Relationships and sexuality education by Māori, for Māori

Te Ira Tangata

Te Ira Tangata is the relationships and sexuality education programme developed by Māori sexual health organisation, Te Whāriki Takapou, for ākonga in Years 8–10.

The programme is a suite of relationships and sexuality education resources, each comprising eight lesson plans designed to meet the needs of ākonga in Māori medium settings. One suite is for Years 7 and 8, the other for Years 9 and 10. All are written in te reo Māori and use Māori contexts, concepts, and knowledge.

The programme for Years 7 and 8 draws upon mātauranga Māori understandings of te pūhuruhurutanga (puberty) and te tuakiri o te tamaiti (children or young people’s identity).

Topics covered in Years 9 and 10 explore ngā piringa whai mana (respectful connections) and ngā haepapa a te taiohi (responsibilities).

According to Te Whāriki Takapou, this approach is consistent with evidence that speaking te reo Māori and having a strong cultural identity are significant factors in the success of rangatahi Māori across all domains of life, including health and wellbeing.

“Drawing upon pre-colonial Māori understandings of relationships and sexuality, our work aims to:

improve rangatahi Māori knowledge of healthy relationships and good sexual and reproductive health; foster Māori identity, te reo Māori and tikanga Māori; and promote Māori student success,” says Kirsten Gabel, for Te Whāriki Takapou.

The resources are intended to provide a general foundation of information for kaiako to build on and are designed for kura, whānau and kaiako to be able to adapt to the needs of their kura community.

This includes, where appropriate, to add and adapt for differences in dialectal reo and iwi specific mātauranga.

Kirsten explains that the Māori Medium Schools Project was formulated to address the lack of appropriate resources to assist teachers in Māori medium settings to teach, and their students to learn about, healthy relationships and good sexual and reproductive health, from a Māori worldview perspective and through the medium of te reo Māori.

Centred on mātauranga Māori

In keeping with this, Te Ira Tangata draws from mātauranga Māori understandings of RSE and uses pūrākau, mōteatea, whakatauki and other reo Māori-based sources of information.

“The programme is an attempt also to disrupt Eurocentric approaches to these topics that have been prevalent. Reclaiming this mātauranga and reasserting its place in the curriculum of our kura is an important action of tino rangatiratanga.

“Providing kura with access to reo Māori, mātauranga Māori based resources also allows kaiako to be able to focus on the teaching of this subject rather than trying to translate and adapt non-Māori resources as they have had to do in the past,” says Kirsten.

Feedback from kura and whānau has been very positive. Te Ira Tangata was developed in partnership with several Māori medium schools over a period of 18 months to two years. Te Whāriki Takapou worked alongside teachers, whānau, and Māori community experts to design, teach and evaluate each programme before releasing to the public.

“Above all, the programme is providing tamariki and whānau with access to resources that are grounded in our own tikanga, mātauranga and worldviews as Māori,” says Kirsten.

Each programme is available free for download from Te Whāriki Takapou website(external link), and includes links to public resources that support programme delivery. Hardcopies of Te Ira Tangata (Years 9 and 10) are also available.