PICKING THE BEST PATHWAY

Earlier this month we were up at Kaitaia College as grandparents, taking part in an NCEA workshop run by Jaqi Brown from the Ministry of Education.  Now I’m not dumb, but before that workshop I knew almost next to nothing about what the National Certificate of Educational Achievement was, how it worked, and what it meant for my mokopuna. 

For example I did not know that there were qualification certificates to be gained over 10 levels, with the first three levels of NCEA being the minimum that our tamariki mokopuna will hopefully leave school with, and then moving on up through Certificate courses (levels 4 – 5), Diplomas (level 5), various Degrees (levels 6 – 9) and Doctorates (level 10).

The fact that I didn’t know this stuff causes me to wonder how many more of our whanau are in the same boat.  Maybe only a few, but I’m not willing to bet on that.  Because one thing that happens when we do know this stuff, is we get a clearer idea of how we can help our children find and follow the education pathway that is best for them.  And that is the nub of the Ngati Kahu education plan.

So I came away from the College workshop and put my CEO hat firmly back on.  As a result we are holding an NCEA workshop on Monday 13^th July in our offices on 21A Parkdale Cres for local whanau and their tamariki mokopuna who are at secondary school, and who want to know how they too can pick the best education pathway. 

We are a very small team in Ngati Kahu, and our job is to put and keep the power and authority to make decisions and take actions firmly in the hands of the whanau. We do that job without Crown funding, because almost invariably such funding compromises our integrity and autonomy as an iwi, and disempowers our whanau and hapu.

However we are happy to work with Crown employees who don’t try to undermine our tikanga.  Jaqi Brown is such a one, which is why we’ve invited her to work alongside us to empower our whanau with the knowledge. 

Some of them may still choose to go another route than NCEA, but at least they will have the facts on which to help them pick the best educational pathway for their children.

I used to wish I could clone myself.  Yes, I can hear the gasps of horror at the very thought from several quarters. 

Relax folks, I don’t wish it anymore, because I’ve learnt to trust that there is always someone out there who is the right one to find and pick the best pathway for us in every wonderful opportunity that comes our way; from education to commerce, and everything before, between and after.