Louise Roe thrilled and excited to be part of the foundation Leadership Team of Ko Taku Reo.

Having had a long career in secondary schools, I have very much enjoyed contributing to Deaf Education for the last two years. I have met so many talented, passionate educators, and learnt a lot. My past experience with student welfare, curriculum and ‘Pedagogy” (Learning how to learn) has helped me contribute to our growth.

I am passionate about schools meeting our obligations to te Tiriti, as a pathway to Maori success as Maori and to a positive cultural climate in Aotearoa in the future. I also enjoy working in the areas of Leadership Development, Thinking Skills, and helping students learn to self-advocate and self determine. There is increasingly good research from both within New Zealand and overseas that tells us what will work best for our students and how to set them up for success. I have personally seen the positive changes such initiatives have made for our kids.

The NZ Curriculum is what underpins our learning. A lot of people don’t know or realise how groundbreaking and innovative the NZ curriculum is. It’s no longer all about just “knowing stuff” (though knowing stuff is pretty important) It’s more about the skills that won’t go “out-of-date” and that’s quite important in this ever-changing world. It also encourages teachers to be “Life Long Learners” themselves, as well as students we are involved with. It is a great and powerful document which I feel strongly about.

I believe our students deserve the very best, and that our job is to provide all appropriate Deaf and Hard of Hearing support to our learners while keeping sight of developments in wider education so our students have access these too. Our teachers are trained and skilled to keep these two aims in mind and are committed to doing their best for our students. I am proud of the work they do, and of the leaders who have stepped up to help make Ko Taku Reo strong from within.

Louise Roe
Director of Teaching and Learning