Tepora Emery

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As international tertiary student populations in New Zealand have rapidly increased, research was undertaken to provide authentic insights into the challenges faced by international students and their teachers. Based on narrative approaches and semi-structured interviews, qualitative research was undertaken over one year with 12 international graduate and postgraduate students, and 10 teachers of international students. The researchers consciously challenged their cultural assumptions and framed their research approaches through bicultural lens as they used Māori values to guide their interactions with participants and the valuing of participants’ stories of experience (kōrero). As the research grew as an entity, it was a place where stories were shared, valued and woven together to create strength and support. With a focus on supporting international students’ transitions to learner-centred education, this discussion explores these kōrero, in terms of challenges and satisfactions e...

Contrary to contemporary views of the act of whakamate (suicide), traditional Māori tribal pedagogies have revealed that the death of an individual by suicide was not considered a shameful or cowardly act; rather it was viewed in its full context. The person was considered to have been impacted by a state of whakamomori (overwhelming sadness and depression) and kahupō (spiritual blindness). Viewed in this context, in the time of our ancestors, premature death through suicide was considered a human tragedy and loss of potential and was thus treated with understanding, compassion and aroha (love). Drawing on traditional Māori pedagogies contained within tribal waiata mōteatea (laments), this paper presents an example of how the wisdom traditions of Māori tribal elders can inform contemporary suicide postvention interventions. The traditions are also shown to support whānau (family) recovery from unresolved grief situations including the (modern) stigma associated with the death of a l...

This article draws upon a Māori metaphor to describe the theoretical framework underpinning the methodology and findings of a research project completed by researchers from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, in 2010. It explains how and why the project required the research team to synthesise key information from four New Zealand Ministry of Education Best Evidence Synthesis (BES) reports as well as kaupapaMāori research associated with the Ministry's Ka HikitiaMāori Education Strategy. The key messages outlined in this article were designed by the research team to serve as a new tool to assist whānau (family) and iwi (tribe) to actively engage in the New Zealand schooling system and assert their rights in accordance with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi (1840). Given the large number of Māori children attending Australian schools, the findings of this research may be of interest to Australian educationalists.

Digital contact tracing (DCT) is the application of digital tools to assist with identifying and informing close contacts of a COVID-19 case. DCT is a potential solution to capacity constraints of current manual contact tracing processes. Expert opinion from contact tracing professionals rarely informs public discourse on the benefits and limitations of DCT solutions. Three focus groups were undertaken in New Zealand to understand benefits and limitations of DCT solutions from contact tracing professionals. One was with the National Investigation and Tracing Centre (NITC) and two were with Public Health Units (PHUs). Participants highlighted four key themes including: (i) equity, (ii) privacy, (iii) communication and public perception and (iv) the operational model. Participants were concerned DCT solutions could exacerbate existing health inequities due to lack of access to, or familiarity with, technology. Poor communication and public understanding of DCT were seen as a major thr...