
Going elsewhere mid-study was not easy, and it was not possible for most to move cities to attend full immersion courses.
Another “slap in the face” for ākonga was that many classrooms designated to the department in the building that houses its whare, Te Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge), had been taken over by non-Māori courses.
Former ākonga Kenny Brown (Tūhourangi-Ngāti Wāhiao, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Irakehu, Ngāi Tahu) left his reo Māori studies at Ara because it was a “rigmarole” that had the teaching degree pathway stopped.
To follow his dreams of becoming a reo Māori teacher, he is now completing his first year of a Bachelor of Teaching in Mātauranga Māori at the University of Canterbury.
But he hoped to return to teach at Te Puna Wānaka, to honour the legacy of his grandmother, renowned reo Māori educator Kāterina Daniels who was a “linchpin” there.
His message to Ara was “don’t forget about the foundations and why the whare was built”, where tīpuna paved the way for a safe space to reclaim their language.
“Te Puna Wānaka is not good if we don’t have any people in there to actually wānaka about anything.”
Te Pūkenga pourangi hua Tiriti (Tiriti outcomes deputy chief executive) Paora Ammunson was aware of the concerns about the ongoing availability of advanced te reo Māori courses. They were “working to address” it.
He regretted there had been declining enrolments in the degree, and not enough to proceed.
But ākonga had the option to study part-time or online.
He recognised the profound place of reo Māori and the Government’s Maihi Karauna revitalisation strategy. Its goal was “to reinforce our national identity by ensuring te reo Māori is more prominent and visible in public information and services at Te Pūkenga”.
He felt the March complaint was dealt with, the Manawa Reo campaign was discussed with kaiako, and the statement chosen “by consensus”.
Calman said it was offensive Te Pūkenga put forward its Tiriti spokesman to use numbers as a justification, and it felt like it its “Māori image” was more important than students.
The 2023 Budget included a 15% tertiary tuition and training subsidy increase for te reo Māori and other subjects that promote mātauranga Māori by 2027.
CORRECTION: While the level 6 and 7 reo Maōri courses are no longer a full-time option, they are available through part-time evening classes. (Amended at 8.51am, September 21, 2023.)
