My role is Kaiako Mātauranga Māori. I’m here to deliver a Māori lens over our learning programs, and being able to adhere to both mainstream and total-immersion settings.
So I just bring my home culture with me wherever I go. Where I am is how I am, and this is how we live at home. Our first language is a Māori, all my children, all my mokopuna, my partner speaks Māori. So, wherever we go, we just automatically bring that ambience into our space.
I’m involved in the Rotaki Māori on the Māori strategy, He Korahi Māori, trying to have tikanga whai overarching the operations of the Museum of Tāmaki Paenga Hira. Coming in from being a teacher in total immersion, Kura Kaupapa Māori, kohanga reo and Whare Wananga, I bring that perspective of learning to here. Also, within the space of my colleagues, both Māori and non Māori, we do a lot of wananga between ourselves. We do a lot of cultural sharing.