The Pacific Values Framework (PVF) is a resource for all teachers of Pacific learners in NCEA. It is designed to support teachers build their capability to design programmes of learning that are inclusive and relevant to Pacific learners and contexts. It aims to support kaiako to develop local curriculum that incorporates Pacific knowledges, languages, cultures, and identities as inherently valuable to the teaching and learning of respective subjects.
The PVF was developed by the NCEA Pacific Panel in 2020 and intends to provide an anchor on which solutions and strategies can be developed that are reflective of Pacific communities and their aspirations in NCEA. This PVF is intended to complement existing resources such as Tapasā and offers further guidance with a focus on NCEA.
Central to the PVF is the ‘Kumete’ which is Tongan for kava bowl. The practice of sharing in kava is symbolic across the Pacific countries and can be seen as bringing the past into the future and binding them together. The PVF Kumete consists of five key values that characterise Pacific peoples and communities, demonstrated through their customs, practices, and ways of being. In the context of education, the Kumete could also provide a symbol of collective unity, ownership of and responsibility for Pacific learner success.
This Kumete also helps us to centre the needs of Pacific learners in our work. As is the view of Pacific cultures and communities, it is the children or young people that are seen as the future of families so therefore, their wellbeing, development, safety, prosperity, and dignity are concerns for the collectives in which they belong.
The values identified are not meant to be representative of the many values that are held within Pacific communities but rather highlight shared Pacific values as a starting point for discussions.
The Pacific Values Framework (PVF) is a resource for all teachers of Pacific learners in NCEA. It is designed to support teachers build their capability to design programmes of learning that are inclusive and relevant to Pacific learners and contexts. It aims to support kaiako to develop local curriculum that incorporates Pacific knowledges, languages, cultures, and identities as inherently valuable to the teaching and learning of respective subjects.
The PVF was developed by the NCEA Pacific Panel in 2020 and intends to provide an anchor on which solutions and strategies can be developed that are reflective of Pacific communities and their aspirations in NCEA. This PVF is intended to complement existing resources such as Tapasā and offers further guidance with a focus on NCEA.
Central to the PVF is the ‘Kumete’ which is Tongan for kava bowl. The practice of sharing in kava is symbolic across the Pacific countries and can be seen as bringing the past into the future and binding them together. The PVF Kumete consists of five key values that characterise Pacific peoples and communities, demonstrated through their customs, practices, and ways of being. In the context of education, the Kumete could also provide a symbol of collective unity, ownership of and responsibility for Pacific learner success.
This Kumete also helps us to centre the needs of Pacific learners in our work. As is the view of Pacific cultures and communities, it is the children or young people that are seen as the future of families so therefore, their wellbeing, development, safety, prosperity, and dignity are concerns for the collectives in which they belong.
The values identified are not meant to be representative of the many values that are held within Pacific communities but rather highlight shared Pacific values as a starting point for discussions.
Pacific Values Framework
Alofa
In Samoan, Alofa means ‘love’. While love is a universal value and underpins much of what people do - in an education context, expressing Alofa also means maintaining high expectations of Pacific learners, their whānau and communities. It is critical that Pacific learners feel that they have a voice in how and what they learn and can participate in decisions which impact them.
This means upholding the mana of the learner and understanding that teaching and learning should be reciprocal, acknowledging that the knowledges, experiences, skills, and values of Pacific learners, their whānau and communities are inherently valuable to their learning.
In Samoan, Alofa means ‘love’. While love is a universal value and underpins much of what people do - in an education context, expressing Alofa also means maintaining high expectations of Pacific learners, their whānau and communities. It is critical that Pacific learners feel that they have a voice in how and what they learn and can participate in decisions which impact them.
This means upholding the mana of the learner and understanding that teaching and learning should be reciprocal, acknowledging that the knowledges, experiences, skills, and values of Pacific learners, their whānau and communities are inherently valuable to their learning.
Kuleana
In Hawaii, Kuleana is understood as ‘responsibility’. This value or concept implores us to think about both the individual, and collective responsibility to design programmes of learning in NCEA that are inclusive of Pacific learners and contexts.
In turn, this will support Pacific learners to then pursue meaningful pathway that enable them to fulfil their own Kuleana to themselves, their whānau, peers, teachers, school, community and wider society.
In Hawaii, Kuleana is understood as ‘responsibility’. This value or concept implores us to think about both the individual, and collective responsibility to design programmes of learning in NCEA that are inclusive of Pacific learners and contexts.
In turn, this will support Pacific learners to then pursue meaningful pathway that enable them to fulfil their own Kuleana to themselves, their whānau, peers, teachers, school, community and wider society.
Vaka
Vaka in many Pacific languages means ‘canoe’. The analogy of a Vaka highlights Pacific navigation and way-finding, and the innovation, creativity, and courage of Pacific peoples to determine their own pathways, journeys, and stories. This value encourages us to understand who and where we come from in order to inform how we move today to influence tomorrow.
It is important to also understand the diverse stories of Pacific peoples and recognize that the diversity of cultures, languages, and identities also need to be reflected in our approaches to teaching and learning of Pacific learners and the many pathways that our young people may pursue.
