Key points 

• whānau appreciation for culturally visible practice 
• bicultural practice – a mindset 

Top Kids Virginia Ave is an inner-city early learning service in Auckland. It serves a multicultural community of over fifteen ethnicities, including Māori, Pacific, East Asian, and Middle Eastern. 

In the four-year-old room, the teaching team consists of kaiako who have immigrated to New Zealand from Afghanistan and India. This team has a particular interest in te ao Māori ways of knowing, being, and doing. 

Encouraged and supported by their centre leader (Ngāti Porou), the team worked with tamariki on a project to build a small wharenui for the outdoor area. Researching and building the wharenui took a few weeks, and tamariki learned about design, mathematics, and literacy – all in the context of building something purposeful. 

A couple of Māori families attending the service noticed the efforts of kaiako to learn about the indigenous culture of their adopted country, and offered help and practical support in understanding and practising tikanga. 

For kaiako, the value of learning tikanga has been as much about “the why” as “the what”. For example, they hold a pōwhiri for each new family as a way of showing respect and hospitality and of passing on the stories and knowledge of those who have gone before. 

Kaiako regularly hear and see the impact of their own learning and the changes they have made on tamariki and families, many of whom are experiencing tikanga and te reo Māori for the first time. Kaiako see: 

• Māori whānau continuing to offer practical support 
• parents and whānau thrilled and proud that their tamariki have taught them elements of Māori language and culture – waiata, stories, values, and protocols 
• parents inspired by their tamariki and asking kaiako for resources to extend their own learning. 

Kaiako say that their exploration of biculturalism within their curriculum has become a mindset and a way of giving back to their adopted country. It helps their many immigrant tamariki and whānau experience the sense of belonging that they themselves have gained. Through their interest, curiosity, and research, they have found many synergies between Māori values and those of their own cultural upbringings.