Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa /New Zealand Childcare Association

“Voices of Early Childhood Education:
Hearing our Past, Knowing our Present, Speaking our Future”

Dr Pita Sharples; Co-leader of the Maori Party

Friday 5 July 2007

“The Welfare of the Children
ensures the future strength of the people”

I greet firstly, those who hold mana whenua over this land, the peoples of Ngapuhi nui tonu; the peoples who have cared for the ancestral heritage of this rohe so that all our mokopuna may indeed inherit the earth.

It is absolutely appropriate that as we consider the voices of early childhood education, we start our korero in the birthplace of our nation; thinking and reflecting how we hear our past, in order to know our present and by doing so speak our future.

My greetings also to Rosina Merry, your National President; Nancy Bell, your Chief Executive; and Maureen Locke, your kaiwhakahaere.

And as we gather here, surrounded by the tribal waters of Te Tai Tokerau, we connect also across the seas to the shores of Kailua Beach on the island of O’ahu, as we welcome Dr Manulani Aluli Meyer from the University of Hawai’i to this hui.

As I have looked over your programme, and seen the connections made with nga taonga o te Raki – the treasures of Far North; the importance of our global environment; the empowerment of Pasifika children; the stories of West meets East; fire and water; I know that the voices will become a shared conversation which we will all, no doubt, return to over future days, weeks, months, years.
I begin in acknowledging one of those voices of the North, Sir Kingi Ihaka, who said
Ki te toitu te kupu, ara te reo Maori
Ki te toitu te mana o te iwi Maori
Ki te toitu te whenua, ka mau te Maoritanga
Otira me penei – ki te ngaro te reo Maori,
ki te ngaro nga whenua Maori
ka ngaro te mana Maori.

Without the language, without prestige and without land, Maoritanga will cease to exist. These three – language, prestige and land, are the life of Maoritanga.

Over these next four days, you will be sharing ideas and experiences that challenge you in your mahi as early childhood education workers, employers, owners, policy makers and others. The conference will be richer for the conversations you have which may well respond to the voice of Sir Kingi Ihaka.

How do you uphold and give dignity to te reo rangatira?

How do your tamariki understand about the shared responsibilities we have in Aotearoa, for our whenua, our land?

In what ways does Te Tari Puna Ora – and indeed every early childhood education service – demonstrate respect for the unique status of tangata whenua?

What ideas do you have for recognising the diverse and vibrant communities and people whom contribute to your centre?

And throughout all these conversations, woven across the shared voices, will be our tamariki, our mokopuna, our children.

The dialogue will be stimulated in particular by the shared talents in display in the keynote session, Te Papa Whakawhitiwhiti, which I understand will bring together insights from Maori immersion, A’oga Amata, Playcentre, Education and Care and homebased education.

Talking together, playing together, sharing together – the multiple dialogue – helps us to learn from each other – and to consolidate our own unique perspectives as well.

And it is from that basis that I want to share a few thoughts I have around the welfare and wellbeing of tamariki and mokopuna.

These are ideas that I am sure Lesley Rameka will elaborate on further in her thoughts around reifying Maori values, understandings and epistemologies in early childhood.

But they are also ideas which I believe resonate and add value to the magic of meaning in the lives of all of our children.

One of the whakatauaki which inspires me when I think of my eight beautiful mokopuna; when I think of all those delightful mokopuna at Hoani Waititi marae; when I think of the tamariki and mokopuna throughout Aotearoa, encapsulates the significance of your work.
He kai poutaka me kinikini atu, he kai poutaka me horehore atu,
Ma te tamaiti te iho

The welfare of the children ensures the future strength of the people.

What are some of the duties, the responsibilities and the obligations therefore we impart, in creating the hope of our future?

We must ensure that parents are aware of the child-rearing practices of their own culture – practices such as the concepts of vertical and horizontal care. A flash way of saying that the roles of grandparents and siblings are valued in raising children.

