Te Wānanga o Aotearoa was originally founded to provide
opportunities for those whose needs were not being met
by the mainstream education system. Our founders were
also committed to transferring cultural knowledge and
encouraging responsible kaitiakitanga over Papatūānuku.
We take our responsibilities seriously because we respect
the trust that has been placed in our hands as we work
together to make our world a better place.
oati
Corporate responsibility
Cultural
We recognise the critical importance of
nurturing mātauranga Māori as part of our
obligation to enliven tikanga and āhuatanga
Māori. Mātauranga Māori underpins our
programme development processes and is
implicit in our organisational practices. Each
year, we connect thousands of people with
mātauranga Māori and we promote these
paradigms as normal ways of living throughout
our educational delivery. In this way, we
support the vitality of te ao Māori now and into
the future.
Economic
We view education that leads to financial
independence as a key strategy towards
reversing the negative indicators often
associated with intergenerational cycles of
non-participation in tertiary education. We
are dedicated to helping our tauira achieve
their study goals as a step towards gaining
meaningful employment. For some tauira,
this means starting and operating their own
businesses. For others, it means learning
more advanced skills to enter employment
or progress as an employee in an area of
their choosing.
Social
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is a conduit for
community connectedness. We often use
existing community facilities as classrooms
for delivery of our programmes as a way of
contributing to the financial health of schools,
halls, marae and other community venues.
These partnerships enable us to support and
protect these invaluable community resources.
As an organisation, we understand the
importance of bringing people together in safe
and supportive environments. Programmes
nurture meaningful relationships through
practices such as whanaungatanga and
manaakitanga – values that are central to
all programmes.
We also support and sustain local communities
by delivering our programmes in smaller
towns across Aotearoa New Zealand rather
than centralising delivery in main centres.
This strategy enables tauira to study locally
and remain with their whānau, as well as
creating local employment opportunities and
generating a flow of funds in support of local
community sustainability.
Environmental
As a future-focused organisation, we
understand that each of us is a kaitiaki with
responsibility for protecting our environment
for future generations. We aim to provide
systems and processes that support each
kaimahi in their duty of kaitiakitanga. This
includes systems that promote waste
minimisation, energy efficiency, pollution
prevention, bio-diversity protection and
climate change mitigation. We do these
things to protect our world for our tamariki
and mokopuna.
Te pŪrongo 2012
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