New Zealand is missing the value that Māori ways of being and knowing could contribute to computing.

Kua mahue a Aotearoa i te whaihua o ngā tikanga me ngā kaupapa Māori ki te ao rorohiko

There is increasing recognition that computing education and the profession of computing has failed Māori. It creates significant language and cultural barriers that inhibit Māori participation in the computing industry. This has flow on effects for Māori, when te ao Māori is underrepresented in software and games, and also for New Zealand society, because other ways of being and knowing that Māori bring to the industry will be hugely valuable. Reform of vocational education’s computing programmes is needed so that they address the needs of Māori learners.

A discussion paper by Mawera Karetai, Samuel Mann and Rachel McNamara uses pūrākau, real life stories, to provide context for a reframing of computing as a decolonising force. The development of the school curricula is considered as an example of the outcome of development in partnerships that honour te Tiriti o Waitangi, to explain concepts in ways that make sense to people coming from a Maori cultural perspective. Barriers become more evident in high school, so to attract and enable more Maori learners to take and succeed in computing courses, the decolonisation of curriculum has to occur long before learners reach tertiary study. 

The authors then canvas some potential directions that a transformation of vocational IT education might take, as a conversation-starter. Their goal is to nudge development towards an approach that honours te Tiriti and improves outcomes for all learners.

• You can read and download the paper here
• Contact Samuel Mann
• Read more College of Work-Based Learning research
• Find more Information Technology research
• Browse more Maori & Indigeneity research

Kua mōhio haere, kua ngere te akoranga rorohiko, te umanga rorohiko i a ngāi Māori. E hanga ārai reo, ahurea hoki e aukati nei i a ngāi Māori ki te whakauru i te ahumahi rorohiko. Ka whakapā haere tēnei mō ngāi Māori, nāna i kore ai e kite i ngā pūkōrero mō rātou i ngā pūmanawa me ngā kēmu, i Aotearoa whānui, nā te mea e tino whaihua ana ngā tikanga me ngā mātauranga i haria mai e te Māori ki te ahumahi. Me whakahou i ngā hōtaka akoranga rorohiko kia aro atu i ngā hiahia o ngā tauira Māori.

He tuhinga matapaki nā Mawera Karetai rātou ko Samuel Mann, ko Rachel McNamara e whakamahi ana i ngā pūrākau kia whakarato horopaki kia whai whakaaro anō i te ao rorohiko hei wetetāmi. He tauira te whakawhanake marau mātauranga o te hua i ngā hononga Tiriti o Waitangi, kia whakamārama tika i ngā kaupapa mā tētahi aronga Māori. Ka ariroa ngā ārai i te kura tuarua, nō reira, kia whakamanea, kia āhei i ngā tauira Māori ki te whakamahi, ki te whakatutuki i ngā akoranga rorohiko, me wetetāmi te marau mātauranga i mua i te taenga atu o ngā tauira ki te mātauranga matua.

Kātahi ka whakarato i ētahi aronga pai hei whakaahua i te akoranga rorohiko ā-ringa, hei tīmatanga. Ko te whāinga, kia hunuku te aronga ki tētahi tukanga e whakaurua ana i Te Tiriti, ka whakapiki hua mō ngā tauira katoa.

• Pānuitia, tiki ake hoki i te pepa ki konei
• Whakapā atu ki a Samuel Mann
• Pānuitia ētahi atu rangahau mō te College of Work-Based Learning
• Whai atu i ētahi atu rangahau mō Information Technology
• Tirohia ētahi atu rangahau Māori, rangahau taketake hoki

Āperira | April 2023

Image: © Vincent Egan. All rights reserved.