Kia Rite! – Calls to Action for Equity in Education

Kia Rite was a series of ‘calls to action’ which invited a group of educators to respond to matters of inequity that continue to impact ākonga in Aotearoa New Zealand. As part of Kia Rite!, thought leaders within and beyond Aotearoa posed challenges to 400 resource teachers, who reflected and responded to these challenges as part of their postgraduate programme as Specialist Teachers at Massey University.

The challenges centred around topics including: children’s voice; youth mental health; inclusive education; including whānau in our support of young people; supporting tamariki Māori, and neurodiversity and behaviour.

Specialist Teaching Programme – the context

The Specialist Teaching Programme is a postgraduate qualification that provides specialisations for teachers in the areas of Blind and Low Vision; Complex Educational Needs; Deaf & Hard of Hearing; Early Intervention; Kōhanga Reo; Gifted Education; and Learning & Behaviour. These specialist resource teachers are well positioned to address educational inequities in their work alongside children, whānau and other educators.

Educators listened to each challenge, reflected on the key messages and possible responses in interprofessional groups, and completed a mixed methods survey to share their learning and next steps. 

Overwhelmingly, resource teachers stepped up to the collective challenge of reducing inequity in our education system. 

The short videos below introduce six participating leaders, each posing their challenges and core critical issues surrounding their theme. At each segment, we also reproduce selected responses from some resource teachers with their reflections about the challenges.

Please click on the arrow below to scroll through the calls to action