Events.

Hover over event dates in the calendar on the right. See more detail for each event in the section below.

Oct
30

Aotearoa Educators' Collective Conference

  • The Great Hall - Massey University, Wellington Campus (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Keynote Speaker:

Abstract:
White Spaces Rebranded: The New Face of the Same Old Racism

In the tiny one-room Pātaua School in the 1950s, 15 or so predominantly Māori students recited times tables and phonics charts daily. “A is for Antelope, L is for Llama,” we would chant—words from worlds we’d never seen. Phonics, maths textbooks, School Certificate-style grading, a narrowed curriculum with literacy and numeracy as the holy grail—we’ve done them all. They all failed to deliver education that sustained any identity beyond the white, colonial worldview. Over time, our thinking and practice shifted, recognising the damage that racist ideology inflicted on Māori and other minoritised learners. We introduced choice and flexibility and developed a deeper awareness of the purpose of education in a constantly changing world. It was a start!

Now—here we go again. Manufacture a crisis of Māori “under-achievement” as if this coalition just discovered it. Bring back the antelopes and llamas. Reduce achievement to percentages that describe how effectively we assimilate Māori children into white space definitions of success. Wave white supremacist “solutions” in the faces of our mokopuna Māori and tolerate the harm and alienation that will follow—because these are not the mokopuna of the coalition politicians making these decisions.

But they are mine.

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Jul
6

Itom Lutu'uria/Yoeme Truth Symposium.

(Virtual) Keynote Presentation and follow-up dialogue. (with my daughter, Haley Milne, Principal of Kia Aroha Campus, Auckland)

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Tuscon, Arizona) Language & Culture Early Childhood Immersion Program and Center - a revitalization education and care program that ultimately will lead to the creation of a trilingual and tricultural knowledge nest through the convergence of an additive language immersion model, a culturally responsive model, and Yoeme intellectual and cultural traditions.

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Jan
17

Te Paeroa RTLB Cluster

Keynote Presentation and Workshop.

Te Paeroa Cluster is a cluster of Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour, supporting 60 schools and kura in the South and East of Christchurch as well as The Chatham Islands and Pitt Island.

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Feb
17

Leaders’ Connect Online

Guest Speaker: “Leading out of White Spaces”

When our ‘normal’ Western, whitestream model of schooling is the problem, school leaders have both the responsibility, and the unique opportunity to lead us away from this practice. But how much change are we really prepared to make? Why are better literacy, numeracy, or NCEA scores simply not good enough? Why don’t our one-off days or weeks, the te reo Māori labels, the murals or carvings dotted around our schools, or our kapa haka ‘improve’ our achievement levels? How does a critically conscious, culturally sustaining curriculum really make a difference and how do you embed this practice in your leadership and your school?

Leaders Connect is an interactive, relational, online space for education leaders. Register for this free session here

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