CULTURAL COMPETENCIES FOR TEACHERS OF 

MĀORI LEARNERS 
MCE Sprint - Rebecca Anderson  

All information regarding cultural competencies was sourced from:

https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/t%C4%81taiako-cultural-competencies-teachers-m%C4%81ori-learners-0

Cultural Competencies  How do I meet these within my 

Wānanga:
participating with learners and communities
in robust dialogue for the benefit of Māori
learners’ achievement.
practice? 
Families are always welcome to visits, discuss any
concerns they may have and ask any questions.
Progress is reported to parents twice a year, with parent
interviews usually held around July.

Certified Teacher Attempts have been made to use a blog to communicate

● Uses specific strategies and protocols for effective with parents however, this has not been as successful as
communication with whānau, hapū, iwi and the I had wished.
community.
● Communicates effectively with Māori parents and We hold consultation evenings for parents when we
whānau about their child’s learning. have events like Camp and Puberty talks to seek parent
● Engages with Māori learners, whānau, hapū, iwi and opinions.
Māori communities in open dialogue about teaching
and learning.
● Acknowledges and accesses the expertise that
Māori parents, whānau, hapū and iwi offer.

Whanaungatanga: I understand the importance of relationships within my

actively engaging in respectful working
relationships with Māori learners, parents
and whānau, hapū, iwi and the Māori
community.
practice and actively work towards building strong,
positive relationships with all my students! I take the time
to know what is important to my learners and I know
different tools and strategies to help each of my students
with their learning.

Certified Teacher
● Knows the importance and impact of teacher–
learner relationships and the school/ECE
service–home partnership on Māori learner
achievement.
● Recognises the need to have learning relationships
with Māori learners, whānau, hapū, iwi and
communities.
● Has the tools and strategies to develop successful
relationships with Māori learners, whānau, hapū, iwi
and communities.

Manaakitanga: Inquiry learning in my class has had a strong influence

from Maori culture - our year long inquiry is based
showing integrity, sincerity and respect
around the whakatuaki “He aha te mea nui o te ao. He
towards Māori beliefs, language and culture.

Certified Teacher
● Displays respect, integrity and sincerity when
engaging with Māori learners, whānau, hapū, iwi
and communities.
● Demonstrably cares about Māori learners, what
they think and why.
● Displays respect for the local Māori culture (ngā
tikanga-ā-iwi) in engaging with Māori learners,
their parents whānau, hapū, iwi and communities.
● Incorporates Māori culture (including
tikanga-ā-iwi) in curriculum delivery and design
processes.
● Can describe how the Treaty of Waitangi
influences their practice as a teacher in the New
Zealand educational setting.
tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata -What is the most
important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is
people” Other whakatauki have been used to instill a
growth mindset in learners. Writing has been influenced
by the importance of storytelling and students spent
Term 1 learning about and presenting their own mihi.
I undertook a Special Topic paper based around raising
Maori and Pasifika achievement and had implemented
many of this practices (for example, working in groups,
learning off each other, teacher-student partnerships) to
help get the best outcomes for my students.

Tangata Whenuatanga: Te Reo Maori is used within the classroom for simple
instructions in an effort to normalise the language. As
affirming Māori learners as Māori. Providing
mentioned above, Maori culture is integrated in many
contexts for learning where the language, areas of the curriculum (in particular, Inquiry learning,
identity and culture of Māori learners and Reading, Writing and Maths).
their whānau is affirmed.
Certified Teacher
● Harnesses the rich cultural capital that Māori
learners bring to the classroom by providing
culturally responsive and engaging contexts for
learning.
● Actively facilitates the participation of whānau and
people with the knowledge of local context,
tikanga, history and language to support
classroom teaching and learning programmes.
● Consciously uses and actively encourages the
use of local Māori contexts (such as whakapapa,
environment, tikanga, language, history, place,
economy, politics, local icons, geography) to
support Māori learners’ learning.

Ako: Our school has a well established programme that looks

at target students (those just below or below) and as
taking responsibility for their own learning
teachers we are required to build special programmes to
and that of Māori learners. meet the needs for these students in an effort to
accelerate their learning.
Certified Teacher
● Consciously plans and uses pedagogy that ALL students have high expectations placed upon them.
engages Māori learners and caters for their
needs. Home-school partnership evenings encourage parents to
● Plans and implements programmes of learning visit school to strengthen the relationships between
that accelerate the progress of each Māori learner school and home.
identified as achieving below or well below
expected achievement levels.
● Actively engages Māori learners and whānau in
 the learning (partnership) through regular,
purposeful feedback and constructive
feed-forward.
● Validates the prior knowledge that Māori learners
bring to their learning.
● Maintains high expectations of Māori learners
succeeding as Māori.
● Takes responsibility for their own development
about Māori learner achievement.
● Ensures congruency between learning at home
and at school.