Full-time Maori studies lecturer appointed

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32565, 26 March 1971, Page 2

Full-time Maori studies lecturer appointed

(By our education reporter)

The first full-time lecturer in Maori studies in the South Island has been appointed to the secondary division of Christchurch Teachers’ College.

The appointment of Mr Hone Taumaunu to the position is a significant step by the Government after pleas from many educational and Maori groups recently for more recognition of the special needs of Maori and Polynesian pupils.

The establishment of the lectureship precedes the possible setting-up next year of a Maori studies course at the University of Canterbury. Mr Taumaunu, aged 41, was bom at Whangara, 17 miles north of Gisborne, and attended the local Maori primary school where he won a scholarship for his secondary education at Te Aute College. He attended Auckland Teachers’ College in the early 1950 s and taught in several primary schools before teach-

ing at Te Aute College for seven years. For the last six years he has been senior secondary assistant at Tolaga Bay District High School. Mr Taumaunu, who is a licensed Maori interpreter, has lectured at a number of Education Department in-service courses related to the teaching of English to non-Euro-pean pupils. He has evolved a special method of teaching language skills to such pupils, based on the use of colour symbols. During his career, Mr Taumanu has taught children

from Melanesian, Tongan, Samoan, Maori, European and Rarotongan backgrounds. Recently awarded a WoolfFisher Travelling Fellowship, Mr Taumaunu will go to Australia soon to study work being done there on teaching English as a second language.

Mr Taumaunu, whose wife is of Ngai-Tahu descent, has four children. He will take up his position in Christchurch late in May.

Commenting on the appointment yesterday, the principal of the secondary division of Christchurch Teachers’ College (Mr E. P. Blampied) said the college could now consider the possibility of developing special links with schools in predominantly Maori areas. (The college serves all the South Island and a large section of the North Island). “I consider that the college is very fortunate in having a man of Mr Taumaunu's calibre appointed. The position will become increasingly important in the work of the division and its impact on the wider sphere of Maori-Euro-pean relations,” Mr Blampied said.

The new Maori studies course would allow the best possible approach to the teaching of Maori pupils, he said. It would also encourage the study of the Maori

language and customs among students who are specially interested in the problems of the Maori child.