Luke Haglund

Genuine, lovely and committed sums up Luke Haglund, ECE and Te Reo Māori ākonga at UCOL.

Luke was born and raised in Masterton alongside his two siblings – one older and one younger. Attending Douglas Park, Masterton Intermediate and Wairarapa College, his family are well-engrained in the local community, with his mum owning the local vet clinic, and his dad an accountant.

Luke’s journey with UCOL kick-started in 2023, when he was introduced to UCOL’s U-Skills programmes, where secondary school students can study 1 or 2 days a week at UCOL and get a taste of their career pathway before committing to a higher qualification. Seeing the early childhood education (ECE) option, Luke was keen to give it a go.

“I’d always liked children, and the idea of being a positive influence on their lives was appealing. So, I signed up for that and absolutely loved it. While I was doing the U-Skills programme, I also saw an ad in the school notices, looking for a swimming teacher at Swim Tangaroa, the local community pool. I gave them a ring, and after submitting a freshly created CV, I got the job! Initially I was just teaching 3-year-olds and up, but now that’s broadened, and I teach from 5 months old through to 15+ and absolutely love it!”

After completing U-Skills Academy 1Day ECE programme, the following year Luke signed up for the NZ Certificate in ECE and Care Level 3 through the U-Skills 2Day ECE programme. During this, he undertook his practicum placement at Manaia Kindergarten and was offered a part-time support teacher role with the centre, 15 hrs a week.

“This experience was great for me personally, because I’m so hands-on. I can immediately see how the theory translates to the practical aspect of being in the workplace and putting it into action and vice versa.”

“Manaia have been so helpful to me while I’ve been completing my studies; they’re always offering to help with assignments or explaining things. They’re so friendly, I’m really lucky to have their support.”

Luke, unsurprisingly, flew through the Level 3 certificate through U-Skills, and with encouragement from his kaiako, enrolled in the NZ Diploma in ECE & Care Level 5 for 2025. At the same time, he also enrolled in UCOL’s Te Reo Māori for Beginners and, within the year, completed Te Reo Māori Intermediate as well.

“It made sense for me to keep going with ECE – it’s where you can make the most impact; they’re just beautiful. There’s something about that age range that’s just so amazing. It just clicked. At swimming, my preschool-age classes are my favourite. I just think that it’s one of the most important periods of learning and I want to make a positive impact.”

When asked about why he decided to enrol in te reo Māori at the same time, he says, “I’ve always loved languages – I took Japanese and French in high school. However, I really committed to it after a Te Tiriti o Waitangi conversation we had in our ECE class, and there was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me and the personal responsibility I have to uphold Te Tiriti – especially if I’m teaching our tamariki.

“After that class conversation, I actually heard about the night classes while I was in Te Pa Hao. For the first beginner and intermediate classes, I was lucky to have had Maioha Riwai-Couch as my kaiako, who was just amazing. It was just a committed, genuine class, where we all wanted to be here and learn, and everyone was respectful of where we were all at.”

Now, in 2026, Luke is in his second year of Te Tohu Paetahi Akoranga Bachelor of Teaching (ECE) and also studying Te Pokaitahi Reo (Rumaki, Reo Rua) – Kaupae 3, part-time.

“After completing the first two te reo classes, Whaea Kiri encouraged me to go into L3 (Te Pokaitahi Reo), which has been really helpful and I’m having an excellent time. I was worried it’d be a bit beyond me, but the class is really well-paced and has a really positive learning environment – I never feel like I’m being told I’m wrong, but am gently encouraged, and it’s great.”

“Doing te reo Māori alongside my ECE studies has been really helpful. When we do practicums, we get rated on how well we uphold Te Tiriti and so doing these learnings has allowed me to better put that into action. I’d also say it’s provided me with new perspectives, and I’m no longer nervous or fearful of mispronouncing something or not understanding it. I’m really happy to read a Māori story to the kids, and now I have the skills to be able to explain it. I also wrote a learning story completely in te reo Māori about Matariki which was so cool to be able to do.”

In his efforts to continually develop and grow, Luke has also undertaken neurodiversity professional development courses during his free time.

“As a neurodiverse person myself, I have an intense interest in developing my understanding of myself and of neurodiversity as a whole. This course helped me put inclusivity in education into perspective.”

This comes at no surprise, when asked if he had a favourite course or part of study, his response was a recent equity and diversity course. “It all really flows into each other, but at the moment we’re doing a course called Equity and Diversity which is really my jam. I’m really enjoying it as it aligns with my views and how I want to approach teaching. The course really emphasises an awareness of your individual biases and encourages self-reflection and becoming aware of barriers for diverse people – being aware means you can help lessen or remove these barriers entirely, which is great.”

One of his ECE kaiako, Trish Thomson says, “Luke is just so engaged. It’s not often that we have students doing professional development on the weekends. And out of the classroom, he’s encouraging us as well as vice versa. He’s exemplary as a student, we really are so proud of him. Being employed by a kindergarten association after his ECE Level 3 placement when he was only just starting his ECE studies really speaks to the value he adds. He doesn’t just skim through with the bare minimum effort; everything he does is truly above and beyond.”

With his genuine love of people, Luke is involved in general campus life too. “Luke is present at all our campus events, and being able to watch his growth and start to contribute to other people’s growth has been phenomenal. He actively uses his te reo learnings in his daily life, and that’s so exciting for me as I work to encourage the visibility of our reo around campus,” says Riki Anderson, Kaikōkiri UCOL Wairarapa.

Luke’s aspiration for his education journey, is as simple and genuine as being someone that children like. “To be someone that children feel safe with and trust and know that I’m there for them. Education isn’t about me, or what I want other adults to view me as; it’s all about the children and whether they feel safe with me, because they need to feel safe to learn.”

When asked where he sees himself in 5-10 years' time, Luke says, “Hopefully still teaching! I’m planning to stay local until I’m fully registered, but after that I might branch out and experience different centres across the country to see what I like best and what I’d like to bring into my teaching practice”.

For prospective students thinking about joining UCOL, Luke’s advice is “do it!”

“UCOL is flexible, welcoming and understanding. What’s not to love?”

Learn more about UCOL's Early Childhood Education programmes and Te Reo Māori programmes.