Doctoral students Hohepa Maclean and Koko Hotere have been announced as the first recipients of internships to work on the flagship He Rongoā tō te reo Māori – Te Reo Māori as a form of healing rangahau project at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

The pair met the Tira Rangahau team on Monday and will be in their roles until November.

Hohepa is enrolled at AUT University and is in the fourth year of his doctorate. Koko is enrolled at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and is also in the fourth year of her doctoral studies.

Lead kairangahau Dr Dee Sciascia says both candidates were selected for the doctoral internships based on the high calibre of their applications and the connections and overlap of their own doctoral work with our flagship rangahau project.

Their work will involve data collection; running of focus groups with te reo Māori learners; leading data analysis and co-authoring a publication with Dr Sciascia. 

“The project team is excited to have the two kairangahau join our team and welcome their experience, skills, ideas and contributions,” she says.

“The nature of the relationship between kairangahau and the project is one of reciprocation and collectivity.”

The kairangahau will have opportunities to be involved in the dissemination of preliminary findings through attending conferences and presenting to various communities and will also be able to connect to national and international indigenous networks which are being developed as well as having access to mentors within the rangahau Māori space. 

This will benefit the project along with their own work.

He Rongoā tō te reo Māori is the flagship rangahau project for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and received $60,000 in funding last year from New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga.

The project seeks to understand the barriers and motivators for learners of te reo Māori and aims to produce new teaching approaches.

It is the first time rangahau internships have been offered and the initiative contributes to the ongoing building of rangahau capability, a key strategic objective of Te Rautaki Rangahau.