Rachel Hinekiwi Keziah Dibble
Te Whatu Kairangi Award | Kaupapa Māori
A personal and professional tenacity resounding in teaching excellence
Rachel is Senior Lecturer in Social Services Te Kura Matatini ki Otago | Otago Polytechnic | Te Pūkenga.
Rachel’s teaching philosophy is to ‘create spaces’ for tauira Māori and tangata Tiriti to experience ‘seeing themselves’, and by doing so, they see and experience opportunities to learn and grow. This is an educational practice Rachel lives by: “I am wahine Māori, from the edge of extinction, the noble savage defined. I redefine myself in the teaching space as a wahine from mātauranga navigators of whenua (both land and placenta) stars and sea.”
Rachel provides an exemplar for both the activation and theorisation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi - going far beyond recognition, acknowledgement or honouring - to working the theory as is appropriate in the tertiary space. Engaging in creative kaupapa Māori approaches, including poetry, waiata, and film, she courageously addresses racism, homophobia, sexism, and ableism in her teaching.
This enables others to do the same, as one colleague attested, “I am honoured to work alongside her and be inspired by her passion, it is infectious for staff and students alike …. we are all better humans for working with her.” A learner described how, “her aspects of teaching me personally has been influential. Thank you for relighting my fire.”
Ko te hiranga o te mahi whakaako nō te manawanui me te wairua toa
Ko te kaupapa mahi whakaako a Rachel Dibble, ko te 'waihanga wāhi motuhake' mō ngā ākonga Māori, mō ngā tāngata Tiriti hoki, kia rongo, kia 'kite rātou i a rātou anō', ā, mā konā, ka kitea he ara hei whaitanga mā rātou, hei whakapakari hoki i a rātou. Koinei te tikanga whakaako e mau nei ki te ngākau o Rachel: "He wahine Māori ahau, nō te pari o te rua, arā, he mohoao rangatira kua whakaāhuatia. Kia whakaāhua ake au i te wāhi whakaako, he uri wahine ahau nō ngā kaiwhakatere mātauranga o te whenua, o ngā whetū me te moana."
Kei te whakatauira a Rachel i te whakatinanatanga me te whakakaupapatanga o Te Tiriti o Waitangi – ki tua noa atu i tōna whakaaetanga, tōna whakamanatanga, tōna whakahōnoretanga hoki – tae noa ki tōna whakatinanatanga ā-kaupapa e tika ai mō te wāhanga kura tuatoru. Ka tū māia ia ki te whakapātaritari i ngā kaupapa pēnei i te kaikiri; te mae takatāpui; te whakaiti ira tāne, wahine rānei; te whakahāwea hunga whaikaha rānei; mā ngā kaupapa auaha Māori, pēnei i te toikupu, i te waiata me te kiriata, i roto i āna mahi whakaako. He mea whakaāhei tēnei i etahi atu kaimahi ki te whai i tana tauira, ā, hei tā tētahi o ōna hoamahi, "He hōnore nui mōku te mahi ki tōna taha, ā, kia whakaawea hoki e tōna ngākaunui, he mea whakahīkaka wairua hoki o ngā kaimahi me ngā ākonga ... ā, kua rangatira ake mātou i te mahi tahitanga i tōna taha." Hei tā tētahi o ngā ākonga, "Mōku nei, ko āna mahi whakaako, he mea whakaaweawe ki a au. Tēnā rawa atu koe, nāu, kua mumura mai anō te kāpura ki taku whatumanawa."