I recently became a citizen of Aotearoa, New Zealand. As a part of the citizenship process, you must make an affirmation pledging allegiance to the King and his heirs, uphold the laws of New Zealand and fulfil the duties of a citizen. However, the affirmation makes no explicit mention of upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Aotearoa’s founding document) or acknowledging tangata whenua (indigenous people of the land, aka Māori). This realisation prompted me to not only reflect on what it means to be a citizen in Aotearoa but also to intensify my sense of responsibility, further prompting me to reconsider my role as an educator within colonial and Eurocentric educational systems - systems that are designed and built for people like me, not with a bi-cultural partnership approach. It raised questions about my responsibilities in decolonising these educational systems and the role of education in cultivating social justice.

In this presentation, I will share insights from my ongoing learning process of exploring what it means to be a better citizen, tiriti partner, and educator in a bi-cultural Aotearoa context. Through a reflective approach, I will analyse my experiences learning about te ao Māori (the Māori worldview) and kaupapa Māori (Māori approach) through te reo Māori (the Māori language) and explore my evolving understanding and application of concepts such as ako (reciprocal learning and teaching) and whakawhanaungatanga (building connections). I will reflect on how this process has reshaped my teaching practice, including positioning myself as both a colleague and learner, creating regular opportunities for collaboration and relationship building and weaving te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) into teaching content and operations. I will also share how my evolving approach, learnings and changes to my practice may be useful to others exploring diversity, inclusion, decolonisation and multicultural approaches in educational spaces.

Keywords: Education, Decolonisation, Eurocentric, Social Justice, Diversity, Inclusions, Bi-Culturalism, Multi-Culturalism, Collaboration.