Vaka in many Pacific languages means ‘canoe’. The analogy of a Vaka highlights Pacific navigation and way-finding, and the innovation, creativity, and courage of Pacific peoples to determine their own pathways, journeys, and stories. This value encourages us to understand who and where we come from in order to inform how we move today to influence tomorrow.
It is important to also understand the diverse stories of Pacific peoples and recognize that the diversity of cultures, languages, and identities also need to be reflected in our approaches to teaching and learning of Pacific learners and the many pathways that our young people may pursue.
Vā
Vā is widely understood across New Zealand Pacific communities as ‘Sharing, giving, creating, and navigating space’. Vā speaks to relationships as being of the utmost importance to Pacific learners. Pacific peoples often connect with others “through our hearts before we connect through our heads” (Fitisemanu, 2015) points out. Looking after the Vā is caring for the relationships in our classrooms and communities.
When applied to teaching and learning, Vā could be applied as a conduit for understanding the differences and similarities within and between individuals and/or groups, shared environments, history, genealogy, and responsibilities – to each other, our environments, families, communities, and ourselves
Vā is widely understood across New Zealand Pacific communities as ‘Sharing, giving, creating, and navigating space’. Vā speaks to relationships as being of the utmost importance to Pacific learners. Pacific peoples often connect with others “through our hearts before we connect through our heads” (Fitisemanu, 2015) points out. Looking after the Vā is caring for the relationships in our classrooms and communities.
When applied to teaching and learning, Vā could be applied as a conduit for understanding the differences and similarities within and between individuals and/or groups, shared environments, history, genealogy, and responsibilities – to each other, our environments, families, communities, and ourselves
Fonua
In Tongan, Fonua, relates to land and people but traditionally, refers to the placenta as a symbol of birth and safety. As a concept, Fonua highlights the importance of belonging and connectedness to both the people and place of learning, as well as the learner’s own journey as a Pacific person.
It is important to consider that for many Pacific learners, regardless of where they were raised, a sense of belonging and connectedness is critical to their education. For many Pacific learners, making meaningful connections to one’s culture, language, histories or land is critical in shaping a positive learning experience. Pacific learners should feel a sense of belonging and that they have “a place to stand” where they feel secure, safe, respected and accepted for who they are, where and who they come from, and what they bring.
In Tongan, Fonua, relates to land and people but traditionally, refers to the placenta as a symbol of birth and safety. As a concept, Fonua highlights the importance of belonging and connectedness to both the people and place of learning, as well as the learner’s own journey as a Pacific person.
It is important to consider that for many Pacific learners, regardless of where they were raised, a sense of belonging and connectedness is critical to their education. For many Pacific learners, making meaningful connections to one’s culture, language, histories or land is critical in shaping a positive learning experience. Pacific learners should feel a sense of belonging and that they have “a place to stand” where they feel secure, safe, respected and accepted for who they are, where and who they come from, and what they bring.
Pacific Values Framework - Resources
PVF Workbook
This resource workbook encourages kaiako to reflect on their positionality and identify opportunities to strengthen their course design so that it is inclusive of Pacific learners and contexts.
PVF Workbook
This resource workbook encourages kaiako to reflect on their positionality and identify opportunities to strengthen their course design so that it is inclusive of Pacific learners and contexts.
[ File Resource ]
- Title: PVF Workbook
- Description: Encourages kaiako to reflect on their positionality and identify opportunities to strengthen their course design
- File URL: https://ncea-live-3-storagestack-53q-assetstorages3bucket-2o21xte0r81u.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2022-11/Pacific%20Values%20Framework%20Workbook_FINAL.pdf?VersionId=NWYreXGrUVGRDcIfIV9ZcPJWz7VAw2kH
- File Extension: pdf
- File Size: 2MB
- PVF Workbook.pdf
- Description: Encourages kaiako to reflect on their positionality and identify opportunities to strengthen their course design
PVF Workbook
PVF Learning Area Guides
To support kaiako bringing Pacific values into their course design, a guide has been provided for each NZC Learning Area that makes connections to each value within the framework and offer examples of what this may look like in practice.
PVF Learning Area Guides
To support kaiako bringing Pacific values into their course design, a guide has been provided for each NZC Learning Area that makes connections to each value within the framework and offer examples of what this may look like in practice.
[ File Resource ]
- Title: PVF Learning Area Guides
- Description: To support kaiako to bring Pacific values into their programme design.
- File URL: https://ncea-live-3-storagestack-53q-assetstorages3bucket-2o21xte0r81u.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2023-02/Pacific%20Values%20Framework%20-%20Learning%20Area%20Guides_FINAL.pdf?VersionId=ohW2lSZQrnicwZi6UyoTmhFSpvc3TqDu
- File Extension: pdf
- File Size: 913KB
- PVF Learning Area Guides.pdf
- Description: To support kaiako to bring Pacific values into their programme design.
PVF Learning Area Guides
PVF Facilitation Guide
This resource provides high-level guidance to support school staff or subject departments in their planning and designing of teaching and learning.
PVF Facilitation Guide
This resource provides high-level guidance to support school staff or subject departments in their planning and designing of teaching and learning.