Children must have access to their whakapapa and the choices that genealogies offer. We know that every child born, is born into a huge range of ancestors, and as they grow they need to also grow into the ever-widening knowledge of their grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, their people.

And so, when I am with my grandson, Te Rangikoianake, I will talk to him of the name and spirit he carries of Ngati Rangikoianake of Te Hauke.

Along with this, the stories which assist children in identifying who they are, will help them to relate to the widest understandings of whanau, hapu and iwi.

As an example, when I share the stories of the great migration of Ngati Kahungunu with my mokopuna, I might highlight the marriage of Te Huhuti to Te Whatuiapiti – a great war chief, with firey red hair. And I will connect the red hair of Te Whatuiapiti with those of his descendants who are honoured with that same luxury.

The story-telling is important. It wraps the children in the history of their people. It firmly locates them in the embrace of their culture – the songs, the proverbs, the folk stories that convey a strong sense of self. Knowing who they are.

And in knowing their history, they will be given warmth through the songs of their tipuna, the skills of their arts, the weaving, the carving, the dance of their people.

That spark of fire which ignites the essence of who we are, will also be found in the language of their mother tongue, and the dialect of their own hapu and iwi. Language choices that we know are nurtured through kohanga reo, A’oga Amata, through Anau Ako Pasifika; through Pasifika Early Childhood Groups and others.

The language is essential – as Sir Kingi believed – because it also provides a pathway to the customs, beliefs, values and traditions of our people. Through our reo, we know more intimately the customs associated with life, death, food gathering, planting, learning, house construction, weaving, carving.

Our customs and traditions also remind us how to care for our environment – and to care for those in our environment.

We must ensure our children are exposed to teachings of how we can contribute positively to the life of our community.

We want our mokopuna to respect our elders as the holders of knowledge.

We want our mokopuna to understand the value of manaaki manuhiri - how to behave respectfully as a guest, how to exhibit respect and hospitality as a host.

It may be as simple a thing as our babies moving off the couch to give Nanny a seat; or being able to share our kai – with of course, ensuring appropriate understanding of the need to be careful about not sharing the germs and viruses that are described in the regulations that dominate your life.

As I look out at this hui and I see the many voices and people that are gathered here today, I think too of the importance of respecting difference, of seeing diversity as a gift.

Our children need to be taught that each whanau and iwi, each culture, each community has their own way of being in the world.

To know that some of our mokopuna will be as fair as their pakeha or palagi peers but they are Maori and want to be Maori.

To know that one size does not fit all – that there will be differences in lifestyles, in values, in spiritual beliefs.

We could all benefit from a world in which we demonstrate the concept of ‘kaua e takatakahi te mana o etahi ake’ : do not belittle the integrity of others.

And crucially, that our children are a treasure, pine pine te kura.

We were always adamant, throughout the long hard months of lobbying that confronted the passage of section 59 through the House, that children must be cared for in a safe, abuse-free and secure environment.

We know that many of our traditional oriori were composed to inspire support and nurturing of a child in the history and traditions of its peoples. The idea of any physical violence against children was abhorrent. The Maori Party has consistently spoken about our vision for an Aotearoa in which we develop a culture which allows children to explore their world without fear of violence or being hurt.

We believe we must all take responsibility for leadership; to restore the rights and obligations of collective care; and to remember that any form of violence is violence - and is unacceptable. As is the way with our custom, we also believe in a concept of reciprocity – that healing is required to address pain; that we must demonstrate care and be prepared, also to receive care in fulfilling our obligations and responsibilities.

These, then, are some starting ideas for the conversations that will take place in this hui, that will sustain us and stimulate us.

They are thoughts which are my own – and which will benefit from your interpretations and challenges. They are thoughts also which reverberate in our past, which challenge our present, which lay a foundation for our future. I leave then this korero, in the hope that we will all be part of a journey to protect the wellbeing of our children as the ultimate investment in the future strength of the people.

ENDS

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