April 12, 2022
School resources make history personal
A former far north school principal says if Māori teachers want resources to teach about Maori things they have to make them.
Hilda Halkyard-Harawira from Te Wānanga o Te Rangi Āniwaniwa has put that principal into action by working with artist Richard Murray to make resources that give tamariki knowledge they can identify with.
The first was He Whakapūtanga, the 1835 declaration that Niu Tireni was an independent country under the mana of its rangatira.
“The kids aren’t really interested until they know their tūpuna signed it or someone from their hapū signed it, and immediately there is a connection. I say things like, what have you learned about American history? ‘Aw, American Independence Day, they serve turkey.’ I try to make it become relevant. Just imagine our people knew they were already the sovereign leaders or the chiefs of Aotearoa,” Ms Halkyard Harawira says.
She’s also done a poster on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, focusing on the Māori version, because that’s the one signed by the chiefs and Captain William Hobson .