The Rebel in Me
Feb 25, 2016
The Rebel in Me
Failure is no longer an option
Failure is no longer an option
• New Zealand has the highest youth suicide rate in the Western world. Over 600 young people took their lives last year
• National unemployment amongst our young is a staggering 32%
• Since 2005 the number of young criminal offenders has grown at an alarming rate
• Hospital admissions due to ‘Social Gradient’ conditions continues at an unacceptable rate with Maori and Pacific Island children at greatest risk
Ahikaa Learning CentreIwi & Whanau led Development
• 50 Iwi members established an Education Working Party
• Priority: Parents of next generationWe are losing too many of our youth - alcohol and drugs- suicide & self harm- mental illness- prisons & criminal justice system- hopelessness, feeling useless, no future vision
Dominant Taiohi Attitudes• Hopeless =the despair you feel when you have
abandoned hope of comfort or success
• Helpless =unable to help oneself; weak or dependent =deprived of strength or power; powerless; incapacitated
• Defeatist =expectation or acceptance of failure =Acceptance or resignation of prospect of defeat
Rebel
Defying or resisting some established authority, government, or tradition
ReclaimRestoration, as to productivity, usefulness, or
moralityTo bring into or return to a suitable condition for
use
Fanning the flame that burns in each one of us
• Mana Ake Identity, confidence
• Whanaungatanga Nurture, Relationships
• Kotahitanga Unity, togetherness
• Manaakitanga Caring & sharing
• Rangatiratanga Owning our future, leadership
Means keeping the ‘home fires’ burning, and is designed
to inspire and ignite the untapped potentials in our
youth, whanau & communities.
Ahikaa
Whanaungatanga
Hapaingia te Mana
Aroha & ManaakiTautoko & Awhi
Rangatiratanga
How we teach Ahikaa® Experiential Learning• Based on the now famous NFTE Bronx programmes
• Uniquely New Zealand teaching style with strong Maori values
• Kinesthetic teaching techniques get spectacular results
• 21st Century taiohi need 21st Century skills that will stay with them for life
• Our youth are no less capable of learning and succeeding than any others; they simply need a different approach – one that reinforces their creativity and talents
• It is never too late for children to become who they can be
NFTE & Ahikaa Aim to:
• Inspire, motivate and build confidence
• Develop ‘entrepreneurial mindsets’
• Build entrepreneurial eco-systems in low-income
communities
• Foster whanaungatanga and local, national and
international networks
• Facilitate local business creation and global
business development
How we teach Ahikaa® Experiential Teaching Method• Addresses motivation as well as capability• Acknowledges that all learning comprises personal,
social and environmental perspectives
What we teach
Be a part of the solution• Ahikaa:
Working together to support our kids to reach their full potential.
Child & Family Wellbeing
Health
Education
JusticeWelfare
Social Supports
Child and Family Welfare:‘An ideological battleground’
• Absolutely not a neutral exercise
• Taps into fundamental beliefs about nature of self, children & families, and society...and role of government
Differential Child & Family Welfare Foci• Relative focus: child, family, community, society• Balance of local discretion vs bureaucratic control
(subsidiarity)• Specialized vs Embedded; Degree of separation of
child welfare from broader welfare/wellbeing • Types and extent of authority used • Linkages with judicial and police systems• Relative emphasis: individual change; sharing of
social resources; collective empowerment & action
• Breadth of intervention mandate
Where do our child & family welfare systems come from?
Indigenous and Western Conceptions of Health and Wellbeing
Western Ideals• Individualism• Independence• Secularism• Future orientation• Self-motivation• Internal LoC/R• Self-esteem
Indigenous Ideals• Sociocentrism• Interdependence• Spiritualism• Past-present• Other-Motivation• External LoC/R• Humility
Conceptions of Self
• Deepest, most basic and fundamental determinant of views of self, other and world;
• Basis for value systems, structures, institutions
• Beneath conscious awareness
• Basis for construction of cultural value systems, structures, institutions
Self-Contained Individualism(E.E. Sampson)
thoughtsfeelings
memoriesdesires
motivationsintelligence
disorderstalents
Languaging Self-Contained Individualism and Violations of the Ideal
thoughtsfeelings
memoriesdysfunction
motivationsintelligence
disorderstalents
Languaging Self-Contained Individualism and Violations of the Ideal
Ego diffusion Schizo-
delusional
co-dependent paranoid
Boundary issues
dysfunctional
Psychotic
Geertz, C. 1973. The interpretation of cultures. New York. Basic Books.
“The Western conception of the person …is…a rather peculiar idea within the context of the world’s cultures.”
Indigenous Conceptions of Self:Ensembled Individualism
.
ko au
Wairua
Whanauhapuiwi
Ao Turoa
Tupuna
• Western typologies of health and wellbeing, child and family welfare, psychology & psychopathology, justice, education, organisational principles, risk assessment, outcome measurement, selection and evaluation make sense where self-contained individualism is the ideal.
• Maori and other Indigenous conceptions of health and wellbeing, child and family welfare, psychology & psychopathology, justice, education, organisational principles, risk assessment, outcome measurement, selection and evaluation make sense where ensembled individualism is the ideal.
Milne Report• “…they do not know how the Maori mind
works, they don’t.”• our minds, our whakaaro, our way of
thinking is not the same.• it’s (psychology) a preconception of
Western thought. …what really concerns me is that we’re looking at hinengaro, Wairua….Maori have different understandings and at different levels…”
Milne Report (ctd)
• “Psychology is actually dangerous for us”
Milne Report (ctd)
• Ako Pakeha atu, ka puta Pakeha mai” “Given Pakeha teaching, it will be Pakeha
learning (thinking) that emerges”• Maori become brainwashed in training” • Maori who go in to do the mainstream
psychology training, get their whakaaro stuffed up…and then they can’t find their way home.”
Types of Child & Family Welfare Systems
• Threshold/Child Protection Systems
• Family Support Systems
• Community Caring Systems
Threshold Systems: Foundations• Individual right & responsibilities primary
• Immorality Psychopathology Dysfunction
• Moving from ‘substantial risk’ to ‘risk of harm’
• Narrow, coercive entry systems- criminalisation of child abuse & neglect
• In crisis; numbers increasing; budget blowouts
Threshold/Child Protection Systems• Focus on child protection & risk assessment
• 1st response = assessment of risk
• Standardisation of instruments, tools, timelines; less discretion for workers
• More time spent on compliance, less with families
• High levels of worker burnout & turnover
Threshold Systems: Features• Families meet minimum standards of
dysfunction to qualify for intervention
• Parents/Families as villains, children as victims
• Dual mandates – to care for & control families -more time investigating, less time helping
• Professionals as experts
• Not convincingly demonstrating effectiveness
Family Service Systems• Healthy families vital for social cohesion• Framework of child, family, community
welfare• Family violence, abuse seen as symptomatic of
family difficulty• Local service providers preferred over national
standardisation • Local discretion in decision-making, • Use of ‘intermediate’ systems• Emphasis on prevention and support for
families
Community Caring• Families/Whanau basic unit of society• Child development is shared community
responsibility• Transforms family functioning from private to
community concern• Family abuse linked to social oppression; no
blame model• Emphasis on supporting families; long term
relationships• Use of extended whanau, community helpers• Less professional involvement
Rebel
Defying or resisting some established authority, government, or tradition
ReclaimRestoration, as to productivity, usefulness, or
moralityTo bring into or return to a suitable condition for
use
Youth Presentation