A Canterbury polytechnic is about to launch what it has called a first-of-its-kind trades course in te reo Māori.
Lead translator Reimana Tūtengaehe says it was no easy task to translate the course into te reo Māori. Photo: Supplied / Ara Institute of Canterbury
The project, a level 3 automotive engineering course, was triggered by a former kura kaupapa student who raised concerns about English-based assessments for those who come from Māori-medium schools.
"Not only was the learner's first language an official language, but Ara [Institute of Canterbury] has a policy that it must consider opportunities for learners to be assessed in Māori if a competent translator and assessor can be found," academic quality assurance manager Julie McIlwraith said.
"When learners like this come with a variety of capabilities, we need to be able to meet them where they are at," she said.
Lead translator Reimana Tūtengaehe has translated and designed workbooks, marking guides, model answers and assessments for the course, which he said was no easy task.
Crafting a course like automotive engineering in te reo Māori involved several hurdles, including determining what needed to be translated.
Take a term like carburetor. Other languages may use a transliteration, which could have been possible in this case: motorcar is already motokā.
"Transliterations largely depend on the individual's understanding of the base language," Tūtengaehe said, which made it difficult in the context of this course.
Ara Institute hopes the move could be an inspiration for other courses and tertiary providers. Photo: Supplied / Ara Institute of Canterbury
Another option would be to come up with a new word entirely, based on other words, descriptors or mātauranga.
Tūtengaehe said he initially liked this idea, but they came to rule it out because new words would have to be submitted to Te Taura Whiri, the Māori Language Commission.
"The terms would only exist in the documents that are provided here at Ara," Tūtengaehe said.
In the end, for terms like carburetor, he decided to stick with English.
"When learners complete their course of study here, they are essentially going into a work environment that doesn't understand any of those terms that we would've created, or terms that we would have transliterated," he said.
Ara Institute Te Tiriti partnerships director Te Marino Lenihan said there was a need for greater vocational education in te reo.
The polytechnic is working on strategies and relationships with staff and learners to prepare them for the course. Photo: Supplied / Ara Institute of Canterbury
For rangatahi emerging from the kōhanga and kura kaupapa environments, there may be whare wānanga and university courses in te reo Māori, but there was little at the polytechnic vocational education end of things.
"We're getting increasingly more enrolments from those who have been through Māori medium schools," Lenihan said.
"What we know through looking at Māori history in education is that the success of our learners has increased when our culture is part of the learning journey. This is just another step in that journey."
Lenihan hoped the automotive engineering course, when it launched, would be successful and prove an inspiration for other courses.
He described it as the start of a big push to embed more kaupapa and mātauranga Māori into study.
"We've been working on our strategies and our relationships with both staff and learners to prepare them mentally to do this job," Lenihan said.
"To not only embed the kaupapa and mātauranga within this program, but to have the confidence to deliver it too."
If Ara could show success with this initiative, it could have a domino effect for other tertiary providers, he said.
The institute hopes to launch the fully translated course early next year.