Intro / Project description
Within te ao Māori, the importance of people and place is mirrored through ‘living deeply in time’ (Mckay & Walmsley, 2024) and up upholding our tikanga of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga. Colonisation and ‘clock time’ has placed strain on our relationships, particularly within education, where the emphasis frequently focuses on outcomes, performance, and administration. This project is concerned with reframing concepts of time to align with Māori ways of knowing and being, and reclaiming relationships in a manner that upholds the mana of Tamariki and kaiako at the heart of our practice.
Aims
This project aims to explore the concept of time through a decolonised lens, using the āta takepū as tools for developing a more culturally-situated relationship with time. We are hopeful that this approach will help to reposition teachers in ways that allow them to be more in the rhythm of time, where seasons, whakapapa and the flow of time, supported by āta takepū, allow teachers to live in time, rather than in opposition with it.
Why is this research important?
This research is important because it responds to the ongoing impacts of colonisation on how time is structured and experienced in education, particularly the pressures that fragment relationships and diminish opportunities for meaningful engagement. By centring āta and Māori understandings of time, the project offers a way to restore relational depth, supporting whanaungatanga and manaakitanga in everyday practice. In doing so, it contributes to more culturally grounded and sustainable approaches to teaching and learning that uphold the mana of tamariki and kaiako.
What we plan to do
Data
The project will be conducted across three phases within a kōhanga reo and early childhood centre. Each phase is guided by a principle of āta, to encourage intentionality across the research phase in the collective work of kaiako and researchers, as well as in individual learning settings.
Analysis
Data will be analysed using a Kaupapa Māori theoretical lens, bringing a Māori way of thinking to the analysis that is relevant for Māori. Emphasis is given to underlying values in te ao Māori, such as mauri, wairua, ngā kare ā roto (emotion), and other cultural concepts within thematic analysis. Our close connections with our research partners means we have some understanding of what is valued within each of these communities, however we will also be developing and checking our themes with our research partners through the different wānanga held throughout the year.
