Abstract:
This article describes the eight qualities of successful intelligence demonstrated by gifted Māori students who attended schools in one tribal area (Te Arawa) in Rotorua, New Zealand. The article will illustrate the ways, throughout history, that Te Arawa have conceptualised, and successfully utilised, their successful intelligence in the service of themselves, their whānau (family) and their hapu and iwi (sub-tribe and tribal communities). Firstly, this article explains the long history of giftedness among Te Arawa peoples by identifying eight iconic Te Arawa figures that characterise the eight qualities of successful intelligence. Secondly, the article uses data from the Ka Awatea project to illustrate the ways Māori continue to value and enact these qualities of successful intelligence in contemporary times (Macfarlane, Webber, Cookson-Cox & McRae, 2014). In this article the eight qualities of successful intelligence are conceptualised from the perspective of Māori students, Māori whānau and teachers/school principals from eight secondary schools in the Rotorua area.
