Transcript
Elizabeth Forgie – Co-principals, Kerikeri High School
We are lucky in this community, where there are some parents who still have the opportunity to be able to get involved with school events. And that’s not a luxury that a lot of parents can have these days. But will take a day off and go to the Puketi Forest with the Year 7 Science group. And while that may be like going along to watch the kapa haka group or the rugby, when your child becomes a teenager, sometimes there’s not a lot of times in a year when you actually get to be alongside them and see them doing well, being happy in an educational setting.
Ngahuia Ngata – Chair BOT, Bay Area School
I have observed, as our kids get older that parent involvement does recede, for whatever reasons. The idea that, “Oh they’re getting older, they’re more independent, they can take care of their learning needs”. But what I have observed happening is that the reverse happens, is that the kids also have to cope in those ten years, I suppose, those early adult years at learning how to cope with a whole lot of other social issues that happen during adolescence. And they need parents or whānau involvement more at that time.
Benita Tahuri – Te Kahua Facilitator
When we’re talking about whānau, we’re talking about whānau in terms of the child, their parents, whoever is living with them. But we’re also talking wider in terms of the hapū and their iwi. So understanding, and having an understanding of how that child relates to the collective iwi, is crucial for teachers to understand as well.
Mason Durie – Deputy Vice Chancellor Māori, Massey University
That engagement with the whānau, as distinct from the family, may mean engaging with someone who is not the immediate caregiver but who plays a significant role in a learner’s life. And to engage with that person may also require a knowledge of the community with which the student comes with. So not to being able to assume, for example, that the parents or the immediate family are the right people to engage with. And that requires knowing the community.
Bill Hughes – Principal, Hiruharama School
Whenever I’m communicating with them I try and communicate widely, not just with Mum and Dad, but with nannies and papas, and aunties and uncles, and other interested people.
Aroha Hamilton – Parent, Hiruharama School
We get a weekly pānui... of information of what’s going on in the school and what intended projects the kids are going to be working on. Also little tips that are in the pānui, telling you what you could do to help without actually telling you: "This is what you've got to do".
Nori Parata – Principal Tolaga Bay Area School
Parents and whānau must know how their children are doing, honestly. Whether that’s at the not-so-good end of the scale, to the child doing really well. We should not mislead parents into thinking their children are somewhere when they are not there. But we should also be able to tell parents how they can support and how they can help their child move forward in the learning process.
Andre Te Huna – Parent, Hiruharama School
On their reading books they’ve got a little wee note, and it says what they’re actually learning through the text. And it might say: 'Today Shakayla is learning to say “comprehend” words, learning new texts’ and stuff like that. Yeah, I’ve got a little wee pānui.
Ngahuia Ngata
The school has got to show parents that they care, and expect that to be reciprocated. The school has got to set expectations and maintain them, and live by them.
Jasmine Leach – BOT Member, Kuranui, Tolaga Bay Area School
What the child wants, what they school wants, and what I want, or my whānau want, is probably often a real balancing act. So I think having the school being solely responsible is unfair because at some stage the school is no longer going to be there.