[ File Resource ]
- Title: PVF Facilitation Guide
- Description: High-level guidance to support school staff or subject departments in their planning and designing of teaching and learning
- File URL: https://ncea-live-3-storagestack-53q-assetstorages3bucket-2o21xte0r81u.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2022-11/TOD%20-%20Facilitation%20Guide%20-%20Designing%20programmes%20of%20learning%20for%20Pacific%20learners%20and%20contexts_FINAL.pdf?VersionId=C0pos6yHkpbNtup8jLzZlMT2eCJtuG2f
- File Extension: pdf
- File Size: 184KB
- PVF Facilitation Guide.pdf
- Description: High-level guidance to support school staff or subject departments in their planning and designing of teaching and learning
PVF Facilitation Guide
Introduction to the Pacific Values Framework
[ Video Resource ]
- Title: Introducing the Pacific Values Framework - Lauie Sila
- Description: A call to action highlighting the importance of understanding the need to deliver an NCEA that is inclusive of Pacific knowledges, cultures, languages, identities, and contexts.
- Video Duration: 2 minutes
- Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/768777143?h=6cbf1466a5
- Transcript: Kia ora
Kia ora, Kia Orana, Talofa, Tālofa Ni, Malo e lelei, and Fakaalofa lahi atu. My name is Lauie Sila, I am of Samoan descent, proud Solomoan Kiwi, and I am born and raised in the south side of Auckland.
If you're watching this, it's because you care about Pacific ākonga and you're interested in the ways in which NCEA might do better for them, their families and communities, and in doing so, might do better for all of Aotearoa. You all know that the stats for Pacific people aren't good. We have built systems that have failed our communities time and time again.
We have deliberately designed learning and assessments for individuals and not the village. We've favoured the English language at the cost of native tongues, we've asked kids to leave their culture at the gates of the school. And we've rarely given them the opportunity to see themselves in their learning. It's time for change.
We are all used to hearing the negative statistics about Pacific peoples. These stats can make you feel sorry for our Pacific learners and their families. Or they may make you think that we are asking for the bar to be lowered.
This couldn't be further from the truth. Pacific peoples are warriors and navigators, entrepreneurs and innovators. And we have been for thousands of years. We do not need pity. We do not need handouts.
The Pacific Values Framework presented here is a way to play to our strengths. These values can be interpreted in many different ways. Like our peoples, th
ee. But what's important is that they are our way of seeing the world. By looking through the lens of Vā, Vaka, Fonua, Kuleana and Alofa it is our hope that you can see our kids like I do, as incredible young people with powerful voices, strong villages and communities, big dreams and the potential to change the world.
[ Video Resource ]
- Title: Introducing the PVF - Dr Michelle Johansson
- Description: An overview of the Pacific Values Framework and its purpose, including unpacking meanings and intention behind each value.
- Video Duration: 6 minutes
- Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/768782091?h=150d9fdedd
- Transcript: Kia ora
Kia ora, Kia Orana, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Tālofa Ni, Bula Vinaka, Malo e lelei, and Talofa Lava, and the warmest of Pacific greetings. Welcome to the Pacific Values Framework.
I'm going to start with two disclaimers, and one is that the values presented here are indicative on-ly. Their definitions are wide and vast, and there's no way that we could capture them in the amount of time that we have. So please, forgiveness and patience. These values are representative only of concepts that are found across the Pacific, in the Pacific nations, for our Pacific people.
To my brothers and sisters, mamas and papas, aunties and uncles from the Pacific, I particularly beg your forgiveness. We are not attempting to fix these values that are precious and sacred to any one spot. But we are trying to offer lenses through which we might see the curriculum and the ways in which we might make NCEA better for our Pacific learners.
We realise that there is so much work to do and there is so much work to do that was due yester-day. And for those who are designing NCEA or teaching in classrooms, it often feels like there's not enough time to pay attention to things like these values. They seem like an extra thing that you have to do. However, what we're offering here is an opportunity to see the world through Pacific lenses and to use those lenses to design an NCEA that works for our Pacific learners particularly, and in so doing, might be better for all of Aotearoa.
We're at an exciting time in education for Aotearoa, and we're sitting on the cusp of something that could mean real change for Pacific learners. In 2018 a conversation was begun with all of Aotearoa on how we might make our education system better. The Pacific Values Framework sits within the NCEA Review, which was nominated by our communities as something that needed to shift in order to achieve success for those learners and their families. The Pacific Values Framework was designed by the Pacific Peoples Panel for NCEA and the Review of Standards.
We chose the kava bowl because it's representative of many of the cultures of the Pacific and how we gather, come together and talanoa. The kava circle is an important and sacred place. It's also another classroom for our young people to learn at.
The kava bowl that you encounter in the Pacific Values Framework is a four-legged kava bowl, and those four legs represent four of the values in the Framework. They represent Vā, Fonua, Vaka and Kuleana, and then inside the bowl as part of the service that we give to each other, is Alofa.
Vā
One of the most important values to Pacific people is the Vā. There are many definitions that are wide and vast across the Pacific of this concept, this value. One of my favourites is from Albert Wendt, who says that the vā is "the space between all things which defines us". When using the vā in the Pacific Values Framework we're hoping that you will see through the lens of relationship andhow important that is to Pacific people. So when in designing this learning, please think about the ways in which relationships between people, between your students, between each other, between teacher and student, and between the students and the world around them might be incorporated in this learning.
We're a collective and a connected people. These things must be woven into learning and we must stop seeing learning as an individual pursuit. If our young people are meant to be citizens of this bigger society, then they need to find ways in which they can connect through their Pacific values such as the vā.
