NZPF congratulates Mina Pomare Peita, principal at Te Kura Taumata O Panguru (Northland) who has won the National Excellence in Teaching Awards (NEiTA) Founders’ Principals Award for Leadership, including a $10,000 professional development grant.
The awards have been running for 29 years. Over that time, $1.2M has been presented to teachers and education leaders who show outstanding teaching practices and innovative leadership.
Mina has been described as a powerful and progressive tumuaki, who was invited by her Kaumatua, 27 years ago, to lead Te Kura Taumata O Panguru. She heeded that call and has led the school ever since.
Her vision of leadership is that of te taiao – place-based education – taught in te reo Māori medium. This is at the heart of all teaching practice across the Kura, and the school has thrived under this vision and leadership.
Mina’s proud teacher nominator, Nadine Scully, says using mātaurangatanga together with science has taught students to be proud kaitiaki of their whenua.
‘Mina is Panguru born and bred and grew up living off the land with the mātauranga, kupu, and pūrākau of Te Rarawa passed down to her. Her desire to ensure tamariki have that same mātauranga – taught through waiata, games, incantations, instructions, karakia and workshops– is the catalyst for our school’s strong ties to our taiao, along with relationships,’ said Ms Scully.
Mina is passionate about the intelligence of her people, using stories of old to express the ingenuity, cleverness, inventiveness and adaptive intelligence of Māori to navigate to our shores and then form a relationship with the whenua, to live in harmony – the one with the other. Success came with the connection to the place – te taiao.
‘As a secondary school teacher our teaching lives are dominated by assessment and unfortunately the academic ability of a student is determined by three priorities, reading, writing and maths. There is more to living than these three achievement results. We put te reo Māori, taiao and whanaungatanga at the forefront of all learning,’ says Mina.
Mina is an extraordinary woman, true to her values, and a successful leader because of that.