As facilitators of marau ā-kura design, we are often asked “How might kura approach designing effective culturally-located marau ā-kura?”
This captivating kōrero in our esteemed, late Maria Tibble’s blog post serves as an invaluable resource in our support of kura. In it she shares the actions she took in her role as a facilitator and interweaves this with the essence of her Ngāti Whakaue whakapapa, reo, tikanga and wairua. Maria guides us through how to craft a curriculum where voice is given to mana whenua and their whānau, and where the stories connected to their location are heard, acknowledged and honoured.
Maria’s approach to the building of a culturally-located curriculum is through the act of Hūmārie. She tells us that knowing the significant kōrero, words and songs unique to tribal locations means that models of teaching and learning can shift in ways that support tamariki to be connected, confident and comfortable in their various learning environments.
I agree with Maria that this is vital for our mahi as facilitators. It ensures the authenticity of the voices at the table without misconstruing the messages, the contexts and the heart of what is shared. Following on from Hūmārie are Ūkaipō, Mōhio, Aroha, Reo, Iwi, Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini kē. These are all considerations that I believe can be a guide for either getting started on local curriculum or affirming what you have done already.
I leave you with the wisdom of Maria’s words below that capture beautifully her messaging around what counts for culture and what it can mean when one’s culture meets another.
“Your openness to my voice laden with legacy and tradition is the one response that my heart will recognise, that my soul will rise to, that my being will open to as a mokopuna of iwi.”
– Reflection by Alicia Ngaropo-Tuia, Kaihuawaere Ngaio Māori, February 2021
Fig. 1 Te Moana a Taokahu, Kuirau Park, Rotorua
To craft a curriculum
For the last five years I have had the privilege of working as a curriculum designer, armed with Te Marautanga o Aotearoa (partnership document to the New Zealand Curriculum) in one hand, and the voices of whānau in the other. Together with the school, we work to craft a curriculum that resonates with the voice and aspiration of whānau (including students, parents or caregivers, hapu, and iwi). At each school I enter bearing my personalised kākahu woven together with whakapapa (genealogical ties), reo (Māori and English), tikanga (my values and ways of doing things), and wairua (my sense of belonging and knowing). It is a humbling position. The role requires dancing between expert and amateur, worker and/or observer, and reflective practitioner or assertive advisor. At the heart of the work is the child, a future leader of the iwi. To design, craft, and shape a curriculum that leaves whānau in no doubt about what it means to achieve as Māori, feel success as Māori, and to know, do, and be as Māori in their eyes, is my role. Easy to roll off the tongue, and a challenge to create, but it is rewarding to give voice to mana whenua and the whānau.
The act of humbling oneself
Fig.2 Hikoi at Makawe
Hūmārie – the act of humbling oneself so that your importance is minimised and the status of another elevated.
As a facilitator, to be hūmārie is crucial. It is an unselfish act of invitation to view the world through a lens not of my own making or interpretation, but to experience it through whānau eyes. Hūmārie allows openness to the known and unknown, the seen and unseen, the visible context and the invisible message – I see you, I hear you, I know you. At the heart of all teaching and learning decisions is the child – ko te pūtake o te ako, ko te tamaiti. My act of ‘hūmārie, to mingle with the presence of their tupuna is the ultimate recognition that I can pay deference to a cultural lens other than my own.
A kākahu fashioned by heritage and tribal prestige
Fig.3 Hikoi at Makawe
Hūmārie allows one to embrace a child’s whakapapa, his or her reo, his or her tikanga, his or her wairua. It is an understanding that each person comes wearing his or her own kākahu fashioned by heritage and tribal prestige. At the same time, it leaves a layer untouched that can then be feathered by the pride of those I work with in my role as facilitator, teacher, guide, learner, advisor. I wear humility on the inside as my constant tour guide to realise whānau aspirations for schooling, not through policy and practice as my first encounter, but touched by iwi memory and a strong sense of belonging. If my culture counts to me, then my act of hūmārie (humility) will show that theirs counts, too.
Cultural location
Fig.2. View from Pukeroa towards Ngongotaha maunga
Cultural location is the pivotal factor in creating a culturally responsive curriculum that resonates with the localised voice of iwi. With your cloak of hūmārie you listen to the wind’s whispers, the bird songs and follow the flow of the waterways to their source in waiata. Here is the sacral nature of environment. Location derived from the reo of the people, identity borne of environmental features and significant places that resound in ancestral exploits, all serving to immortalise placental belonging – tangata whenua – people born of the land. Pivotal to location are three pātai (questions):
- nō hea? (where are you from?)
- nā wai? (whom do you represent?)