Fonua
Fonua is a term that comes from our Tongan cultures, and in the classroom what it might look like is how your students belong in the classroom, how they belong and connect to each other, to the land, to the teacher, and to the learning.
If you're using or utilising the value of Fonua in your classroom, then you are thinking about ways in which your students can actively connect and are encouraged to connect to the land and how they might belong in the world around them.
Kuleana Kuleana is another of the values in the Pacific Values Framework, and it comes from our Hawaiian brothers and sisters. When we think about Kuleana, we might also think about tautua, and we might think about how responsibility, service and leadership play out in our classrooms and how our learning encourages a sense of responsibility to the classroom, to the community, to their whānau and to each other.
Vaka
The value of Vaka is important to Pacific Learners. It recognises that we are all on a journey. It recognies that we are navigators, and we are innovators, and that we have been traveling for a long time.
It reminds us where our homelands are and it allows us to see our particular places in any given piece of work. So when we're creating our vaka in our classrooms, our students will know where they sit, where they stand in relation to the learning, who they are on the vaka, and what their re-sponsibility is to each other.
Alofa
If you are looking at the Pacific Values Framework, you will see that Alofa is the value that sits above them all, and fills the kava bowl. Across our cultures Alofa might be translated as 'Aroha', 'Aloha', 'Aro'a', 'Ofa'. These things are sometimes translated into English as the word 'Love', but it is so much more than love. It encompasses all the kindness and generosity and manaaki that must exist in your classroom if your learners are to thrive. Part of the Pacific Values Framework is an offer-ing to share and this alofa.
This is an invitation to you all to come and sit at the kumete at the tanoa with us and share in the Pacific Values Framework.
[ Video Resource ]
- Title: Introducing the Pacific Values Framework - Dr Edmond Fehoko
- Description: An introduction to cultural significance of the kava and its relevance in highlighting a shared responsibility to serve Pacific learners well in education.
- Video Duration: 3 minutes
- Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/768785102?h=f17e350450
- Transcript: As the plant and the beverage of the Pacific
As the plant and the beverage of the Pacific, kava has become the medium to bind, to bring people together. Particularly Pacific peoples, not only in the homelands, but also here in the diasporic communities such as New Zealand, Australia, and the United States of America.
Going inside the kava bowl is the plant and beverage of the Pacific. The importance of upholding one's identity and for us here in New Zealand, the importance of cultural identity to ensuring to ensure a unique and distinctive difference here in Aotearoa.
There's a reason why we sit on the ground: one, is t to show our respect to our people; two, it al-lows us to be eye-to-eye. If you look at a Western classroom, a teacher's standing up and a student is sitting down automatically creating power dynamics from eye contact. In Pacific settings, espe-cially when sitting in a circle not only by sitting on the floor are we grounded on the floor but also our eye contacts are level and that allows for democratic and just being open and free when we come across talanoa or being able to carry out a discussion. And so having everyone sit around in a circle allows for this collective idea that, similar to the kava bowl, that when we all sit in a circle eve-ryone is is binded together to ensure that it creates the safe space.
And the passing of the cup goes around, which is also seen as an imaginary rope, and the rope al-lows that when you touch the cup you're accountable and transparent to the ideas that would be shared in the circle and no one will be judged and all that kind of stuff as well. So importantly I use the kava circle or use the kava space in highlighting the Pacific Values Framework.
As we know, that if one leg is missing, the kava bowl becomes unstable and becomes really unbal-anced. So too the identity of our young people and so if our legs are strong it allows that whatever goes into it will allow our young people to uphold foundational values of Pacific societies. And then from there, it binds us all together from different generations.
Pacific Values in Practice
Pacific experts unpack each value in depth by presenting examples of what they look like within the classroom, and how they have meaningfully woven Pacific knowledges, cultures, languages, identities and contexts into their course design and practice.
Pacific experts unpack each value in depth by presenting examples of what they look like within the classroom, and how they have meaningfully woven Pacific knowledges, cultures, languages, identities and contexts into their course design and practice.
Alofa
Teaching with ALOFA means to uphold the deep dignity in each and every learner. It means to teach with understanding and respect for learners, their families and communities, as well as inherently valuing and including Pacific identities, languages and cultures in what and how they teach.
Alofa
Teaching with ALOFA means to uphold the deep dignity in each and every learner. It means to teach with understanding and respect for learners, their families and communities, as well as inherently valuing and including Pacific identities, languages and cultures in what and how they teach.
[ Video Resource ]
- Title: Alofa
- Description: Examples of Alofa in practice.
- Video Duration: 6 minutes
- Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/768788843?h=10a8e44917
- Transcript: Alofa to me means family
Alofa to me means family, means loved ones. It's a value that you can give but also receive. It's a value that I feel in education is undervalued.
Alofa, which is ‘Ofa in Tongan, and it's about the heart. And I think as a teacher it was always where I positioned myself in the classroom, when I'm in front of my learners. It's the pedagogy of love. Pedagogy of ’ofa, pedagogy of alofa.
