Arihia Stirling, the much-honoured principal of Nga Tapuwae, talks here about the school’s belief that to create successful futures, young people need to discover who they are, together with a sense of belonging.

“We  need to ensure that our children feel safe about their self-identity. This will improve their self-efficacy because they will then understand who they are, why they are, where they’ve come from. That’s totally different to just teaching a person something.

In terms of us as Maori, we come from quite a broken space. Our children need to understand that you don’t need to remain feeling deprived from being Maori. When our students know how important their Maori-ness is, then everything’s important. When they know how important their language is, then everything’s important.”

Inspired about how you can be involved? 

Here are some suggestions:

• Share the video with colleagues as a conversation starter
• To hear more from Valerie Hannon, watch the Future School lecture here.
• We welcome any questions you may have about The Future School, please reach out via info@all-learning.org.au