UC public lecture: Whakamanahia ngā tamariki: Empowering our children through language, culture and identity

Presented by: Kay-Lee Jones, University of Canterbury

University of Canterbury Senior Lecturer Kay-Lee Jones (Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau a Kai) will lead a kōrero on the importance of empowering cultural identity/identities and ancestral language/s of our tamariki/mokopuna in our Aotearoa teaching and learning settings.

Kay-Lee Jones is an award-winning teacher and mother who is completing her doctoral study at the University of Canterbury concerning the pūrākau (stories) and experiences of kaiako that have taught in kaupapa Māori settings. She has seen the many benefits of tamariki/mokopuna being immersed in their reo, tikanga and culture every day in their kura environments.

In the School of Teacher Education, she has helped nurture a love for te reo Māori in over 2000 student teachers at UC. These graduates now share their skills in schools across Aotearoa New Zealand, normalising Māori language and culture in education every day.

The whakataukī, Poipoia te kākano, kia puāwai | Nurture the seed and it will blossom, is the foundation for her kōrero, as part of the Tauhere UC Connect public lecture series – Whakamanahia ngā tamariki: Empowering our tamariki through language, culture and identity – on Wednesday 27 July, at the University of Canterbury’s Ilam campus.

Nau mai, haere mai, come listen, engage and join the kōrero.

About the speaker

Kay-Lee Jones has worked as a primary school teacher in a number of Māori medium settings throughout Christchurch from Year 1 to 8. She began her career in education by teaching high school students te reo Māori from junior to NCEA level. Kay-Lee’s last teaching role in the primary school setting was as a Year 6 to 8 kaiako of a L2 immersion room, combined with a deputy principal position. Kay-Lee has a Master of Education degree from the University of Canterbury and is nearing the end of her doctorate.

Her research interests include Māori education, bilingual education, language revitalisation, kaupapa Māori research methodologies, Pūrākau methodology, Indigenous pedagogies, Indigenous Education and Mātauranga Māori.

In addition to winning a UC Teaching Award in 2020, Kay-Lee was recognised at the national level in the same year with a prestigious Ako Aotearoa Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching award in the Kaupapa Māori category – only the second UC educator to achieve this success.

Tauhere UC Connect public lecture: Whakamanahia ngā tamariki: Empowering our tamariki through language, culture and identity Presented by Senior Lecturer Kay-Lee Jones, School of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury, 7pm – 8pm, Wednesday 27 July 2022, in C1 Central Lecture Theatres, Ilam, Christchurch. Register to attend free at: www.canterbury.ac.nz/ucconnect. Tauhere UC Connect public talks are also livestreamed on the UC Facebook page.

Media contact (for more information or to request an interview):
Senior Lecturer Kay-Lee Jones, , School of Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury, kay-lee.jones@canterbury.ac.nz, Phone: +64 3 3695840
Or
UC Communications, media@canterbury.ac.nz, Ph: (03) 369 3631 or 027 503 0168