- ko wai? (from whose waters were you born from?).
Each school bears their own kākahu resplendent in the feathers of story, people, places, events and a language that honours those who have mana over the land. Our role requires us to work collaboratively to weave the story of past, present and future in to a carefully crafted, collaboratively constructed curriculum. Why? Because this curriculum should exemplify the iwi and the tamariki who represent it. At every setting one common theme reverberates– a sense of belonging, identity, language and culture are at the heart of Māori student success.
Ngotea te wai o te kākahi
Ngotea te wai o te kākahi – draw nourishment from the nectars of kākahi. A saying used by Ngāti Whakaue reminding us no matter where we may be in the world, home is where the kākahi lies. The kākahi are my GPS to home. Ko Whakaue te tangata. Ko Rotorua nui a-Kahumatamomoe te moana. Whakaue is my descendant ancestor. Lake Rotorua named for Kahumatamomoe, another eponymous ancestor whom I can lay claim to in my geneology.
You see, for me, the real business of cultural location is to shift teaching and learning to a model that truly enables whānau to become confident, connected and contextually welcome in the learning environment. Cultural location has the assumption that by being grounded in your own identity, language and culture, this then means that you are on an equal par to take a walk in another’s footsteps. As I sit here writing, I am saddened by the news of a relative’s passing. As the mamae (hurt) settles I can almost hear our kaikaranga calling him on to the marae for one last time.
Haere wairua mai ra e tama i runga i ō mātā waka, haeremai, haeremai, haeremai. Haeremai rā i runga i tō marae a Paratehoata-Te Kohea e, ki roto i te ahuru mōwai o Te Noho a Pū, e hika e…haeremai, haeremai, haeremai rā.
To our son, return to us now and bring with you all your ancestral connections so we may mourn as one. We call you home for one last time on to your ancestral marae, Paratehoata-Te Kohea. Our ancestor Tunohopu calls to shelter you within his warm embrace. Oh esteemed one, we salute you, we welcome you, we, your iwi, receive you with open arms.
I can hear our kaikaranga calling him on to the marae for the last time, the cry ancient, reaching across time to join together the spiritual and physical worlds in one space, the words woven as a spiritual cloak around him and his grieving whānau.
These words may seem out of place in this post yet your ingenuousness to its message is what counts for the culture I bring to meet with yours. Your openness to my voice laden with legacy and tradition is the one response that my heart will recognise, that my soul will rise to, that my being will open to as a mokopuna of iwi. By knowing the stories, significant tribal places, songs and words that express my tribal identity within the karanga, you can then immerse yourself in my world in a meaningful way.
As a facilitator, you bring your expertise to help weave their world into a distinctive curriculum reflective of the haukainga (home people) and cognisant of their needs.
Consider this as an approach to cultural location
So, if you want your curriculum culturally located within iwi story, here’s a few points you may want to consider, or that can affirm the great work you have already done:
H: Hūmārie
Humble yourself to listen to authentic whānau voice from kaumatua, kuia, whānau, ākonga
Ū: Ukaipō
Return to the bosom of their songs, stories, significant places, marae, maunga, awa/moana
M: Mōhio
Do an environmental scan of iwi, place, documentation, stories, know your curriculum document
Ā: Aroha
Neither expert or amateur, offer your kete of skills to potentialise their aspirations for schooling
R: Reo
Use reo ā-tīnana, reo ā-wairua, reo ā-waha, reo ā-rongo, reo ā-ngakau, reo ā-iwi to express it
I: Iwi
“Ko te iwi te kura” The school is the iwi – Te Whānau a Apanui saying shared by Nehu Gage, 2012
E: ‘Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini’
My strengths come not as an individual but working as a collective
Tukua mai ki a piri, tukua mai ki a tata
kia eke mai ki runga i te paepae poto a Houmaitawhiti!
Welcome to my world.
Fig.5 Tamatekapua
Fig.6 View of Muruika
Fig.7 View to Mokaia

Maria Tibble

Latest posts by Maria Tibble (see all)
- 178 years of Treaty — What has been the intergenerational impact on your local iwi? - February 5, 2018
- Uia mai koia whakahuatiake ko wai te tupuna e? - August 24, 2015
- Hūmārie – an authentic response to cultural location - July 9, 2015
Kia Ora e Maria
What beautiful work and kōrero.
Waimarie tō iwi!
nāku noa nā Frances
Ngā mihi maioha mo ēnei kupu ataahua e Frances.
