Keywords

Outdoor education in a variety of forms has a strong history dating back 100 years in New Zealand . Historically shaped by a range of influences, particularly from the United Kingdom, New Zealand has developed its own flavour of outdoor education because of its unique cultural and social understandings. Boyes (2012) and Lynch (2006) have traced the historical and conceptual development of outdoor education in New Zealand , documenting an evolution over time that has included nature study, curriculum -related field trips, school camping , outdoor pursuits, environmental education, and social and personal development as features of the flavour.

Boyes noted that by the late 1970s, the outdoor pursuits lobby was gaining the most capital, and in 1980, the New Zealand Department of Education introduced Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) to relocate the domain back to its original wider roots across the curriculum . This concept is a generic term describing curriculum -based learning that extends beyond the classroom walls. The New Zealand Ministry of Education (formerly the Department of Education) acknowledged (1999) that the concept of EOTC could be applied to a diversity of approaches to teaching such as art gallery or marae visits, geography field trips, and outdoor education camps. In 1999, the Health and Physical Education curriculum included outdoor education as one of its key areas of learning. This curriculum suggested the following learning opportunities in outdoor education: the development of physical skills; enjoyment and personal and social development through adventure activities and outdoor pursuits; learning about the traditions of their own and other cultures , including the tangata whenua, the Māori who are Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand ; strategies to evaluate and manage safety, challenge, and risk ; accessing outdoor recreation opportunities in the community, including their environmental impact; and strategies to care for the environment . EOTC is an umbrella term that embraces these outdoor education curriculum recommendations.

The chapter is written to describe my experience as a female “Pākehā,” (a Māori term for people of European descent), working in the context of Māori culture alongside physical education teacher education (PETE) students studying for an undergraduate Bachelor of Physical Education (BPE). For over 20 years, as part of my teaching in EOTC/outdoor education, I have lead PETE students to stay for four days on a marae. A marae is an ancestral home where Māori values , traditions, and beliefs are practised. The marae stay is positioned as a component of the EOTC/outdoor education courses situated within the degree programme.

To explain underpinning cultural meanings and to make sense of the why, what, and how of the marae stay, the chapter is descriptive, interpretive, and explanatory. My aim is to connect my idiosyncratic experience to the universal human experience of professionals, in this case, caught between Pākehā and Māori culture . Dialogue used to tell parts of the narration is composite, written to recapture moments and inserted into the text to bring it alive. I represent myself as a woman, teacher, narrator, and presence in other people’s lives. The focus is to interweave a narrative of the experiential, the cultural, the professional, and the personal as I have worked alongside the tangata whenua (Indigenous people of the land ) and the PETE students in the practice of EOTC/outdoor education.

Background

Aotearoa (land of the long white cloud) New Zealand is located in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. New Zealand is an island country with two main islands, the North Island, Te Ika a Maui—the fish of Maui—and the South Island, Te Waipounamu—the waters of greenstone—with a collection of smaller islands adding to the land mass. Human populations arrived about 1250–1300 CE when Polynesians migrated across the Pacific and developed the distinctive Māori culture . Today, the population of approximately 4.5 million reflects New Zealand ’s continued migration story as a British colony with a majority of European descent, whilst Māori is the largest minority, followed by Asian and Pacific Island peoples.

My ancestors came to New Zealand three generations ago from Ireland and the Channel Islands. I grew up in a small rural town in the North Island. Situated close to a large river and harbour, the area was an important place on an ancient Māori trading route. After European settlement in the 1850s, the fertile soils meant the area prospered, and grazing, dairy, and arable activities continue to underpin the local economy. From a young age, my interest in Māori culture had been nurtured by my father who had a strong interest in anthropology and archaeology. Whilst rabbit shooting on local farmland, he found many Māori stone adzes and evidence of “factory”-like production of these implements. He brought a few home for us to see. I often went on these expeditions, walking along behind him, trying not to moan about the distance, learning to be quiet and listen to nature, not walking in front of the gun. Walking across farmland that overlooked the Tasman Sea on the west, the river to the south, and harbour to the north and east, I observed the pre-European Māori pā (fortified village sites). I learnt of the importance of the area as a “food basket” for the Māori people, because the harbour provided a diversity of birds and fish life and a portage link for trade to the river. Recently, I returned to live in my hometown, residing in a property on an estuary of the harbour once part of the ancient trade route.

