The notion of “success” for Pasifika students in higher education remains contested given the socio-political agendas of education in New Zealand targeting Pasifika engagement. The motivation to increase academic achievement for Pasifika peoples stems from “tail-end” outcomes, in which Pasifika populations are compared with other demographic populations in the attainment of higher qualifications. Many institutional “success” strategies are initiated essentially from a deficit positioning, to respond to barriers of participation, and ensure academic progression and student completion.

Drawing on nautical notions of traversing the Pacific Ocean, we seek to encourage Māori and Pasifika researchers to come together in purposeful and transforming ways, not to further homogenise Oceanic identities but, as many sang in active resistance in Aotearoa New Zealand during the 1990s, Kia Kotahi ra Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa (“Unite as one like the Pacific Ocean”). We present Vā-kā as a methodology that emerged from a research fellowship focused on Māori and Pasifika student success at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Conceptually, we lash together the Pasifika term vā—relational time and space—with the Māori term kā—to ignite, to consider, to be in action.

This article introduces He Vaka Moana, which has been tested and evaluated at international and local levels. He Vaka Moana is a strength-based model of academic fellowship that is framed by Oceanic principles and methodologies. The authors base this model on what connects and sustains us as Māori and Pasifika people—that is, Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.

He Vaka Moana - Navigating Māori student and Pasifika student success in the tertiary sector introduces a compilation of eight articles that provide an invaluable contribution to our understanding of how we can improve teaching and learning in tertiary settings.

Koia ko te kaupapa o tēnei atikara e aropā nui nei ki ngā karakia tūturu i takina i roto i ngā rā whakamaumahara o Te Riri Pākehā, arā, e mōhiotia ana ko Te Pūtake o te Riri, tae atu hoki ki ngā karakia tawhito i oti i roto i ngā tau maha ki ngā wānanga mau rākau, ki ngā momo tohi me ngā tikanga o te ao Māori. Ko te tapu o ngā karakia tūturu o tēnei ao, he rerekē ki te tapu o ngā karakia o te ao tūāuiruri whāioio o ō tātou tūpuna (Wānanga Karakia Māori, 2000). Waimarie kai te mau tonu i te tokoiti puta noa i Aotearoa ētahi o ngā karakia tawhito o tua whakarere, me te aha kai te kaha haere te tipu o te mate oha ki te ako i ngā karakia Māori.

He kipakipa mutunga kore kua oho ake i te whatumanawa o te tangata kia mōhio anō ia ki ngā taonga tuku iho a ōna mātua tūpuna. E kitea ana i te hiakai o te iwi Māori whānui ki ngā kōrero mō Matariki, te maramataka Māori, te whakatere waka, te whakaora tikanga, me te tupu matomato rawa o ngā kaupapa whakarauora reo. Nā, ko te aronga nui o tēnei tuhinga he kuhu atu ki ngā kōrero tuku iho e pā ana ki ō tātou atua Māori. Inā rā, ko te matapae i tōna whai tikanga nui ki te whanaketanga o te tuakiri Māori, ka tahi. Ka rua, he whakatakoto tauira o tā te tangata Māori whakahāngai i ērā kōrero atua ki ōna horopaki hou o tēnei ao hurihuri. Āe rānei, ka whai take i tua atu o Rautaki, o Mahere?

Kei te puta te tokomaha o ngāi raukura (ngā tauira o mua o te Kura Kaupapa Māori) ki ngā whare wānanga puta noa i te ao, heoi anō, he ruarua noa ngā tuhinga reo Māori e arotake ana i te Kaupapa Māori. E mātai ana tēnei tuhinga i te ahunga mai o te Kura Kaupapa Māori hei tauranga ātete i ngā tāmitanga a tauiwi. He kōrero tēnei mō te ariā Kaupapa Māori (mā ngā tauira whare wānanga): he tautoko i te putanga o te tuhinga taiea, te tuhinga i āta rangahaua, te tuhinga arohaehae, te tuhinga reo Māori. Ko te tikanga ia, ka puta he tuhinga mō ngā kaupapa huhua, engari ka taka te tuhinga nei i te whakaaro mō te mātātuhi wewete mō ngā raukura.

He rahi ngā kupu kōrero mō tēnei āhua o te ao wairua kei roto i te ao Māori. He hokinga ki te nehenehe nui o te ao ātea, ki tōna kunenga mai ki te ao tūroa. Ko tana whakapapa i ahu mai i te orokohanga:

Te Rākau o Te Ao

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Te Ao Mātinitini = Te Rangi Mātinitini

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Ngā atua nui tonu (70)

(Williams, K. K. & T. T. R., 1980)

Ko Te Aho Matua (2008) te tūāpapa o ngā kura kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa. Ko tā tēnei tuhinga, he tirotiro i ngā mahi a ngā manu tāiko hei whakatū i ngā kura kaupapa Māori. Kei tēnei pepa hoki he whakamāramatanga e pā ana ki te take mō te tuhinga o Te Aho Matua. Ko tōna tikanga, he tautake Te Aho Matua e whakakotahi ana i ngā kura kaupapa Māori e whakaū ana ki te whakarauora i te reo Māori me te whakatairanga i ngā tikanga Māori. Kei Te Aho Matua ngā aratohu kaupapa here mā ngā whānau me ngā pouako hei whakahaere i te kura mō ngā tamariki tau 1–8.

This article provides insights into the ethnicity of academics employed by Aotearoa New Zealand’s eight universities, with a particular focus on Māori academics. We show that, despite values espoused by universities in terms of diversity and within their equity policies regarding Māori staff, there has been no progress in increasing the Māori academic workforce. Māori academics were severely under-represented at universities between 2012 and 2017, comprising approximately 5% of the total academic workforce.