C.I.T. education given a kick

Tu Tangata, Issue 27, 1 December 1985, Page 18

C.I.T. education given a kick

na S Olsen

The Central Institute of Technology or LIT (above) offers diploma and certificate courses in a range of disciplines at professional and technician level.

There are eight schools: Electronic engineering; Engineering; Health sciences; Hotel and tourism administration; Management; Occupational therapy; Pharmacy; and Science.

Staff from the Central Institute of Technology, Heretaunga, have formed a “core group” to examine ways to relate what they have on offer more closely to the Maori community.

A wananga on this topic was held at Upper Hutt’s Orongomai Marae on October 13.

A the outset ClT's principal-to-be, Don Griffin, said students of Maori descent were seriously under-represented at the institute.

Of a daily student body of around 1500 as few as 20 are Maori.

He also said the 25-year-old institute has “little, if any, tangible contact" with the community around it, and needs to change that state of affairs.

(Jim Bateman, who retires as principal this year, expressed concern in July at “the distressing absence of minority cultural groups in the arena of advanced vocational learning".)

Turoa Royal, a resident of Upper Hutt and head of Wellington Community College, was the key speaker.

He challenged the way things are, from top to bottom. The present education system is, he said, a “time bomb” a ranked society perpetuating a ranked society, a racist reality.

The system is the greatest cause of our social disharmony, because it labels people as failures he said.

Rongo Wirepa, of the Harataunga Kokiri unit, spoke to the CIT staff about the difficulties of vocational guidance, and the importance of keeping Maori peer groups together while at an institute for the mutual support they give each other in a competitive climate.

He said a friendly hand was needed to

“push” the young Maori on to higher learning. Equally publicity should be aimed at parents.

Mr Royal said educational qualifications rank a person’s chances in life regardless of her or his intellect. “I suspect you people too are in the game of churning out the same thing year after year... but people are not just brains on sticks”.

Mr Royal agreed that bridging courses should be available at institutes to lessen the effective barrier of entry requirements.

CIT staff said a quota system was a definite possibility.

Mr Griffin asked why young Maori chose the university route and not technical institutes. Mr Royal's reply was

that universities have more mana, they’ve been in the game longer.

But the CIT obviously has a lot on offer. The areas it should do more to promote itself are in media related studies, tourism, holistic health and management “which Maori people are poor at”.

Mr Royal said the chance of a greater Maori input into television was high and this would call for a range of training courses.

He said a block course could be run for local Maori language tutors at the CIT. The institute’s classes and equipment should be used to the maximum, day and night.

A general studies “dimension" which could feature cultural weeks was vital. There are no general studies at the CIT.

Mr Royal suggested that the CIT look to change its apparently culture free campus by means of art, photography, tukutuku... the poutama being a relevant symbol.

To be a part of Orongomai Marae, a first step, simply involves spending a lot of time there the CIT staff were told.

Even in a college such as his own where a wide range of steps have been taken to expose and reflect different cultures Mr Royal said “things are still terribly monocultural".

It can be boasted of as multicultural in terms of composition only he said.

But a start has been made, with taha maori, to have a cultural mainstream in which all students feel at home. Mr Royal said the education system has a role to play in maintaining the elements of each person’s past.

In the case of taha maori he said “if it dies here, it dies forever, and we shouldn't use the system to continue to kill it”.

He said students were showing some political awareness by opting for Samoan and Japanese rather than French, which is “taking a dive”.

Mr Royal will be heading the new community college in Porirua soon and said he hopes to put his “own preferences" for affirmative action to work.

His advice to Mr Griffin was to kick regulations in the teeth, plead ignorance, do anything but “play safe" in order to bring about change. Mr Royal added he was not the most popular person in Education Department circles.

He said it is wrong that the nature of a college should be determined by regulations.

At the end of the day the CIT staff agreed they were committed to “carrying on the momentum" hopefully with the help of a Maori liaison officer, a new position now allocated for institutes.

Their core group consists of about 20 staff, tutorial and non-tutorial, from a total of 150 full-timers.

Mr Griffin, 50. said he regretted the fact it was only the second time he had been on a marae. He thanked Mr Royal for being “in a word, expansive".

Mr Royal: “I hope this is the first hui of many like this. This marae has been waiting for vou people for vears".