Stance to Include Bicultural Approach

I have been a PETE educator for over 20 years. Teaching EOTC/outdoor education is one aspect of my work . The stance to include a bicultural approach in my teaching came from my interest in Māori culture but also emerged as an important step in the development of a new degree in physical education in the mid-1990s. My colleagues and I had observed that although some PETE students had experience with Māoritanga (Indigenous culture of New Zealand ) through school, sport, and family, for the majority of the students, extended contact with Māori people was limited (Legge, 2006). In classes made up of a majority of non-Māori, there was little empathy towards diversity and cultural difference. I had experienced firsthand the PETE students’ resistance whilst teaching them te reo kori (Māori movement). They questioned, “Why do we have to do this Māori stuff? This isn’t PE!” Once, I overheard a male student say, “What can this woman teach me about my Māori culture ?” I felt hurt by these expressions but recognized that the limited experience or understanding about Indigenous Māori knowledge obstructed the PETE students’ thinking about culture and its significance to education. They did not understand the composition of the dominant mainstream Pākehā culture and how that influenced their worldview. I observed that, as a consequence of this social discrepancy, many of the students’ perceptions of Māori people were grounded in a deficit discourse that highlighted disparities such as high levels of imprisonment, low socioeconomic status, and poor achievement in education.

Our decision to develop a new degree in physical education included coursework where a four-day immersion in Māori culture via e noho marae (marae stay) would be mandatory. The BPE course that included the e noho marae was designed to examine Māori underpinnings in the physical education context and address questions as follows: How can teachers understand what it is to be Māori? What is the cultural significance of Māori movement forms ngā mahi a rēhia (games and pastimes)? What is a culturally responsive pedagogy ? For continuity, the e noho marae course was linked to other outdoor education field-based activities, health education, and the unique Māori physical activity, te reo kori. Translated as the language of movement, I teach te reo kori alongside contemporary dance at other stages in the degree programme. Our decision to make e noho marae a significant part of the BPE was a culturally responsive action. We felt it wasn’t enough to study Māoritanga in the classroom—cultural immersion was necessary so that the PETE students were in a lived situation able to see and experience something of what it means to be Māori . Through these actions, we wanted to improve relationships , knowledge, and understanding between Māori and Pākehā.

The intent of the marae stay and subsequent coursework was to advance the PETE students’ understanding of how Māori and Pākehā are positioned by the Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) as partners and what that means for them as educators. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840 between Māori and Pākehā, and whilst there are historical and contemporary contentious issues around the “treaty,” it is considered the founding document of New Zealand . By learning the history , values , and traditions, demonstrated during the marae stay through perspectives such as ako (learning), whanaungatanga (family ties), and manākitanga (hospitality), the PETE students are encouraged to look to the future to see what they might be able to contribute. I wanted to educate them to promote cultural knowledge and understanding through personal, lived experience and the prospect of professional agency.

E noho marae

The key cultural event discussed in this chapter is the e noho marae. E noho means to sit or stay. A marae is the spiritual and ancestral home for Māori , the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. There are many tribal marae in New Zealand where a series of buildings form the marae complex. In a central position is the ancestral wharenui (meeting house) with the wharekai (dining room) and wharepaku (bathroom) in close proximity. A perimeter fence bounds the marae, and a special gateway is located in front of the wharenui. It is here where visitors gather before being welcomed onto the marae. Another gate allows for the ordinary coming and going from the complex. The marae includes the urupa (cemetery), although it may be situated away from the main buildings. There are also storerooms for mattresses when they are not in use, large coolers for storing food, and hangi (earth oven) stones set in readiness for the occasions when they are heated so that food can be cooked in the Māori tradition by steaming underground.

