Ian Drew (Head of School – Technologies, Programme Leader – Hospitality) has taken to Te Atakura’s teaching approach like a duck to water. He’s found the relationship-based approach to be very effective. He feels it’s a natural fit for the hospitality team as Manaakitanga is integral to all hospitality operations to succeed.
Ian has practised Te Atakura with learners for four years. After moving to leadership roles, he now spends less time tutoring, and more time leading his team. “I noticed that many practices I followed towards learners, were similar to the approach we used within our team. So I decided to share this experience with my Te Atakura coach,” says Ian.
Te Atakura was introduced to address the disparity between Māori and non-Māori student achievement, but has helped students from a variety of backgrounds. It focused on six important values: Manaakitanga (respect, generosity, and care), Kōtahitanga (unity), Mana Motuhake (autonomy), Whakapiringatanga (safe and secure), Ako (a two-way dynamic form of learning), and Wānanga (interactive). So it doesn’t come as a surprise that Ian’s ideas were embraced by his team.
He has continued building his expertise, under the guidance of his coach. “I attend as many Te Atakura workshops and community practices as I can, and always pick up something useful. I find it very helpful to meet like-minded people, who are keen to have discussions and exchange ideas as we go forward,” says Ian. A military warrant officer in his old life, Ian says that in a lot of ways, he had been following this practice for years. “I felt like I was giving a name and direction to my life-long approach,” adds Ian.
Ian’s journey from attending Te Atakura training to adapting it into his leadership has been a wonderful one so far but there’s still plenty more to do. “There’s always something to learn or improve on, so there’s always work in progress. That said, I wouldn’t have known about it if I hadn’t started working on it with the Te Atakura team,” says Ian.