tapatoru news article

Announcement

Staff from six organisations honoured with Tapatoru Ako Professional Practice awards

27 November 2025

Thirty-eight staff members were celebrated for their dedication to professional development and the Tapatoru programme at an online award ceremony on 7 November.

Supported by the Tertiary Education Commission, the Tapatoru Ako Professional Practice Awards promote the professionalisation of the tertiary sector through a holistic, learner-centred, and values-based approach. This framework fosters organisational capability building to better support learner success. 

This year, staff from Blueprint for Learning, Hair to Train, Pacific Coast Technical Institute, Whitecliffe College, Te Mahi Ako and Skills Update were celebrated at the online awards ceremony on 7 November.  

“We really appreciate that you’ve made this commitment. Your dedication contributes to enhanced outcomes for all learners in Aotearoa.” said Helen Lomax, Ako Aotearoa Director, during the ceremony. 

“It's been a pleasure and privilege to work alongside you all – it really is a learning journey for us all and we love the ako (learning) that takes place” added Annette Tofaeono, Tapatoru facilitator. “The transformative changes, the realisations, the openness, the participation, and the time that you all put into this programme is so inspiring, heartening and motivating.” 

We were thrilled to hear from two participants about their Tapatoru journey during the ceremony: 

Matt Dowman, Lecturer at Whitecliffe College said “The Tapatoru team are not only great facilitators and teachers, but they walk the talk, they live out their values-based Mahi, their manaakitanga and that was evident over the course duration that we were studying with them"

During her speech, Georgina Guild, Professional Teaching Fellow at The University of Auckland commented, “It was really lovely to hear my peers discuss and breakdown some of these concepts and ideas, the concepts of whakawhanaungatanga,  manaakitanga, aroha and how we enact and activate these in practice”  

Ako Aotearoa congratulates all 38 individuals for successfully completing the Tapatoru programme and thanks them for their dedication to advancing learner success in Aotearoa. 

To learn more about the Tapatoru Ako Professional Practice Award, visit our links below. 

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