The wharenui is an A-framed building that is customarily named after a significant ancestor. The support posts of the wharenui represent other important ancestors who connect the generations of the tribe. The wharenui may or may not be carved or decorated with culturally significant representations of ancestors and the stories about the tribe. When staying on a marae, people sleep on mattresses arranged side by side in the interior space of the wharenui. In modern times, photographs of deceased relatives are hung on the interior walls of the wharenui to honour kinship relations.

However, to stay on the marae is to recognize that the domain of the iwi (tribe) is more than the immediate buildings. The tribe’s domain includes close spiritual connections to the land , sea, and other waterways in their area. Particular environmental features are known as revered ancestors and acknowledged through whakapapa (genealogy) connections. The iwi is invested in the kaitiaki (guardianship) of these natural places, to retain the mana (respect) of other tribes, amongst themselves and of their tribe. When we stay on the marae, the outdoor environment permeates everything we do—when we enter the wharenui, we remove our shoes and hats to be closer to Papatuanuku, the earth mother, and Ranginui, the sky father.

The foundation for the marae stay is laid in outdoor education and shaped by the idea of learning through living often referred to as experiential (Quay, 2003). This means I plan and undertake the journey to the marae as I would for a significant expedition into the outdoors. To travel to the marae requires organization of medical forms, dietary requirements, route selection, and the coordination of drivers, passengers, and vehicles. The organization is through committees formed by class members who under my guidance manage transport, clothing, and equipment, and cultural preparation.

For their cultural preparation, PETE students learn in class about the traditions of the pōwhiri, the welcome ritual. (This learning is at an introductory level, and during the marae stay, this knowledge is extended.) When manuhiri (visitors) are welcomed onto a marae, women stand at the entrance of the wharenui and karanga, a call of welcome likened to the first cry of life. This moment highlights the importance of women for giving birth to the children of the tribe. Inside the wharenui, senior male elders perform the whaikōrero, or ceremonial speech making. I have been told that the process can be viewed from the perspective of safety management where possible cultural threats are addressed in a pro-active manner contextualized for the place where they are based. To this end, the whaikōrero follows a pattern beginning with a chant to bring goodwill to the event, followed by acknowledgement: of the dead, the wharenui, Papatuanuku (the living), connections between the visitors and tangata whenua, and the purpose of the assembly. The speech making may alternate from side to side or all speakers from the tangata whenua follow each other, then the manuhiri have their turn, but the tangata whenua always have the last word. Their final speaker is the most senior male elder who is recognized for his high level of knowledge and ability to correct any misrepresentation or misunderstandings that may have occurred in the previous speeches.

With agreement amongst themselves, the class members select speakers to whaikōrero on our behalf. These are young men who would not ordinarily speak on a marae until much older; however, for the purpose of the noho marae, they are given permission to speak on our behalf. There is risk for these men because of unfamiliarity with the context, so guidance to write and speak their whaikōrero comes from expertize within and outside of the class. The kaupapa (protocol) requires us to learn a waiata (song) appropriate to the occasion to sing after the whaikōrero. A woman usually initiates the waiata, choosing a song that is suitable to endorse a speaker’s words and the reasons for the four-day stay on the marae.

We also need women to karanga in response to the call of welcome made by the tangata whenua as they begin the pōwhiri and we advance across the open space between the gate and door into the wharenui. According to custom, the skill of karanga is not learnt in a formal way but over years of being present. It is different for us as we step into the shoes of a kuia (older woman) for a brief lived experience of the Māori world. Some may be horrified to think that this tikanga (tradition) is transgressed. This is a special educational noho marae devised to teach cross-cultural understanding and meet the needs of the PETE students. The tangata whenua I work with want the PETE to know experientially about tikanga Māori to be more able to teach in culturally responsive ways in health, physical education, and outdoor education.

