NPeW Education Conference

The Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru Team

Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru hosted its inaugural education conference yesterday. The programme for the day was divided into four sessions.

Session 1: 

'Iwi involvement in Education' with guest speaker Sir Mason Durie. The panelists were Professor Angus MacFarlane, Lady Aroha Durie and Mere Berryman.

Sir Mason lauds iwi input on learning (+ video) - Article from the Daily Post

Sir Mason Durie summed up the session on iwi involvement in education saying that our loyalty has to be to the students.

Session 2: 

'Leadership and a Future Mindset' (video) with Dr Vikram Murthy as presenter. He touched on the following:

• Each one of us is an expert at something. Are we changing as fast as the world around us? The problem is to "let go"
• The uncertainty & the leadership challenge. We live in challenging times...
• What we pay attention to,  and how we pay attention, determines the content & quality of life
• Attacking a problem with diversity & collaboration yields more powerful results. #CollectiveWisdom #CollaborativeInquiry
• Learning is the process of enhancing our capacity for effective action. Learning contributes to adaptiveness.
• The identification and engagement of an individual's competencies - "the areas of his or her greatest strength"

Leadership and a Future Mindset discussion panel with Nicky Brell as facilitator.

Session 3:

'Covey's Seven Habits' with presenter Kerryanne Knox. In the session she discussed the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

The First Three Habits surround moving from dependence to independence (self-mastery).

1. Be Proactive: Work from the centre of your influence and constantly work to expand it. 

2. Begin with the End in Mind: Envision what you want in the future so you can work and plan towards it.

Here she challenged us with "What are you doing to ensure that you are going to achieve what you have identified as your end in mind?"

3. Put First Things First: This is about the difference between Leadership and Management. Leadership in the outside world begins with personal vision and personal leadership. Think about what is important and what is urgent.

The next three habits talk about Interdependence (e.g. working with others).

4. Think Win-Win: Value and respect people by understanding a "win" for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten his way.

5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: Use empathic listening to genuinely understand a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, and positive problem solving.

6. Synergize: Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals that no one could have done alone.

The final habit is that of continuous improvement in both the personal and interpersonal spheres of influence.

7. Sharpen the Saw: Balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle. 

Session 4:

'Future-focused Learning' with keynote Brett O'Riley. The panelists were Frances Valintine, Laurence Zwimpfer and Dr Niki Davis.

Reflection:

Listening to the presenters and realizing what we're achieving [already] was a mind-blowing experience.

The conference was a huge success and I felt honoured to be part of the Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru Team. We worked together as a team and manaakitanga was the winner on the day.  

~ "Celebrate what you've accomplished, but raise the bar a little higher each time you succeed." - Mia Hamm ~