NZTC awarded for cultural diversity and inclusion

Media Release 29 August 2016

NZTC awarded for cultural diversity and inclusion

A huge team effort to produce a te reo Māori learning book in-house at New Zealand Tertiary College (NZTC) hasn’t gone unnoticed.

NZTC has been awarded Highly Commended at the prestigious Diversity Awards which recognise and celebrate New Zealand businesses and organisations championing diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Held at the SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre on Wednesday evening, the Cultural Celebration Award recognised NZTC’s recent publication of Te Reo Māori: He taonga mō ā tātou mokopuna, otherwise known as He Taonga, a Māori teaching and learning book developed to support the college’s students and the early childhood sector.

Over 100 staff members, with over 20 different cultural backgrounds, came together to create He Taonga. Many different skill sets contributed to its creation including academic, IT, design, communication, marketing, registry, pastoral support and finance teams.

Each staff member was gifted a copy of the book to assist not only themselves with their Māori learning, but also sharing with friends and family. Over 5000 copies of the independently funded book will be gifted and distributed throughout New Zealand this year to early childhood centres.

The college entered the Diversity Awards to celebrate the achievement of their incredibly diverse team of people in New Zealand, India and China, who combined their various cultures, talents, gifts and professions to complete a humbling project that will support the future of te reo Māori teaching and learning.

“In our project we asked team members to wholeheartedly and confidently bring their diversities to the table, to challenge and prompt each other, work and learn together, to achieve a goal beyond anything we could have done as individuals,” said NZTC Chief Executive Selena Fox.

“The uniqueness of our goal was that it was to be a uniting one, to develop a book to support, teach and nurture te reo Māori, beginning with our early childhood students and teachers alongside young children throughout New Zealand.”

The high calibre of the award nominations was impressive. The college congratulates all of the entrants and winners for their ongoing initiatives to support diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

ENDS

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