Travelling to stay on the marae is for most PETE students a step into another world. A common experience is for them to feel apprehensive about their stay. Like my students when I first attended e noho marae, I was hesitant to participate fully because it was a completely new experience for me. I had been onto a marae before and Māori culture was something I was aware of, but I had not had any formal introduction. I felt uncertain about my role as a woman and my acceptance as a Pākehā. I felt challenged by what seemed to be the dominance of men. However, I have developed a more informed understanding because the cultural significance of rituals, such as the pōwhiri, has personal meaning. Now, when we cross the road to wait outside the gate for our welcome, I have a sense of being a pukeko (swamp hen) surrounded by her brood as the class members cluster around me with the anticipation and uncertainty of fledgling chicks.

I have learnt from oral and written work that the PETE students initially view the marae trip as a valuable opportunity to develop their own social connections within their class. The lived experience of being together in a shared sleeping space , eating in the wharekai, and time out weaving flax flowers, as they sit on the steps outside the meeting house, serves to construct and reconstruct their social bonds in positive ways. The lived experience of the marae places an emphasis on whanaungatanga, and this draws out the students’ friendship attachments between themselves and me and shapes new relationships between all of us. I have to be aware that the PETE students do not focus too much on the “new good feelings” amongst themselves during the stay, so that they don’t miss the cross-cultural understanding point of the marae interaction.

During e noho marae, the students participate in a range of activities that allow them to experience their stay in culturally appropriate ways: “Helping out in the kitchen as ringawerawera (helping hands) gave me a sense of purpose at the marae and being able to take the workload off the ladies in there made me feel good as well.” Men and women work together in the kitchen because hosting visitors is considered an honour and privilege for any tribe. There is cultural significance in being considerate of hosts and other visitors. Active participation in the pōwhiri ritual, not as the manuhiri when we arrived but now as tangata whenua, means women from the class call the karanga to welcome other visitors to the marae whilst we stay there, and our men sit on the taumata (speakers’ bench) waiting for their turn to whaikōrero to the visitors. These can be exciting and nerve-racking events for the PETE students, but on reflection , their lived experience seems to fill the students with a sense of satisfaction and achievement: “I did it! I made the calls, then when I heard Joanne call alongside me the hairs on the back of my head stood on end.” During their stay, the students participate in manākitanga (caring and hospitality), kotahitanga (unity), tikanga pōwhiri (welcome protocols), kaitiakitanga (guardianship of the land and sea), and other traditions such as reciting whakapapa.

In a Māori worldview, tangata whenua are the people of the land and the world is a huge family. Humans are children of the earth and sky and cousins to all living things. The practice of reciting whakapapa in Māori culture describes a spatial metaphor for where they are, what this place is about (where they are), and whose place it is (Penetito, 2004). References are made to mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas as identifying features of the metaphor each tribe adopts. This connectedness means nature is the teacher of life. When staying on the marae, our learning is situated in the context of Papatuanuku, the mother of all living things.

During the stay, students are taught about the environment through a deep and powerful mythology. The land , sea, and sky are represented through various gods such as Papatuanuku, Tangaroa, god of the sea, and Ranginui. Experiential activities in the forest promote the cultural significance of Papatuanuku, intensifying the students’ awareness of how they may have not really looked at, or seen, the natural world:

I have come to appreciate the natural beauty of our country, and of Māori culture , a culture that in the past I haven’t often appreciated. I marvel in the wonders of the world, and so do Māori . They see the beauty and usefulness of everything in nature, this is something I can relate to and agree with.

