This Big Idea connects to hauora as an important Māori philosophy of holistic wellbeing which is grounded in bodies of mātauranga unique to Aotearoa New Zealand. This goes beyond the physical and can draw on aspects such as the spiritual, the collective, and the environmental.

To approach hauora in a holistic way is to understand its breadth and depth as it relates to individuals, whānau, communities, and the surrounding environment. Hauora can be understood in diverse ways according to a person’s values, cultures, experiences, identities, and worldview, and can be explained using models of health that are relevant and reflective of the diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences of ākonga across Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.

By exploring this Big Idea, ākonga can learn about values and broader kaupapa within te ao Māori that are integral to hauora. When these kaupapa underpin individual, whānau, and community relationships, hauora is strengthened.

Tiakitanga is important because it champions caring for self and others. This value also speaks about how the hauora of people is directly connected to the condition of the environment.

Manaakitanga is a way of being, caring, and relating that ensures all interactions are mana-enhancing and reciprocal. Manaakitanga maintains the safe space that is needed for learning to occur. Recognising the mana of others through caring and mana-enhancing relationships is an important part of developing a sense of self-worth and identity. Through this understanding, ākonga can develop skills to build relationships that enable mutual care, and foster attitudes and values that support the hauora of themselves and others.

Whanaungatanga is also important because hauora is as much about the collective as it is about the individual. Whanaungatanga requires intentional actions that nurture whānau-type relationships. As such, whakawhanaungatanga, or the act of building whanaungatanga, is critical to the hauora of individuals, whānau, and communities.

These three values are deeply interconnected and interdependent. They represent the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ of the enduring learning about, and experiences of, hauora.

This Big Idea helps ākonga understand that hauora is not just a matter of personal choice and individual responsibility, but is part of our complex, interwoven, interpersonal, and societal fabric.

Socio-ecological perspectives are not static and linear. They change continually as the result of the interaction between a broad and complex range of political, environmental, social, cultural, and other factors, in seen and unseen ways. This Big Idea points to how a variety of positive actions are needed at personal, interpersonal, and societal levels to enhance individual and collective hauora.

This Big Idea is about how hauora and positive wellbeing outcomes for all people and communities are only possible when inequities are addressed and all members of society are treated fairly. Therefore, social justice principles and aims are integral to the continued development of diverse approaches to hauora.

By exploring this Big Idea, ākonga can learn how social constructs, power distributions within relationships, or other factors, can create injustice or negatively affect multiple generations of people. This understanding can help ākonga to recognise sources and instances of injustice, and to learn how hauora requires strategies and actions based on fairness and equity. Part of this learning is challenging any personal and systemic biases or assumptions that may exist within these contexts. By exploring this Big Idea, ākonga can also learn to identify the impact of diverse attitudes and values on hauora.