Kua takahi I te nuku o te whenua a Pakake Winiata te Tumu Akoranga, rātou ko tana tira Kaiarataki hei toro atu ki ngā kaimahi, ki ngā tauira me ngā hapori puta noa, mō ngā panonitanga o Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.             

I te mea koia te Tumu e whakahaere nei i ngā take Mātauranga, Marau hoki, he mea nui kia aro pū ki āna mahi e whakawhanake ake ana i Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

Ko tā Pakake, “Ka tahi, he whakaputa i ngā akoranga, marau me ngā aromatawai. Ka rua, he whakarite mahi whakangungu mā ngā kaiako.”

“Ko te tuatoru he whakatairanga, he pānui hoki i ngā akoranga rangahau. Kia tirohia te katoa, he mahi nui tēnā.”

20,000 te tatau tauira tūturu o Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, nō reira e mea ana a Pakake, “e rata mai ana te iwi ki tēnei wānanga, ka mutu he tokomaha ngā tāngata e haere mai ana.”

Heoi he nui ngā panonitanga i tēnei wā – ko te arotake hāngai o ngā tohu mātauranga, nō reira ka “whakamoea” ngā tohu kōeke 1 ki te 6 katoa o TWoA, kia hāngai ki ērā kei te Taura Here Tohu Mātauranga.

“ He mahi nui rawa atu mā Akoranga I ngā tau e toru e heke mai, heoi, e mōhiotia ana. Ka putuputu te mahi, ko ētahi akoranga e tika ana kia oti hei whakaputa i te tau 2016, me ētahi atu hei te 2017, me te tau 2017, ka kore te katoa e whakarite i te wā kotahi.”

He tata ki te kotahi marama, Pipiri me te tīmatanga o Hongongoi, a Pakake rātou ko tana tira kaiarataki e haere ana ki ngā whare 14 puta noa i te motu.

I kī ia i rawe te whai wāhi atu ki ngā kaimahi, ki ngā tauira me ngā hāpori mō ngā akoranga e tukuna ana e Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, mō ngā whakatikatikatanga me ētahi whakaaro mō ētahi akoranga hou.

Ko te painga atu ko te kaha tautokohia a Pakake mā mō ō rātou whakaaro I tēnei wā e pā ana ki ngā akoranga, ka mutu he 700 ngā whakataunakitanga, whakaaro whakatikatika, akoranga hou hoki i whiwhi.

“Mai i taua wā, kua oti i a mātou te whakarōpū i ngā whakaaro ki ngā kāwai; Tauwhiro Hāpori, Hauora, Ako ki Tawhiti, Toi, Mātauranga, Ahumahinga, Mātauranga Māori me te Ūmanga me te Rorohiko, kua tirohia hoki ētahi akoranga hei whai mā tātou.”

“He 30 ki te 40 pea ngā whakaaro i ia kāwai, ka mutu kua āta tirohia e ngā kaiarataki me te whakarārangi i ngā whakataunaki e rima ki ia kāwai.”

“Hei tauira, I tirohia e mātou ngā whakaaro katoa mō te tauwhiro hāpori me te hauora, ā, i mahara kia waihangatia he kāhui tohu mō ngā kaimahi taiohi, hauora hinengaro, hauora tūmatanui me te whātoro atu ki te wāhanga tiaki kaumātua.”

E tūmanakohia ana ka whakaaetia te mahere waihanga akoranga hei te mutunga o te marama o Hereturikoka, I muri mai tonu I te tuku ki Te Taiurungi, ki ngā Tumu, ki Te Rautaki Māori, ki Te Amorangi Mātauranga Matua, me te Mana Tohu Mātauranga o Aotearoa.

Ko tana i tino whai hua te haere ki tēnā, ki tēnā wāhi, ka mutu e tino whakapono ana tana tira ki ā rātou whakatau i te mea nā ngā whakaaro o tēnā, o tēnā puta noa i te motu i pērā ai ngā whakatau.

“He koanga ngākau nō ngā tāngata te kite mai i a mātou, ko tā rātou i mua he tatari ki te kite he aha kē ngā mea ka puta.”

Tumu Akoranga Pakake Winiata has been on the road with his team of leads engaging with kaimahi, tauira and the wider community throughout the motu about big changes ahead for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

As Executive Director Academic Programmes and Development, his tasks are major ones that will shape the development of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

“One is to produce the programmes, the curriculum and the assessments and the like. The second one is to put in place a training programme for our kaiako,” says Pakake.

“The third part is to promote and promulgate our rangahau or research programmes. When you put all of those things together it’s a big job.”

With 20,000 Te Wānanga o Aotearoa EFTS, Pakake says our organisation provides “a reasonable level of attractiveness and a good level of uptake”.

But big changes are at hand - particularly the targeted review of qualifications that will see all of TWoA qualifications from level 1 to 6 “retired” and eventually replaced by new qualifications under a new framework.

“It is a huge job for Akoranga over the next three years but we know it’s coming. It will be done in stages, we have some programmes that need to be finished and moved across to the new space and operational in 2016, another set in 2017 and another set in 2018 – it’s not all at once.”

Pakake was on the road for nearly a month in June and early July with his team of leads visiting 14 sites around the motu.

He said it was a great opportunity to engage with kaimahi, tauira and the community about programmes Te Wānanga o Aotearoa offers, improvements that can be made and suggestions for new courses.

What was pleasing was the 100 per cent endorsement his team received about their current thinking around the programmes the organisation offers and the 700 suggestions for improvements and new programmes it received.

“What we have done since then is we have organised all the suggestions in to the various disciplines; Social Work, Hauora, Home Based Learning, Toi and Education, Vocational foundation, Mātauranga Māori and Business and Computing and looked at what programmes we might like to pursue.”

“There might have been 30 to 40 suggestions in each discipline and our leads have concentrated on it and have come back with a list of five suggestions for each.”

“As an example we looked at all the suggestions in social work and hauora and came to the view we need to develop a suite of qualifications around youth work, mental health, public health and to expand our offerings in the elderly care area.”

Pakake expects the plan around programme development to be signed off by the end of August after it has been put forward for consideration to Te Taiurungi, Ngā Tumu, Te Rautaki Māori, The Tertiary Education Commission and The New Zealand Qualifications Authority.

He said the site visits were meaningful and worthwhile and his team felt confident about what they were doing because of the consultation and feedback they had received from the different groups around the country.

“People were really pleased to see us, they said the standard approach in years gone by was for them to wait and see what would come out.”

In the next He Iringa Whare Pakake will talk about staff development and research plans.