Awareness of tangata whenua beliefs shows the students how Māori understand and relate to the world around them. Personifying Papatuanuku as earth mother means that central values of Māori are laid down. The earth is cherished because it grows food; humans were fashioned from earth and return to the earth when they pass away. According to a Māori worldview, everything that has life comes from the womb of Papatuanuku, including humans: “We took our shoes off when we entered the wharenui not just to keep the floor clean but also to be in closer contact with the earth.” On the marae, learning is through direct experience of the forest and sea from Māori perspectives. The myths of Tane, god of the forest, for example, separating his parents (Papatuanuku and Ranginui) so he and his brothers could have light to flourish give the landscape meaning. Tane’s actions created “the world of light” now dominated by human beings. The marae is a place that can teach about living respectfully with one another and the planet.

By taking PETE students to stay on the marae, I am asking them what it means to be Māori . The marae stay tests PETE student identities, as they are challenged to reflect on who they are alongside how Māori identity is expressed. Māori always remember the dead, seeing them as still living in the spirit realm and believing there is a continuous link between the gods and past, present, and future generations. Pākehā students are taken aback by the gravity of this value. I prepare the students prior to the marae stay with an assignment that requires them to research and become informed about their genealogy and why their families travelled to live in New Zealand . During the marae stay, there is constant interaction with whakapapa as an underpinning discourse in the marae korero (dialogue). The interaction enables the PETE students to contextualize and value their whakapapa. By reconstructing the meaning of their ancestry, they realize that their values and those of Māori might not be as different as they thought.

But then, colonization rears its ugly head. A rendition of reverse history and role-play, told by the tangata whenua, confronts the PETE students with contemporary Māori reality. In this history , the Māori are the colonizers and the Pākehā the colonized. The story unpacks the idea that the Pākehā had settled in New Zealand with their way of life, cars, individual smart houses, and fast food outlets … but then the Māori arrived, took their land , and closed down everything the Pākehā knew as their way of life. The Māori offered carved waka (canoes for transport) and the communal living of a marae and ate seafood instead of McDonalds. There is more, but this is the gist of the story that is told.

The PETE students are challenged by the concept that their ancestors were colonizers and that the serious effects of colonization is still in evidence for Māori people. The wānanga (discussion) puts the students into the shoes of Māori, the korero brings their thoughts back to how they perceived Māori status before they came to the marae—the litany of disparities, high imprisonment, low achievement—to realization about how colonization has impacted the tangata whenua of New Zealand . The dialogue is challenging. We only have a short time to stay on the marae. The cultural challenge is up there with a difficult rock climb or hard paddle in a kayak.

If you understand that the PETE students’ average age is about 19 or 20 years, there is much to ponder in response to their commonly held beliefs: “Until this ‘camp,’ I never really thought about the colonisation of Māori and how the Māori had been treated during that time.” “I sat down and had a proper think! The story and role-play gave me an insight that reading history books or watching movies never could.” “Hearing the story and other activities opened my eyes to a whole new perspective that I had never thought about.” “I never thought that there is the possibility of Māori being a dying culture .” “This experience has allowed me to stop sympathising and start empathizing.”

The reverse history might influence how Pākehā students think, but it can also reverse the thinking of Māori students: “What stood out for me was I connected with my culture for the first time and it made me realize how much I was missing out on.” “I used to be ashamed to be Māori because of all the no-hopers in NZ. But I see that they are the outcome of colonisation.” “As long as I am true to who I am, I can be proud to be Māori.”

I understand that the lived experience of e noho marae positions the PETE students and myself in a social, cultural, and political world that is not Eurocentric. The effect of the lived experience can create resistance: “I got angry not because some people were expressing how they felt but because they didn’t even try and see things from a Māori perspective.” It also promotes the need for Māori and Pākehā to learn that they have a role and responsibility to address biculturalism as citizens and teachers in this country: “I felt I needed to change my attitude towards being Māori. I had to ask myself if I’m not proud of my nationality what is going to make other people want to learn about who we are as Māori ?” A key aspect for my continuing these visits is to support Māori identity because I believe it is important for the PETE students to recognize that increasing their bicultural understanding will support their Māori peers and later, the students they teach in schools (Legge, 2010).

