Underpinning principles

We enact Te Tiriti

Matariki Akonga Nui: Matariki for teachers purposefully centres mātauranga Māori, and the indigenous understandings of our relationship to place, season, and cosmos.

Matariki Akonga Nui: Matariki for teachers recognises that sovereignty was not ceded on the signing of te Tiriti o Waitangi | the Treaty of Waitangi, and that tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake are fundamental parts of a Tiriti-centric Aotearoa.

Matariki Akonga Nui: Matariki for teachers presents a vision for collective liberation through examining the colonisation of calendar and time and its associated values.

We are connected to each other and our local places

Matariki Akonga Nui: Matariki for teachers encourages ākonga to celebrate Matariki within their own rohe and community and to see the relevance of this mātauranga to their lived experience.

Matariki Akonga Nui: Matariki for teachers suggests ways in which Te Papa’s expertise around Matariki can be brought to life within a learners’ own world and place.

Matariki Akonga Nui: Matariki for teachers emphasises the importance of place-based stories in developing an authentic understanding of Matariki.

We are in active relationship with Papatūānuku

Matariki Akonga Nui: Matariki for teachers empowers teachers and learners to care for, protect, and restore our environment and biodiversity through encouraging active citizenship and participation for a better world.

We provide accessible and engaging resources

Matariki Akonga Nui: Matariki for teachers is inclusive by design. Visually simple, multi-channel resources provide a smorgasbord of activities that are non-prescriptive. There are no fixed or linear learning outcomes, and any task can be picked up in any order, at any time. There are many ways to engage with the content, many ways in which knowledge is represented, and many ways in which ākonga can express their understanding.