So the word ‘alofa’ is really special because it shares so many similarities across the Pacific, so ‘aroha’ in te reo Māori, Kuki Āirani, ‘aloha’ Hawai’i, ’‘ofa’ lea faka-Tonga. So alofa is a concept that we are all familiar with across the Pacific. I’m Samoan and alofa kind of underpins all that we do within our culture. So our greeting ‘Talofa’ comes from the Samoan saying “Si o ta alofa”, which means “let's say hello”. But actually what it really means is “let's exchange love”.
The word ‘alofa’, there's a lot to it. So, you know, honesty, love, obviously a lot to do with relationship and how we interact positively with people and the and the ability to to give alofa as well as receive is a really important aspect of that word.
Kids feel things before they know things. And when you connect first and foremost at a heart level, you you connect in a very different way.
Alofa really underpins everything. If we don't have love for ourselves, alofa for ourselves, aro’a for each other and for their environments. We cannot have Vā. We cannot have ‘Enua. We cannot have Vaka because essentially life in creation comes from love, loving for each other and ourselves. Often, I mean to say in the Cook Islands, one of the first jobs that kids were given was to pick up little shells and poke holes in them and put together an ‘ei, and it is something that would take a really long time, take patience, you know, you had to sit there do, it’s a bit like a huge chore. But essentially it's about the time and time that it takes to grow something like a shell in the ocean, sweep up onto the beach, put it together, which is another amount of time. And it really is about the physical action of gifting somebody your love.
I think when you're thinking about alofa, ‘ofa, when kids know that they can make mistakes, they take risks. But, you know, they are going to be held in a space where the learning that happens in those moments is going to be also valued. You treat children with dignity.
How we can show alofa in the classroom is really getting to understand who our students are, where they come from, but what their names mean to them. And part of that is understanding the significance of their names, but also taking the time to really know how to pronounce those names because they have significance within their families, within their village, within their, you know, the nations that they come from.
I always kind of hit that framing of it was I enjoyed doing duty, you know, morning tea, lunch duties because I got to be with the kids and see them in their animated spaces and, you know, have those conversations and play basketball with them and so forth. Those are the relationships that are built outside, but you bring them back in when you're in that classroom environment.
For teachers to think about what they're teaching, you know, how can they incorporate, for example, Pacific case studies, Pacific role models, have high expectations showing that alofa in terms of that expectations that they have on the students, that they can do what they aspire to do.
I can feel a school the moment I step into it. It's a tangible thing. Do you value your children? Do you value them? Do I see them everywhere in the school? Do I walk into a classroom and I see the work on the walls? Do I walk into a school and into the office area and do the office staff give you love, love and warmth from the way they greet you or are you ignored, you know, all those things combine to create a culture?
Absolutely, the teacher has to show that care, that ‘ofa, that alofa, to the student and that starts from really caring about who they are, you know, as a person, but also what they bring to the classroom and then being committed to how well they do in terms of their, you know, progress and achievement.
Kuleana
Teachers who understand the importance of KULEANA will work to instill a sense of individual and collective responsibility in their learners. This responsibility will extend to learners, their families, communities and environments – both in Aotearoa NZ and at home in the Pacific. Teachers will encourage a sense of humility in their learners, aligned to Pacific leadership and service.
Kuleana
Teachers who understand the importance of KULEANA will work to instill a sense of individual and collective responsibility in their learners. This responsibility will extend to learners, their families, communities and environments – both in Aotearoa NZ and at home in the Pacific. Teachers will encourage a sense of humility in their learners, aligned to Pacific leadership and service.
[ Video Resource ]
- Title: Kuleana
- Description: Examples of Kuleana in practice.
- Video Duration: 6 minutes
- Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/768789945?h=7a0f7a37c3
- Transcript: So Kuleana is honestly one of my favourite values. It's foremost in my mind a leadership value
So Kuleana is honestly one of my favourite values. It's foremost in my mind a leadership value, but it's the kind of leadership that we all need to have. It's kind of at a basic level it is responsibility. In Kanaka Maoli culture it was and is about responsibility for yourself, responsibility for your family, your community, and for the ‘āin a and you are intricately kind of connected to these things through responsibility.
My husband was born and raised in Hawai’i, in Havai’i, and I asked him about the word ‘kuleana’ and he just looked at me like “Yeah, you know, like kuleana” and I’m like “Yeah?”. And he just looked at me like it’s, and finally he said after, he said, he goes, “Well, you know, because I was raised in Hawai’i, like you know, we learned that in primary school”. And I was like “In primary?” and he goes, “Yeah, like, you know, it's, it's like basic concepts, you know, that we learned about kanaka and responsibility between kanaka and ‘āina, which is, you know, people and the land, and you know, they even have a, they even use it as slang. Like when someone's doing a job that's not theirs. “Oh is that your Kule?” He just talked about how much it has to do with taking that responsibility, in an honourable way.
An important part of kuleana is not just having the responsibility, but expressing that responsibility in our actions and what we do and say. But not just what we say, what we do. So that's where something like ‘Tautua’ comes in, which is Samoan, but also resonates with the with the native Hawai’ian model of expressing that responsibility through service-based leadership.
When I think about kuleana and tautua, yes there’s the big responsibility in it and there’s a big obligation to it, but the other word that I would bring too it is ‘Honour’. Like there’s an honour to take responsibility.
What it means to me, it's a bridge for me to connect with the past, the present and the future. It's an experience that we can all relate to. It's something that can mirror excellence as well.
