Quality education, connection and wellbeing: Māori tertiary students’ accounts

A sometimes-neglected aim of education in the context of Māori, the tangata whenau (indigenous peoples) of Aotearoa New Zealand, is to build Māori students (tauira) as Māori, a process that supports them to navigate the academic world as well as enhancing their Māoritanga (Māori practices, beliefs, way of life). Notions of educational quality, therefore, involve wellbeing––the extent to which Māori tauira flourish as individuals and as collectives. Talking with Māori tauira is a helpful way of inquiring into this area because of the power of dialogic engagement to enhance thought and action. In this article, we draw on video-based dialogic research to present two significant aspects of Māori tertiary tauira experiences that focus on wellbeing and Māoritanga. What might seem like mundane aspects of tertiary life––finding a friend and connecting with other Māori––emerge as significant in the development of four Māori university students. Lessons for tertiary providers include the value of paying attention to collective ways of creating wellbeing and the potential of formal support structures to moderate the isolating effect on Māori of enrolment in a tertiary institution.