E noho marae is an educational opportunity to expand knowledge about cultural diversity in Aotearoa New Zealand . Educational opportunities for diverse students can be hindered if teachers are not aware of their personal cultural lens. The primacy of the place, the marae, allows the framing of being culturally responsive to be situated in the PETE students’ experience and current understanding. During the e noho marae, the students are part of the process of lived experience and this requires them to think about themselves in the moment, to make connections to their family and education, and to challenge what is cultural knowledge in New Zealand . If education is to empower people who have been marginalized, it must be transformative. Developing self-awareness may mean being culturally uncomfortable during the marae experience. A critical pedagogical approach includes uncertainty and complexity that requires adaptation and possibly unlearning and risk taking.

The key criteria for success on the marae has to be framed in the concept of ako, where learning and teaching are reciprocal. The PETE students are guided through their day-to-day cultural interactions on the marae to develop the knowledge, skills, and values needed to become social critics who can make and apply reflective decisions in effective personal, social, political, and economic action:

There was negativity, mostly due to small mindedness, but it made me feel sad and angry at the same time. Especially, when they were asked if they enjoyed it [the marae stay] and they said ‘yes’ but didn’t own up to how they were really feeling about having colonising ancestors.

The thing is they were not blamed but somehow they took on the responsibility to defend and take the blame for the outcomes of colonisation. That was silly really because all they needed to do was hear the korero.

Nurturing self-awareness is critical for teachers to become culturally responsive. There is a point for translating the e noho marae experience into their own lives and, later, the context of teaching. In synthesizing their experiences, the PETE students can contribute to a different way of thinking or of embracing and including tikanga Māori and, through having had bicultural experiences, be more informed to relate to other cultures.

Implications

The teaching and learning of outdoor education through Māori culture is important to me as a woman because the security of a “warm marae”—in the sense of loving humanity—is a powerful foundation for learning. Participation in cultural events led by the tangata whenua inside and outside the wharenui during our stay helps the PETE students, and me, to develop an understanding of the nuances of some traditions: “I thought I had some understanding of what it is to be Māori and what the culture is about. How wrong I was.” However, we will always be there as outsiders not fully committed to the place nor with the same sense of belonging to the whenua (land ) that the tangata whenua have for their marae. By participating in an e noho marae, as in many outdoor education experiences, the PETE students find out what it is like to be part of a supportive group. However, experiencing an extended marae stay highlights differences in perspectives and this can sometimes give rise to cultural discomfort because of misunderstanding and inexperience. The intent of the immersion is to help participants develop attitudes characterized by openness and receptivity to other perspectives. For the PETE students and myself, learning to be open-minded about any of the experiences on the marae is the key to being able to take what is expected of us in our stride. We must be able to accept this; otherwise, we might as well not participate. The marae is not necessarily a place just for fun time.

In my view, an outdoor education learning experience that is culturally responsive and based with Indigenous people introduces participants to different settings than their everyday world by being away from it. E noho marae works towards developing critical thinkers who think through the cultural content they are learning and consider how they can apply it to their everyday life. The marae stay has a holistic impact by integrating structured and unstructured activities that allow for a balance between cultural and social interactions so that the point of the experience is not lost. The opportunity for immersion with a culture and interaction with nature from a cultural perspective has much to offer in understanding how a culture is conceived. Through a discourse of whakapapa that links Māori to the environment , e noho marae teaches cultural sensitivity and connectedness and aligns cultural practices to personal histories, local and national history , and heritage. As a situated site of learning, e noho marae is a place for the PETE students to examine their cultural identity and to see that they also have a role to play in supporting Māori identity . My pedagogical decision to go off campus for a marae stay and to work alongside the tangata whenua was designed to seed change from firsthand experience with Māori culture in the belief the PETE students would value and integrate the experience in a way not necessarily possible in a regular classroom.