Janine Kapa (right) greets a new student by Otago Polytechnic

Lift up the anchor - Hūtia Te Punga

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Systems-level change will improve the educational experience and outcomes for Māori learners. Mā te rerekē ā-whakahaereka ka whakapiki i te wheako whaiaro ā-mātauraka, i kā putaka hoki mō kā tauira Māori.

Māori learners are not succeeding in our education system to the same extent as non-Maori. It is recognised that piecemeal solutions only plug individual holes in this leaky pipeline, whereas systems-level responses can repair and begin to redress the inequities in achievement and success. 

Janine Kapa, Deputy Chief Executive Māori / Kaitohutohu, has been involved in a research project seeking to address just this. Hūtia Te Punga (lift up the anchor) was a two year collaborative partnership with Ako Aotearoa, Te Tapuae o Rehua, Otago Polytechnic, the Building and Construction ITO and Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre. Members of the executive leadership team, staff, learners and learning advisors from Otago Polytechnic contributed to Hūtia Te Punga.

The project aimed to:

  • Explore levers for change in relation to Māori student achievement.
  • Explore the potential of culturally responsive professional learning as a means to redressing inequities of Māori in vocational training.
  • Identify opportunities to leverage systems-level change across the tertiary training system.
  • Generate actionable outcomes across the three sites.

The project's kaupapa Māori methodology focused on:

  • power sharing and co-constructed learning between kaiako/tutors/assessors/leaders and the implementation team at three unique sites.
  • an iterative and staged approach to implementation of culturally responsive professional learning and development.
  • a qualitative case study using interviews, focus groups and surveys to identify levers for change and actionable outcomes.

The project will contribute to a larger change agenda intended to:

  • Enhance and/or build on the tauira/tutor/kaiako/assessor existing relationships.
  • Increase site specific connection to iwi and hapū networks.
  • Increase and/or build culturally responsive practices with practitioners and wider staff.
  • Identify levers for change across the organisation, practitioner, learner and wider tertiary training vocational sector.


Kāore i ōrite te whakatutukika o kā tauira Māori i te pūnaha mātauraka ki kā tauira tauiwi. E mōhiotia ana, kikī noa iho kā kōruarua tūhāhā i kā rokoā nakunaku ki roto i tēnei kōkō kōhinu wairere, heoi, mā kā urupare ā-whakahaereka ka whakapai, ka tīmata hoki ki te whakatikaia kā aukati i te whakatutukitaka me te akitūtaka.

Kua uru a Janine Kapa, te Kaitohutohu, i tētahi kaupapa rakahau kia aro atu ki tēnei kaupapa. Ko Hūtia Te Punga tētahi rakapū ki Ako Aotearoa, ki Te Tapuae o Rehua, ki Te Kura Matatini ki Ōtāgo, ki te Building and Construction ITO, me Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre mō kā tau e rua. I tuku whakaaro kā mema o Te Kāhui Manukura, kā kaimahi, kā tauira me kā kaiārahi nō Te Kura Matatini ki Ōtāgo ki Hūtia Te Punga.

Ko kā whāika o te kaupapa:

  • Kia torohē i kā taputapu hei whakarerekē i te whakatutukitaka o kā tauira Māori
  • Kia torohē i te pito mata o te whakaako kaupapa Māori hei whakatika i kā aukati ki roto i kā akoraka ā-umaka
  • Kia tautuhi i kā kōwhirika hei whakarerekē ā-whakahaereka ki te pūnaha mātauraka matua.
  • Kia hakaia ētahi putaka ā-tinana kei kā wāhi e toru.

Ka aro te aka rakahau kaupapa Māori o te kaupapa ki:

  • te whakatau tahi, me te whakaako mahi tahi i waekanui i kā kaiako, i kā kaiāwhina, i kā kaiarotake, i kā kaiwhakahaere me te tīma whakatinanataka ki kā wāhi e toru.
  • tētahi aka whakaauau, he momo poutama hoki hei whakatinana i te whakaako kaupapa Māori tika.
  • tētahi arotake ā-rarauka kouka e whakamahi ana i kā uiui, kā huka arotahika, kā tatauraka hei tautuhi i kā taputapu hei whakarerekē, i kā putaka ā-tinana hoki.

Ka whakawhiwhi te kaupapa ki tētahi take whānui, e takune ana ki te:

  • Whakaniko, waihaka rānei i kā pirika ā-tauira, ā-kaiāwhina, ā-kaiako, ā-kaiarotake.
  • Whakapiki i te honoka ā-wāhi ki kā iwi me kā hapū.
  • Whakapiki, waihaka rānei i kā riteka kaupapa Māori ki kā kaimahi umaka me kā kaimahi whānui. 
  • Tautuhi i kā taputapu hei whakarerekē kei te umaka, mō kā kaimahi umaka, mō kā tauira, me te wāhaka akoraka ā-umaka whānui.