It's what we encourage our students to do. And as a community, each one of us has the chance to reach out and really show that we are the leaders we are. Not just in mana, not just in genealogy, not just because we have a Ph.D. or we're at the head of a classroom, but because we are serving other people.
Getting to a place where we feel honoured to be able to go, embark on a journey with your students and teaching them and showing them, how we can all be responsible for their learning and our teaching and our learning. And it's something that's reciprocal between the two parties.
In terms of education, it's the kind of responsibility that we all need to have because the things that we need to do to produce better outcomes for Pacific learners and for all learners are really about all of us being engaged.
When they realise that the are in charge of their own learning, that it's not teaching, but it's actually from them. It's that they're in charge. It's their responsibility. One thing we do in the English department here at MC is we have tracking sheets and it tracks the assessments that they've done and how far they've come along and we post that in the front of the class. So they see that when they're looking at the board, they see it when they walk out of the classroom. So that teaches them that they're responsible for their own learning and they know where they are right now. They know where they have to go. And what's in between is really up to them, as much as the teacher.
Recently, I was in a conversation in a predominantly Pacific High School where these students were doing extremely well. They’re in, partially in this community that is heavily influenced by Pacific values. But one of their strongest values, it would seem, is leadership. And that leadership is something that they've learned at home and something that they see demonstrated in their community. It's also something they're expected to demonstrate. And essentially for me, that's a big part of what teaching is anyway.
Fonua
Teachers who understand the importance of FONUA will hold the different indigenous knowledges of the Pacific at the center of their curriculum and pedagogy. They will create multiple and diverse opportunities for their learners to make connections to their mind, body, soul and environment, as well as land, culture, and identity. They will create spaces where students feel that they belong and are connected to the teacher, school, learning and each other.
Fonua
Teachers who understand the importance of FONUA will hold the different indigenous knowledges of the Pacific at the center of their curriculum and pedagogy. They will create multiple and diverse opportunities for their learners to make connections to their mind, body, soul and environment, as well as land, culture, and identity. They will create spaces where students feel that they belong and are connected to the teacher, school, learning and each other.
[ Video Resource ]
- Title: Fonua
- Description: Examples of Fonua in practice.
- Video Duration: 7 minutes
- Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/768790453?h=350b6da0ff
- Transcript: ‘Fonua’ in Tongan means ‘land’. I always think about the journey of our people to settle the many lands that make up the Pacific. And when I think about fonua I think about the connections that we have to land. In Tonga we have Tofoa
‘Fonua’ in Tongan means ‘land’. I always think about the journey of our people to settle the many lands that make up the Pacific. And when I think about fonua I think about the connections that we have to land. In Tonga we have Tofoa, where I grew up, we have Vainī, which is where our ‘uta’ or ‘farm’ is, and all of that land has many memories tied to it.
It's very holistic and it captures this very harmonious talanoa that we have in the importance of culture, language, if you’re looking at nature, you know, fonua is the land, fonua also is something that we carry intangibly.
Fonua is holistic in the sense that it includes the metaphysical. So that’s all our past history of our ancestors, whether it's through voyaging, the naming of the land, our cultural practices, those particular types of experience that perhaps we still practice here in New Zealand, but stem from those practices and knowledge that have been orally transmitted through our ancestors.
Fonua again is the concept of land, but it's also ‘place’. For our people in Aotearoa we are always looking for our place. We are always looking for home. Immediately when I came to this country, I looked for home. I looked for my people. I was so excited when I found the Tongan community, I could speak my lea faka-Tonga with them.
I'm a descendant of migrant parents from Samoa and Tonga and so I have my ancestral roots back in our villages in Samoa and Tonga. So for me, what I call the ‘motherland’ that’s the anchor of the significance of whenua to me. And while I'm New Zealand born, for me fonua is transitional. In the fact that I have over 50 years plus of living in the South Island in Ōtepoti or Otakou as we call it, in Dunedin. And so I have that type of transitional type of anchoring in the fonua of Aotearoa New Zealand.
I always wonder how can you bring your fonua closer to you? I carry my fonua when I wear my kiekie, which is from Tonga, was given to me by my mother who’s pālagi when I came because she said, “No matter where you go, you should carry your fonua.”
There’s a hymn, 391, that's almost become Tongan’s second national anthem. And we usually hear at times when Tongans come together in solidarity and unity. And the words goes: “ ‘Oku i ai ha ki’i fonua. ‘Oku tu’u ‘i ‘Oseni.” “There’s a small island, that stands in the middle of the ocean.” And as for Tongan people, when we sing that, we sing that with pride, because we know that the islands is constantly surviving but also thriving in the biggest ocean in the world.
One of the a phrase that comes up like how do we, are we all familiar with it, “How do we sing our song in a foreign land?” I’ve sort of like kind of adapted that and to our ākonga growing up in New Zealand, “How do you sing our own song in a not so foreign land, but which we now call home?”
Growing up, I was in a school that I would say maybe had two Pasifika kids total and so I just had no exposure to that world to anything that they are experiencing. So everything I've learned, I've learned on this job and the connections I've made are through teaching and it's kind of is like it sounds very dramatic, but it's actually changed how I approach life and I take a lot of their values now into my life in how I relate to my family and like how I relate to people as a family as a whole. Yeah, I'm still very much on my journey, but like if you put in your authentic self and you come in with the values that you have which absolutely align to Pasifika values, usually then you will get this amazing experience of teaching them.
