Breakout Session: Beyond tuakana teina: Exploring Māori vocational pathways

This presentation is based on an action research project centered on Tāwharau Housing Trust, a small whānau-based construction company in Rotorua. Focused on ‘tuakana teina’ (older-younger, experienced-inexperienced) a culturally inspired Māori approach to building apprenticeships with Māori learners will be presented. Conventional approaches to tertiary and vocational training tend to use Māori teaching practices, like ‘tuakana teina’, in disconnection and isolation from their broader cultural context, with limited success. Interpreted at a surface level as a mentoring framework, ‘tuakana teina’ looks more like an expert-novice, or buddy system of helping someone to learn a skill. As a practice used in isolation, tuakana teina can have limited success. Seeking meaning beyond the obvious meaning of ‘tuakana teina’ was a reflective tool used by this building company. ‘Beyond tuakana teina: Exploring Māori vocational pathways’ explores ways of positioning authentic and meaningful cultural contexts for tuakana teina to flourish. Some of these contexts stem from practices of the ancient whare wānanga (traditional schools of learning), from the first New Zealand Māori Arts School, and some from previous Māori Trade Training courses in recent decades. Replicated and refreshed into contemporary practice, this presentation will shed light on some of these current practices; practices that can be successfully applied to other vocational settings as well.