Activating Aotearoa histories

Posted on 14 January 2026 by akoaotearoa

Giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi in education through the Education and Training Act (2020)

This report shares the experiences of participants involved in the Poutama Pounamu Blended Learning (PPBL) Programme – a professional learning and development initiative with educators from Te Kura Toi Tangata, the Faculty of Education at the University of Waikato – and how that has influenced their underlying cultural beliefs and attitudes.

It highlights four main themes that emerged in relation to how this programme had influenced and changed their own praxis, which may be of benefit to other educators, or tertiary education organisations.

Download the report:

Activating Aotearoa Histories: Giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi in education through the Education and Training Act (2020) (2,5Mb, PDF)

Watch videos:

These videos were created as part of an in-depth inquiry into the effectiveness of Poutama Pounamu Blended Learning (PPBL) with staff at Waikato University.

The PPBL Programme content is framed around opportunities for participants to engage in and learn through the following three processes: to know self, to grow self and to grow community.

To truly ‘know self’ required the sharing of knowledge in safe spaces where critical reflections on one’s own experiences, together with curiosity and increased self-awareness, can contribute to self-directed learning that can result in an increased sense of self.
Once the know-self conversation had begun and safe spaces were available to have these conversations with other similarly curious and increasingly self-aware individuals, the learning was able to continue. Often the most challenging conversations were able to be had with colleagues and friends, about subject matters that previously had never been considered.
To grow community means being proactive with this learning and taking it to the wider level of reform, whether it was growing one’s classroom praxis or one’s professional community. This requires understanding the cultural contexts in which we work and understanding our own agency and power, and the power and influence of our society and professional institutions.

Background:

This project was completed in June 2025 by Dr Mere Berryman, David Copeland, Elizabeth Eley, Jay Haydon-Howard and Frances Kelly from the University of Waikato.

Co-funded by the Ako Aotearoa Research and Innovation Agenda (AARIA)

This entry was posted in Inclusive teaching, Māori learner success. Bookmark the permalink.