And I think you can utilise fonua as that anchor point to create common ground amongst all learners. I actually have a map in my classroom and I get each of the learners or each of my students to get up and put a little pin in there and then “Okay, let’s just acknowledge where you’re all from.” For me, it's an opportunity to create connectedness, an opportunity to create meaningful engagement amongst the students and to get a greater appreciation and to get a greater appreciation of their worldview and how they see the world so that you can better engage them in the classroom.
One way that I try to foster fonua in the classroom is for kids to enter the space and feel like they can connect with me authentically and also connect with others in the class authentically. And that's sharing about themselves, their history, their family, their genealogy, like all sorts of things that make them who they are. And I think once they are authentically in the room as that person, then they can go beyond that and they can learn as their authentic self.
How we’re connected to our fonua gives us that, gives us that sense of belonging. The connectedness. So we cannot separate the two. It's already in our DNA. It's about evoking those gifts that the strengths that our Pacific ākonga have in terms of and and then applying that.
For our Pacific learners they are always trying to find that place and it is the role of the education system, it’s the role of our faiako or kaiako to facilitate that. How can you build a place for our learners within classroom? For a lot of our Pacific children who uphold and maintain a sense of fonua or identity, entering the gates or entering the school and seeing someone that they can familiarise themselves with gives them the sense of hope that their cultures are not being left at the gates.
If we carry our fonua with us, that means we should always carry and build a place and space for our learners wherever they go.
Vā
Teachers who nurture the VĀ in their classrooms understand that relationships are of the utmost importance to Pacific learners. Teachers will foster understanding of the vā with and amongst their learners. They will work hard to care for the relationships in their classrooms and communities.
Vā
Teachers who nurture the VĀ in their classrooms understand that relationships are of the utmost importance to Pacific learners. Teachers will foster understanding of the vā with and amongst their learners. They will work hard to care for the relationships in their classrooms and communities.
[ Video Resource ]
- Title: Vā
- Description: Examples of Vā in practice.
- Video Duration: 8 minutes
- Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/768791947?h=9c57f74d7b
- Transcript: So Vā for me means just having
So Vā for me means just having, like, a safe space. I often use my classroom as an example for this. I like to have a safe space within my classroom where all students feel like a sense of belonging, but also a space where relationships are really strong and really important.
In Tonga, it's about looking after connections, relationships, whether that's inside the nucleus, the family or community. And then there's our cultural practices that we all kind of partake in to help create that connection.
It's a very complex concept. There's many facets and layers to it. There's many types of vā, so. Vā between a student and a teacher is different to a vā between two students or between the teacher and a whānau.
It's the it's the care of that relationship between you as the teacher and the tamaiti.
It's really important because a lot of our kids cannot learn if you do not have a relationship. Especially our Pasifika students. We all know that, especially like it reflects the kumete. The thing that goes round and round. That if you give me respect, I give you respect in return. If you give me aroha, I give you aroha in return. It's a part of being together. It's unity. And that’s what a relationship is.
There’s like a misconception that the vā is ‘gotta respect your elders’. But there's also a level of mutual respect. And I think it's really important to build that safe space with our young Pasifika, so they can open up.
So it's not just for the Pasifika and the Māori kids, it can be for everybody. And if we all bind together in some way, we're all tied together and all our values and that, because we, we have different we all might have different values, but we all are trying to aspire to the same goal.
So for me, vā is looking after or nurturing the spaces, the connection in between firstly, yes, myself and others. But as I've grown both in my career and just in my personal life, I'm starting to realise it's also to look after and to nurture the words that depart my mouth and land on others and vice versa.
It’s a really important value for me, but it's also changing up that relationship where I'm not just a teacher to them. I like them to feel like that there is a relationship that is just as important to me when I'm relating to my students and their families. It's not “if you tick a box, you're going to nail it”, but also with the vā, like any relationship, there’s going to be ups and downs and nurturing that vā is like, how are you going to navigate through your ups and downs?
It’s the first thing we try and do is to try and create connection. So it's really hard for me to yeah to explain why it's important when it's so hard for me to understand why it isn't important. Like, why aren't we doing it all the time?
Being online is completely different, so it's almost like you have to really show your alofa in the sense to for parents to understand and to trust. It's that trust, and you have to build that relationship that way. To the extent it's really like being an aunty to every single Pasifika student and be like, “Okay, so you know, we've got school, you know, NCEA exams coming up, you know, what's the plan?” And the plan is, you know, I have to be their aunty sometimes rather than the teacher.
I think I’ve seen it through the senior leadership team. So here at school, I think they're in the learning process of really building that safe space, but also putting trust in us that have the cultural knowledge, to be able to teach them.
Building those those relationships pretty much from day one. You can yeah. It's amazing how much the kids will do for you.
We have a talanoa and that’s just an opportunity to clear the floor. The students will circle up and they will all talk about like what their progress is like in class and what they've struggled with. But they also use it to tell me or to correct me and say to me, “Look, Miss. You didn't really cover this very well”, and I take that on, not to heart, I’m like “Okay, cool.” And that helps me plan my lessons in response to what my students are needing. But those talanoas can also go way deeper. It doesn't necessarily just have to be in our class. They'll talk about things that they're having struggles with and you'll see other students supporting them and being like, “Oh, this is how I dealt with that”, or “This is how I” or “I could help you with this”. I've seen the real benefits of building a relationship with the parents as well, and nurturing the vā with the parents.
