Te Wānanga o Aotearoa chief executive Evie O’Brien tells senior writer Chris Gardner why learning Māori makes non-Māori better people.
Te Wananga o Aotearoa kaiwhakatere chief executive Evie O’Brien hosted US President Bill Clinton while she was executive director of the University of Oxford based Atlantic Institute: Rhodes Trust.
Evie O’Brien has spent the last six years, among other things, focussed on addressing systematic causes of inequity and hosted former US president Bill Clinton.
He was an “extraordinary speaker” she says on the eve of a pōwhiri held in Te Awamutu last month to welcome her back to Te Wānanga o Aotearoa – New Zealand’s largest provider of Māori language and cultural programmes.
O’Brien was acting kaihautū (leader) for National Delivery when she left the wānanga and spent six years at the Atlantic Institute: Rhodes Trust at Oxford University in England as executive director.
Clinton won a Rhodes scholarship in the late 1960s and attended Oxford for two years, hence the opportunity for the two to catch up.
“As New Zealand’s largest provider of Māori language and culture programmes to all New Zealanders, Te Wānanga is playing a pivotal role in the reclamation of the language and the necessary skill and character development that all people need,” O’Brien told The News.
“When you can speak your own language and have a deep understanding of tikanga, it provides the basis for whānau transformation that has significant impacts beyond the individual.
“For non-Māori, the ability to speak Māori and understand the culture is not only about knowledge and skill development but something happens to the heart. To put it bluntly, you just become a better person, a better parent, a better leader, a better New Zealander.”
Te Mana Whakahaere council chair Vanessa Eparaima, left, welcomes new Te Wānanga o Aotearoa kaiwhakatere chief executive Evie O’Brien onto the Te Awamutu campus. Photo: Irene Maton
It is no surprise, then, that O’Brien’s role is as much about the community Te Wānanga serves as it is about the organisation she heads.
“It is a complex eco-system rather than an ego-system,” she says.
As one of New Zealand’s largest tertiary education providers with 23,000 students across approximately 60 campuses through a distributed model, Te Wānanga makes a significant contribution to the Māori and wider New Zealand economies.
“Te Wānanga contributes to the economy by lifting the qualification and skill levels of students, many of whom have been failed by New Zealand’s compulsory mainstream schooling system,” O’Brien says.
“This is one of the most important levers in New Zealand’s economic success and future. The median age of Māori is 27.2 compared to 43.2 for Pākehā New Zealanders. This is overlaid by the Māori population growing. Continuing to lift qualification levels anchored in mātauranga Māori is an exciting opportunity.”
O’Brien’s whakapapa is Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Maniapoto. Her time in Oxford, one of the world’s greatest centres of learning, has helped her appreciate New Zealand’s place in the world,
“Internationally Māori culture and language without doubt, is our magic point of difference; whether it is the way that whānaungatanga works in business relationships or kaitiakitanga and our ability to trace the provenance of our wine that is produced.”
Te Makau Ariki, left, with Evie O’Brien. Photo: Chris Gardner
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa’s strengths are it superb staff, outstanding programmes and a unique pedagogical approach.
“It is an organisation that centres tauira (students) and ensures that quality assurance processes are embedded across all that it does.”
Te Wānanga might, for example, take a lead on extended reality technologies such as augmented or virtual reality while safeguarding the importance of physical proximity in teaching and learning, she says.
“This way we go on the front foot – as we have successfully done before – rather than being passive recipients of new and emerging technologies.”
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa kaiwhakatere chief executive Evie O’Brien was welcomed with a powhiri last month.
Focus on compliance can sometimes slow down organisational innovation and agility as well as the capacity and capability to respond to emerging needs and changing national and international context, she says.
“I am curious about how we can innovate with speed, quality to meet these needs while always keeping a line of sight on core business quality and success.”
The opportunities for all three New Zealand wānanga – Aotearoa, Raukawa and Awanuiārangi – were endless.
“But there are threats including funding and resource constraints. The political environment is also a threat. This is always the case regardless of who is in power.”
The National-led Government’s announcement of the disillusionment of Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology less than three years after it was established by the previous government is a case in point.
O’Brien says there is a commitment to work with all stakeholders.
The challenge was having the foresight and long-term approach to delivering on the vision to ensure whānau transformation through education.
“Nothing is lost and everything is gained.”
Evie O’Brien arrives at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa with about 150 whānau, friends and colleagues. Photo: Irene Maton
