Powhiri

I sent an email to Peggy, that asked to clarify her understanding around assemblies: 

Hi Peggy, apologies I wasn’t at hui on Wednesday, I should have let you know.

Can I suggest again (and absolutely a suggestion, feel free to ignore!) that we don’t separate y7-13s, we will get some pushback as they are not used to being separated and friends groups will be split.

We got to the point last year where students didn’t actually know what year level they were, especially the younger, as it didn’t actually matter. They didn’t belong to a year group, they belonged to a hāpori.

We also don’t split teachers on year groups, so sending half the teachers to te rau ika with half the students will severely impact on programmes able to be offered for the other half. 

I realise you want some different messages put across to different age groups but I wonder if there is a different way of doing this? Not sure, would need to think. 

However, my suggestion is y7-13 assembly rather than 11-13. Happy to chat about this more this morning.

Jono

Peggy replied in a memo to the entire team and BOT chair and a member of the hauora team that said this: 

MEMO
TO: SLT
FROM: Peggy Burrows
Kaitiaki Manukura
DATE: 9 February 2020
SUBJECT: Leadership at Haeata

Maioha whānau 

I thought I would take this opportunity to respond to Jono’s email regarding my intention to introduce level Assemblies at Haeata while I am here for two terms. 

Rationale
One of the values clearly expressed in our Code of Conduct – Our Code, Our Standards is Whakamana: empowering all learners to reach their highest potential by providing high-quality teaching and leadership. 

My ObservationWe are a very new team, in a time of change and uncertainty. Andy has departed after three years and the board, ngā ākonga, kaimahi and community are looking for stability, continuity, and direction in this transitional period.
My role is to ensure the board has the time, space and support to make a considered
appointment as they recruit the new Manukura. I also have the responsibility to ensure that the two newly appointed Assistant Principals are supported as they transition into their senior leadership roles in our team. 

My Focus 

To grow hautūtanga/leadership pedagogies at Haeata first and foremost we need to consider our roles in terms of te ao Māori/a Māori world view and Kaupapa Māori/Māori principles and ideologies. Assemblies is one strategy I wish to develop during my time at Haeata working with ngā ākonga and kaimahi. 

LiteratureI have included below reference to an article that is a good beginning point for understanding my thinking. Cristina Flesher Fominaya argues that “for new groups practicing participatory democracy the regular face-to-face assemblies are the crucial arena in which collective identity can form and must be both effective and participatory in order to foster a sense of commitment and belonging.” (377). 

Fominaya, C. F. (2010). Creating cohesion from diversity: The challenge of collective identity formation in the global justice movement. Sociological Inquiry, 80(3), 377-404. 

What’s Missing For Me?Currently, Jono is the most senior male in our senior leadership team and yet he was invisible during one of our most important ceremonies at Haeata this year. This was a missed opportunity for hautūtanga/leadership development, not only for Jono, but for Haeata. 

To address this, I intend to do two things, invite Travis and Jeremy into the senior leadership team while I am here and introduce professional learning opportunities for Jono that provide experiences of hautūtanga/leadership that begins with the self and will assist him with the adoption of bicultural approaches and bilingual understandings to effect pedagogical change. 

I hope this helps you all to understand my thinking at this time. We will of course be consulting and collaborating around this mahi, so that the new direction is not imposed on you as a team, but co-constructed as we learn together. 

Next StepsJono, could you work with Jeremy and whomever else is appropriate to ensure that after Mauri Tau on Monday morning the Year 11, 12 and 13 ngā ākonga are assembled in Te Rau Ike ready to go. Please ask Marty to ensure the seating is out. I will need to link my computer to the large screen as I will be using PowerPoint, so I would appreciate you ensuring that is good to go as well. 

Thank you for your support to date, I have very grateful. 

Turou hawaiki 

Peggy

I was really hurt by this, I thought it sounded like Peggy was attacking me, saying that I needed some PLD and support around this.

I asked to meet her face to face, to discuss, and said that I felt really hurt. I talked about the amount of work I had put into the Pōwhiri, liasing with Mana Whenua and Kōmanawa and staff and organising the day. I explained how unfair it was to say I was invisible, when actually my affect on the pōwhiri was inherently visible.

She assured me that the blame of being left off the paepae rests with Jeremy and Travis, and that she will be asking them why I wasn't there.

She talked around the advice that I had got from Kōmanawa was wrong, and that I should have been on the Paepae, and I should have been seen as the most senior male.

I understand what she is saying, while talking about how I was unsupported to be on the Paepae, but it is unclear to me how this actually relates to the wording of the letter. If it was not my fault, that I was not on the pae, then why do I need bi-cultural PLD around my practice?

I don't feel like her written words match her verbal, and that concerns me, because the thing that gets remembered is that which is recorded.

I feel like sending the memo to many members of our team, talking about my PLD and personal remarks about myself was unfair and uncalled for.