OUR VALUES

Mangakino School's MANA values have been developed following consultation with our learning community and the Māori Achievement Collaborative.  These values underpin our school culture.  

What is Te Ara Whakamana?

Te Ara Whakamana: Mana Enhancement is our tool designed in Aotearoa/New Zealand that introduces ancestral archetypes through the Māori creation story, and employs animals, colour, shape, imagery, narrative and metaphors as powerful tools to connect individuals to their Mana (spiritual authority), their sources of strength, and their world.

Te Ara Whakamana allows you to work with people for positive behaviour change and wellbeing in ways that you have probably already thought about and even actually do, but can’t quite describe, share or measure.

With Te Ara Whakamana you get a simple and effective tool that supports cultural identity, builds capacity, raises academic achievement and achieves positive outcomes for all involved – individuals, whānau and families, staff, support workers, agencies and organisations – that can be clearly identified, shared and measured.

How does Te Ara Whakamana work?
Through the process of co-construction, Te Ara Whakamana provides a culturally centred framework for a strengths based conversation that explores the way in which we face and respond to life’s challenges. A person’s mana, (core value, prestige, authority, control, power, pride, influence, status, spiritual power, talents, uniqueness, charisma etc), and the mana of the family, becomes the focus point from which all actions and deeds are measured.

The inquiry based approach of each segment in the framework makes provision for early recognition, self-knowledge, emotional literacy and the opportunity to do something differently, in a new, mana enhancing and sustainable way, to manage crisis escalation at an early stage. The emergent plan can then be shared with all supporting whānau/family members, community support workers and social service agents alike.

The model becomes a reference point from which to set future goals, self monitor, measure progress and outcomes and collect and analyse data, all from a strengths perspective. Analysis of the model accommodates the views of the individual and their whānau alongside the professional’s, which is more likely to uncover important aspects which otherwise may have been neglected or overlooked.

The process of gathering qualitative and quantitative data in each segment of the model becomes an intervention in itself as people experience, understand, share and articulate their responses and explore mana enhancing strategies to problems. These experiences can come from the person themselves, the facilitator, and/or the whānau or a whānau member, providing in depth and meaningful triangulated data, to provide a measurement of outcomes from an holistic perspective.

Te Ara Whakamana and Kaupapa Māori practice 

Kaupapa Māori (cultural philosophies and practices) models seek to encourage whole of whānau approaches to problems which hold individuals to account outside of the punitive model. This cultural healing pathway explores and reconnects Māori to their spiritual, physical, emotional and family origins of well being wherein lie deeply powerful and transformative components. Kaupapa Māori approaches, formulated and delivered ‘for, by and to Māori’ where Māori thinking, values, relationships, knowledge, language, stories and songs, protocols and world views and their relationship to today’s environment form the basis of engagement, are considered best practice when working with Māori. Te Ara Whakamana provides a powerful tool from which to deliver a Kaupapa Māori response.