Unitec represented on NZQA’s first Mātauranga Māori Advisory Group

Dr Rosemary Dewerse, who is sitting on the newly-formed Mātauranga Māori Advisory Group for NZQA’s Quality Assurance Māori

On Thursday 4 July the newly created Mātauranga Māori Advisory Group for NZQA’s Quality Assurance Māori met for the first time. Unitec’s Dr Rosemary Dewerse was at the table.

Rosemary shares with us her pathway towards being the only Pākeha member invited onto the group, and what she hopes to contribute to the group’s aim of guiding and evaluating the provision and quality of mātauranga Māori in the tertiary sector across New Zealand.

Tell us about your role at Unitec…

I began working at Unitec in October 2018 after eighteen years lecturing, researching, supervising and providing (postgraduate) academic leadership in PTEs and universities in Aotearoa and overseas.

I am now an Academic Quality and Capability Partner in Te Korowai Kahurangi (Academic Quality Services), working alongside staff to resource them in quality processes.

What is the group you’ve been invited onto and how did you get involved?

Empowering evidenced-based evaluation is part of my role. Last year I worked with TeUrikore Biddle and Ako Ahimura Mātauranga Māori leaders to develop Āta-kōrero: Evaluative Conversations. ‘Āta’ invites us to put people and their stories back into the heart of quality processes. Āta-kōrero encourages teams to evaluate their work together as a true work of Mahi Kotahitanga, while also honouring the other four principles of Te Noho Kotahitanga.

TeUrikore left her role at Unitec in April to take up a leadership role at NZQA and, because of our mahi together and her knowledge of my passion for empowering evidence-based evaluation, invited me to join the Mātauranga Māori Advisory Group she is establishing to offer expert opinion on Quality Assurance of mātauranga Māori in the general space, i.e. Unitec.

What is it hoped the work of the panel will achieve?

It’s early days yet. The first meeting worked toward agreed terminology and terms of reference.

TeUrikore is mindful that Māori learners and Mātauranga Māori are to be found in, and contributing to, not only Wānanga but also other institutions around the country. She is keen for that knowledge to be guarded well and guided wisely and for Quality Assurance Māori to be accountable in that and for that. Already there is a frame for Quality Review through the lens of Te Ao Māori for those who choose to take it – Te Hono o Te Kahurangi. There is an opportunity for Unitec to take themselves through an alternative evaluative pathway that would recognise the kaupapa of Te Noho Kōtahitanga. This Advisory group is drawn from and looking toward the wider tertiary sector.

Across 2019-2020 three overall outcomes are in view: enable mana-enhancing sector engagement and relationships; improve products and services that recognise and value Māori learner provision; and improve sector confidence in NZQA provision of support for the advancement of mātauranga Māori. Exactly how we will enact these is the topic of the next meeting, to be held toward the end of July.

How will you contribute?

I feel greatly honoured to be invited. Ko tangata tiriti te iwi. Though I have worked previously in a Wānanga and have supervised Māori research students, I am the only Pākeha on the Advisory Group.

Ka whakarongo au – I will listen. Ka whakarongo ano au – I will listen again. And then I hope my perspective – personal and institutional – might usefully serve the kaupapa of the group in the future. TeUrikore wanted Unitec at the table; it is also my intent to listen well to Unitec so that its voice and experience can make an effective contribution.