Te Mangōroa (environmental scan & writing web content)

Project dates: 
Feb-2010 to Jan-2012
Description of the project: 

There were 3 major parts to this Ministry of Education project:

  1. Conducting a scan of resources (online and offline) relevant to  the initiative ‘Realising Māori Potential’
  2. Writing a report that described each resource  in the scan
  3. Writing web content for the ‘Realising Māori Potential’ site (subsequently renamed Te Mangōroa http://temangoroa.tki.org.nz/).

The Ministry of Education asked CWA to develop a web-based resource for teachers, principals, and boards of trustees that would contribute to the aims of, or illustrate in practice, the Ministry’s Māori education strategy Ka Hikitia.

CWA contracted me to help bring together all Ministry (and relevant cross-government) resources (of any medium) that could feasibly support schools to realise Māori student potential. These resources included case studies, digital stories, exemplars, professional development programmes, and lessons from existing Ministry projects/initiatives eg Te Kotahitanga, Te Kauhua, Team Up, Te Mana Kōrero, Kiwi Leadership etc.

My involvement: 

My tasks included:

  • Helping to scope the web resource, prior to the web-building phase ie conducting a stocktake and environmental scan of Ministry resources and government initiatives that could contribute to  Ka Hikitia
  • Liaising with Ministry staff and teachers to identify cross-Ministry needs, key messages for the target web audience, and what the audience themselves may want to experience on the website
  • Writing all website content eg respective initiatives; school stories
  • Writing abstracts for the video clips
  • Writing  ‘key questions’ and ‘things to think about’ for each resource , to stimulate discussion around (for example) student engagement/ achievement, influence of culture, teaching/learning (ako), whānau engagement, expectations, building school leadership, opportunities for professional development
  • Writing full report on the environmental scan of resources that could contribute to the realisation of Māori student potential
  • Helping to develop a taxonomy of metadata appropriate for making the resources available via an appropriate advanced search capability ie: topic / genre / medium
Key skills used: 

- Writing ie report; content for web; abstracts/ overviews

- Project scoping, to determine parameters

- Audit/stocktake/ environmental scanning

- Relationship management eg teachers (as primary audience), Ministry personnel (as sponsors of the website) and other stakeholders (eg Te Puni Kōkiri, Huia Publishers, Haemata Ltd, Waikato University, Massey University, Learning Media)

- Design of appropriate questions to stimulate thinking and discussion about content

- Facilitation skills (in identifying cross-Ministry needs, key messages, and desired audience experience) ie working with a number of internal stakeholders and aligning with audience requirements

- Understanding of the Ministry’s Māori Education Strategy, Ka Hikitia, in order to frame my writing in a strength-based context, emphasising Māori student potential

- Knowledge about metadata, to aid the discoverability of resources. 

Outcomes: 

The project resulted in a website that:

1.communicated a consistent Ministry-wide message to the education sector about Māori students realising their potential and enjoying education success as Māori

2.illustrated, on a practical level, what Ka Hikitia means for teaching and learning eg ako, productive partnerships with whānau, and importance of culture

3.provided key starter questions and things for schools to think about/ discuss – to guide their  professional learning and develop their capability

4.could be discovered through Māori concepts and/or areas of interest and/or by project/digital story/National Standards/New Zealand Curriculum etc.

Project URL: 
http://temangoroa.tki.org.nz/