Government attacks on Māori flow on to Wānanga.

Te Hautū Kahurangi | Tertiary Education Union is citing the National-led government’s assault on Māori as the underlying cause of a proposed net loss of 60 jobs at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

Te Wānanga are currently consulting with kaimahi on a new structure that will, if confirmed, disestablish 240 jobs and create 180 new positions. The impacted jobs are in areas such as ako excellence, tauira attraction and experience, business development, IT, kaimahi experience and wellbeing, and strategy and transformation.

TEU Branch President at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Te Auta Sam-Turner, says kaimahi at the institution have mixed feelings about the proposal. “We all want to see Te Wānanga o Aotearoa set up for success as a strong Kaupapa Māori driven organisation for future generations to benefit from, and in that sense a lot of the proposed changes are long overdue. At the same time our members are facing uncertainty, and it is a difficult time for them – especially those in jobs that have been proposed disestablished.”

“Nobody likes to see job losses, and in this case the blame for the financial pressures Te Wānanga o Aotearoa is facing lie at the feet of the government. We have been underfunded for a long time and the assault by National, ACT and New Zealand First on all things Māori, but especially Te Reo, Social Development, teaching and health, all have flow on effects for Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.”

Te Pou Ahurei | National Secretary Sandra Grey says “the government is moving Aotearoa in the wrong direction. TEU members, across the tertiary education sector, want an education system that gives priority to Māori ways of being, doing and learning. That is the only way to prepare all ākonga for the future of Aotearoa New Zealand not the version of ‘Old Zealand’ this government is trying to cling to.”