Fridays in The Hokianga look a little bit different for students at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hokianga.
They have the opportunity to take courses outside of the classroom – something that most students living in cities don’t.
Students in Years 11 to 13 get to choose subjects like horse riding, whakairo (carving), music and hospitality work at Manea Tapuwae ā Nuku – Footprints of Kupe, a cultural and heritage centre.
Students can also choose Te Mauri o Te Wai – where they learn about everything to do with the moana. This includes surfing, fishing, diving and pipi picking.
Once a student chooses the course they are most interested in, every Friday they will participate in that activity for the year.
Re: News followed students Hope Vailoa Fesootai-Tagataese (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa) and Te Huirau Moka Te Whare (Ngāpuhi) on one of their Fridays on the water.
Te Huirau, 15, says he chose Te Mauri O Te Wai because he is a water baby and loves being in the moana, especially when on his own whenua.
“The feeling of being able to surf, learning how to dive, fish, and just be on the moana every Friday is awesome.
“I’m not sure why we get to take this option at kura but I’m thankful for it.”
For 16-year-old Hope, being part of Te Mauri o Te Wai makes her feel like she’s breathing in a different kind of air.
Learning from the ocean has taught her patience and a sense of self-balance, she says.
“It’s such a weird feeling to describe. It just kind of makes you want to make up your own words to describe how you feel.”
When Hope is surfing and catches a wave, “it gives me an adrenaline [rush] that I’ve never felt before”.
“I also feel like Moana.”
Acting leader at the Ministry of Education’s Curriculum Centre, Pauline Cleaver, says incorporating learning contexts like surfing into a school curriculum can be appropriate and beneficial, as long as it aligns with the curriculum and offers students “rich learning and assessment opportunities”.
“While surfing is not an NCEA subject, it can be used as a context for learning and assessment in NCEA subjects,” Cleaver says.
Cleaver says surfing may be used as a context for learning and assessment in subjects such as Physical Education, Food and Nutrition, Outdoor Education, Sport management and Hauora.
A knowledge transfer to the next generation
Te Mauri o Te Wai surf kaiako Piripi Rawiri (Ngāpuhi, Te Hikutu) says the option of Te Mauri o Te Wai is all about connection to the taiao and kaitiakitanga.
The kids learn about their local environment and take the same pathways their tūpuna took on the water.
He says students also learn about “the preparation in place for collecting kai for their whānau and marae, and that’s called mana kai when they get to provide for their whānau”.
“Our kids learn about the winds, the tides, and when and where it is safe.”
He says it’s about teaching the students about looking after their hauora and their mental wellbeing, as well as their fitness.
“You might catch the best wave of your life and then the next one knocks you off, you just have to keep going.
“Thoughts are kind of like waves in the ocean, you can’t stop the waves from coming, but you can choose which ones you want to surf.”
Piripi says he loves his mahi because it’s like a knowledge transfer to the next generation.
“These skills cannot be taught in a classroom.”
The Regions is a docuseries that gives a snapshot of the lives of regional rangatahi in Aotearoa and the issues that matter to them.
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