KO AU HE WAKA, HE WAKA KO AU - KAUPAPA WAKA AND EDUCATION

KO AU HE WAKA, HE WAKA KO AU

KAUPAPA WAKA AND EDUCATION

By Kate Souness

About the book

This book celebrates the events and history of the waka renaissance movement throughout the Pacific that ultimately has brought back traditional waka forms in contemporary ways. The heart of the book shares the stories and interviews from experts in the field of kaupapa waka that act as valuable records of oral history. The experiences in this book speak to the renaissance of various forms of waka, experiences in the school system and views on education content within the New Zealand curriculum.

This book is an important contribution towards making change to the education curriculum that has dulled the inclusion of Māori histories, knowledges and worldviews. The author is a waka practitioner, a student and a teacher and weaves together her experiences with the literature and empircal material. With an educationalist background, Kate also considers Māori student success and achievement within Aotearoa. The politics between mātauranga Māori and science within curriculum content in schools is highlighted. The importance of recognising Māori cosmologies and knowledges as science models is promoted in order to understand the natural environment.

Concluding solutions highlight the need for curriculum content to become more inclusive of Māori knowledges so that tomorrows tamariki can benefit from knowledge that will ultimately provide opportunities to look after our planet while uplifting and enhancing student engagement.

This book has been supported by the Ngāi Tahu Fund.

First Published in 2022 by Te Uruao Education and Research Ltd

Te Mamaku

ISBN: 978-0-473-62022-6