Ko au te taiao: About this resource

This teaching and learning resource examines our relationships to te taiao here in Aotearoa. Through suggested activities, kaiako and ākonga are encouraged to explore the mātauranga of this land, and the wisdom and insights these hold for thriving collective futures. 

Ko au te taiao, centres some of the values that come from mātauranga, through the incredible collections that Te Papa cares for. It is designed to encourage us all to observe te taiao, engage with our shared histories, and consider the wisdom of indigenous ways of knowing.

There is no real way that mātauranga Māori can be learnt from a resource, as mātauranga Māori does not live in isolation of practice. It is a way of life for Māori, rather than what we can study. 

Ko au te taiao encourages all who call Aotearoa home, to lean into our own cultural stories and truths, to imagine a thriving future together. The resource helps us all to form robust understandings of who we are – as both descendants and future ancestors – in living relationship with this beautiful land.

Ko au te taiao is underpinned by four principles that support Te Mātaiaho, the refreshed New Zealand curriculum and Te Rautaki o Te Papa (Te Papa Strategy):

1. We are in active relationship with Papatūānuku
   Ko au te taiao encourages learners to expand their own understanding of the interconnectedness of life.
   
   Ko au te taiao empowers teachers and learners to care for, protect, and restore our environment and biodiversity through encouraging nature connection, active citizenship, and participation for a better world.
   
   

2. We are connected to each other and where we are
   Ko au te taiao suggests ways that Te Papa’s collections can be brought to life within a learners’ own world and emphasises the importance of place-based stories in developing an authentic understanding of who we are.
   
   It encourages all who call Aotearoa home, to lean into our own cultural stories and truths, to imagine a thriving future together. The resource helps us all to form robust understandings of who we are – as both descendants of our histories and ancestors of the future – in relationship with this beautiful earth.
   
   
   

3. We enact Te Tiriti o Waitangi
   Ko au te taiao, draws on the incredible collections that Te Papa holds to celebrate some of the values that underpin Māori ways of knowing.
   
   Mātauranga Māori is a knowledge system that has evolved from embodied ways of living in place over generations. It has come through whakapapa and evolved from spaces where Māori have mana motuhake. Mātauranga Māori can’t be learnt online, as mātauranga is about how we live, rather than what we know.
   
   Big ideas around whakapapa, whanaungatanga, kaitiakitanga, mana, mauri, tino rangatiratanga, aroha, and wairua are considered in relation to what was, what is, and what could be.
   
   For non-Māori in particular, it is important to note that learning about mātauranga Māori is an opportunity to understand our own identities, rather than an opportunity to appropriate what it is to be Māori.
   
   Ko au te taiao recognises that tino rangatiratanga is fundamental to a Tiriti-centric Aotearoa. We respect hapū and iwi assertion, and the Waitangi Tribunal's finding, that sovereignty was not ceded on the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
   
   Ko au te taiao examines the impact of colonisation and its associated values on us all, particularly Tangata whenua. The activities imagine a thriving future in which active devotion to each other and te taiao leads to collective healing.
   
   
   

4. We provide accessible and engaging resources
   Ko au te taiao is inclusive by design, providing a smorgasbord of activities that are non-prescriptive. There are no fixed or linear learning outcomes, and any section can be picked up in any order, at any time. There are many ways to engage with the content, many ways knowledge is represented and many ways ākonga can express their understanding.