We do sort of an interview process. We try and do it similar to a job that you come in. You sit down with us and we sort of talk to not just the student, but their parents. We try and get those interviews to sort of begin that relationship with the families. And one of the things I do say a lot to them is “By the end of their year 12 year with me, I will know your kid better than you do. And so what I want to do is to able to open the door for the parents to be able to say, “Okay, I can call you in the morning and say, my son's having a bad day.” Cool, that's how I want to know. I want to be able to know that so that, okay, how do I deal with him when he comes into school? Sometimes it's just letting them know that they are good at something.
We tried to use it to disrupt the word ‘timetable’ or our concept of what a timetable is. So then we could learn to work differently in our spaces. We found the timetable was quite rigid, that how we were bound by time we were in a classroom. It didn't allow us to be fluid enough to shift and move into spaces and with each other as freely as we could or needed to be. So that's what we hoped introducing the concept of vā into our space would help us to do. That vā between, you know, English and social science and, you know, the student and the curriculum and the teacher and the curriculum and the teacher and the and the community, because we're trying to bring in that localised knowledge.
So it's always checking in every morning, making sure that I say hi to everybody as they walk through the door. It's noticing the changes between each person. Like there's always someone who's loud, there's always someone who's quiet. But when that changes, it’s how can I connect and check in and make sure they're okay type thing.
For me, the building is the easy part and it always has been. That's always been the easy part. Building a home’s easy, but building those relationships with those young ones and that that's that's the hardest thing you can do.
Vā is a superpower to be unlocked within our young Pasifika learners, because noone's ready, no one's ready for our Pacific young learners to realise their full potential.
Vaka
Teachers who understand the importance of VAKA are able to see, appreciate and build the inherent strengths of their Pacific learners.
They will see their students as master navigators and wayfinders, with collective courage and the ability to dream big and work hard. They will foster high expectation and high relationship in their classroom, where every learner has a place and a role that serves the classroom community as a whole.
Vaka
Teachers who understand the importance of VAKA are able to see, appreciate and build the inherent strengths of their Pacific learners.
They will see their students as master navigators and wayfinders, with collective courage and the ability to dream big and work hard. They will foster high expectation and high relationship in their classroom, where every learner has a place and a role that serves the classroom community as a whole.
[ Video Resource ]
- Title: Vaka
- Description: Examples of Vaka in practice.
- Video Duration: 5 minutes
- Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/768791010?h=1e94563d5a
- Transcript: Vaka to me means collective
Vaka to me means collective, vaka means support and love from all aspects of my collective or my community. That is from my ancestors, that is from our tamariki, that is from all folks in our community.
Collectivism really created sufficiency, well-being for many of the indigenous communities in the Pacific that I studied. And when we talk about our ancestors who sailed across the oceans many, many years ago, it was through collectivism.
When we talk about vaka or being as part of a collective, it’s us kind of addressing the reality that in our kind of more urbanised society, we have a kind of individualised approach. And, you know, for our students, for our families, that doesn't necessarily meet their needs. It's a vaka of knowledge.
It is the collective that keeps our vaka of knowledge afloat.
As a teacher or as the leader of the boat or whatever you want to call it, your goal is to move from one place to another and on that boat your students, it is your job to give those students different jobs according to like their strengths and their experiences and to mentor them to be themselves. And all the actions that happen inside your classroom, which is the va’a, have the intention of moving forward.
The concept of ako can't really exist without that value of vaka for Pacific people. You know, the understanding that when we are in a class or in a group learning, we do it together.
For a lot of our Pacific learners we have been told that our voices do not matter. We have always felt lesser in a lot of the societies that we live in.
But vaka and the collective helps us understand that as a as a as a group, as a family, as a community, as a class, we can operate much better or we can operate stronger as a collective.
That’s why it’s awkward for many of our young people to try and write or talk about themselves in a way that makes them better than, you know, or feel superior, it's alien. You’ve gotta teach our young people to be able to do that because that's the nature of the world they have to to grow in, work in and learn in. But we also have to allow our practitioners to understand that so they, you know, they they they must put our young people in situations where they have to blow their own trumpet.
I get students to introduce themself more than once. Introductions really like take longer than just like one sit down session. So it’s something I do to kind of get my students onboard. Introduce themself not only just to me who's heard the introduction over and over again, but to also bring who they are to the classroom. Until they feel like they're really a part of that va’a or the classroom.
A great example of vaka in an English classroom has been around studying actually a Pacific text that the concept of family and feasting was central to that text. And one of the activities we would always do when looking at that text is we ourselves as a class would create a feast and we would create the food. And then as we ate we would reflect on some of the themes that are emerging from that text and the students would come across those challenges that you come across when you're preparing food, especially when you're preparing food as a as a large group, and everyone has to contribute something. And so for me, that always encompassed the idea of the collective, the idea of vaka. Vaka or ‘the collective’ is critical for our teachers to reflect upon for all our students, but particularly for our Pacific students.
It takes a whole village for us to not just be successful, but to create the social change needed for future generations to also be successful.