Kai te tuakana
He aha rā he kupu hai taunaki i te tuhinga nei? Katoa ōu, otirā āu nā kupu te whakatinanatanga, te whakatangatatanga o Tātai Aho Rau. Waiho mā whakapapa koe e āta tiaki, mā reo ōu whakaaro e whakahua, mā tikanga tō huarahi e āta whakarite, mā wairua koe e āta manaaki.
Tēnā koe e kare
E te mōtoi kahurangi,
Ko koe he pou whakaairo i te kupu o ‘tātai’, he pou whiringa whakaaro o ‘aho’, he pou herenga tangata o ‘rau’.
E te tuahine, nei aku mihi matakuikui ki a koe, tētehi o aku karo patu.
Kia ora e te whanaunga
He korero ataahua tenei. Many thanks for sharing it.
My post-graduate students will really appreciate these insightful words.
Is it ok to share them?
Mauriora, nā Melinda
Kia ora ki a koe hoki, ‘Ati Ue’. Is it ok to share? E tā, he whakaaro rangatira tērā. Karawhiua!
E hoa, he kupu ataahua ēnei . Kua kitea tō wairua, tō ngakau, tō ūkaipotanga ki roto i ngā tuhinga nei. A, he akoranga hoki mō tātou katoa e whirinaki ana i ngā kura o te motu. Lucky schools to have you!
Nōku te waimarie, De. Kātahi te miharo, i mahi au ki te taha o ētahi ‘titoko o te rangi’ e mau kaha ana ki ēnei āhuatanga. As for the schools I am able to work with, such an honour. Kei Panekire te marau, kei ngā Manuohatanga te moemoeā mō ngā mokopuna katoa.
Tena koe, Maria.
Thank you for these beautiful and powerful thoughts and words.
Nga mihi mahana
Sylvia
Ko koe ā runga, Sylvia – ngā mihi.
Thank you aunty for opening up our Maori world and seeing it through both lenses, Maori and Pakeha.
I salute you.
Nga mihi ki a koe
Ngā mihi e hine…stuff you already know and do yourself! Kee up the great mahi you do with our rangatahi.
Tēnā koe Maria, he ataahua te pānui i tō tuhinga. Ka hoki ngā mahara ki tō mātou nei noho ki Rotorua, nōku te honore te ako me te rongo ki ngā pūrākau me ngā kōrero reka rawa atu a Te Arawa. Ngā mihi ki a koe kōrua ko tō 'guide', kei a kōrua te āhua o te 'hūmārie' i kōrerohia nei e koe. Kei te mihi atu hoki taku hoa.
Ngā manaakitanga
Rosalie
Nōku te waimarie, e hine, i tae atu koe ki Tarewa Pounamu Marae hai whakarongo ki ngā kōrero o te iwi.
He waimarie anō nōku te ako mōteatea, korero ki te taha o tō tane. He tangata poipoia ki ngā kōrero o tōnā iwi hoki.
ngā mihi
Maria
Kia ora Maria, Thank you for sharing. Your korero is inspiring. What a privilege for us to have you share your mahi, your knowledge in such an accessible way. It really helps me to extend my understanding and appreciation.
Kia ora Helen
Inspiring to read your comments, Helen, knowing the global view you have of all our work in Te Toi Tupu.
Much appreciated, Maria.
Kia ora Maria,
Ka rawe te tukanga H.U.M.A.R.I.E hei arawhata ārahi i te kura, i te wāhi mahi rānei kia aronuitia te takiwā, te iwi e nohoia nei. Heoi ko tāu, i āta whakamārama he aha ngā hua o te pēnā. He nui hoki ngā whakatauāki āu (quoteable quotes) hei kīnaki i tēnei tū mahi:
"cultural location is to shift teaching and learning to a model that truly enables whānau to become confident, connected and contextually welcome in the learning environment".
"Cultural location has the assumption that by being grounded in your own identity, language and culture, this then means that you are on an equal par to take a walk in another’s footsteps".
#WhakamīharoAna
Kia ora Nichole
Ka rawe te pānui ngā whakaaro āu, kia whakamōhio mai he aha ngā painga o te tuhituhi.
#ngakauMahaki
Kia Ora Maria,
Tēnā rawa atu koe for your korērō on this topic. I am just beginning to explore the idea of cultural location and found this blog post extremely helpful and thought provoking. I loved the same quotes referenced by Nichole above and will be using these quotes to help others to understand the topic also.
Nāku noa, Nina Boyes
Kia ora Nina
Thank you for your thoughts. I also have a colleague, Phoebe Davis, who talks a little about this on an Ed Talk here’s the link
ngā mihi
Maria
Kia ora Maria,
Thank you for sharing your mahi-insightful, inspiring and instructional.
Nga mihi,
Sepora