The New Zealand Council applauds and supports the call by Dr Toby Curtis of Nga Kura-a-Iwi o Aotearoa to give greater prominence to the implementation of Tātaiako in schools and early childhood education services. 

“Although Tātaiako is principally a Ministry of Education initiative originating from Dr Pita Sharples, the Council has taken the kaupapa on board and we’ve woven it into many of our professional development programmes,” said Dr Peter Lind, Director of the Teachers Council. 

“As the professional registration body for teachers, we saw the value in building a framework of cultural competence, aligned to the graduating teacher standard and registered teacher criteria.

“Tātaiako has also been incorporated into our current programmes of professional development of induction and mentoring and appraisal. 
“Tataiako is only a policy document and therefore is a starting point for schools and ECE services to develop or lift their cultural competence. 

“Experience shows that implementing a policy needs to come from the flax root level. 

“The key success factor for Tātaiako is having constructive engagement between whānau, hapu and iwi, together with schools and ECE services, to determine what the cultural competencies should look like for their communities. 

For further information 
Contact: Charlotte Brown, Communications Advisor, New Zealand Teachers Council 
Phone: 04 470 9087 
Email: charlotte.brown@educationcouncil.org.nz