Abstract:
This study reports on the processes, benefits and self-determining factors of whānau, hapū and iwi development of Te Roroa research participants with an emphasis on the role of Te Pouhono within the entire procedure. Te Pouhono is a second chance learning programme that is entrenched within the adult community educational provision as offered by the School of Iwi Development through Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi. Te Pouhono operates from a Marae Community Centred Education framework, which in effect, offers programmes that are highly contextualised within the local knowledge systems of participating marae. Transformation of Te Pouhono students is a major theme within this study, where the link between Te Pouhono transformation, whānau, hapū and iwi development is investigated to determine the Marae Centred Community Education praxis from which Te Pouhono operates as a useful tool that brings about transformative change. As such the research considers two key executive voices of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and it tells the intimate stories of five whānau members who belong to Waikaraka Marae. The qualitative case studies and group focus hui aids in the understanding of how Te Pouhono participation has brought upon transformation for their marae, whānau and hapū, on personal, cultural, social, political, economic, environmental and educational levels. The principal means of data gathering was executed through individual and whānau semistructured interviews and the overall research design encompasses kaupapa Māori, kaupapa Māori theory and kaupapa Māori methodology. The methods and methodology applied in the field provided answers to the research questions posed and the data retrieved was transcribed where several key themes of transformation emerged. Several key findings emerged as a result of this study. Firstly, the way in which Te Pouhono is delivered justifiably earns its pedagogical approach as a praxis of transformative change. Secondly, the heavy influence of Te Pouhono praxis inspired participants to make transformative changes to their personal and collective lives, that is, through proactively strategizing for the future of whānau and hapū. Finally, the rationale of marae supporting a Marae Centred Learning Communities strategy is presented