February 28, 2013
Cullen to chart new course for Kōhanga
The co-chair of Te Kōhanga National Trust believes Sir Michael Cullen is an ideal person to help implement the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendations on the future of the organisation.
Sir Michael has been named the independent advisor who will help develop new policy, funding and regulatory frameworks.
Tina Olsen-Ratana says his ability to work with Māori and his understanding of government from the inside should help ensure the new frameworks are relevant to the way kōhanga operate.
“Kōhanga reo were never designed to be early childhood education. It was simply about the revitalisation of a language that was at risk and the empowerment of whānau. Overlaid on Kōhanga was a set of policies and regulations that didn’t cater for it. This is something new. It’s about framework that will support and enrich the kaupapa as oppose to trying to move it into a context where it didn’t belong,” says Tina Olsen-Ratana from the Kohanga Reo National Trust.