Swings + Roundabouts Spring 2020

Through it all they remained steadfast in the familiar things such as God, faith, aiga and community. They valued hard work, honesty, faithfulness and excellence in all things. Today, equipped with the lessons of the past, my wife and I, with our Pasifika Early Learning leadership team, have worked tirelessly, to aspire to be transformational and inspiring educational leaders with key strengths in maintaining quality, sharing rich learning experiences, curriculum with a cultural focus, and connecting all our children in Aotearoa with an opportunity to learn and achieve. BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING ECE TODAY? The biggest challenge today in ECE and the most urgent is fixing the broken funding model. This includes a: ● A funding model focused on the child and supporting parent aspirations ● Transparency and fairness for all children ● The ability to better direct funds to children who need it most Another challenge, remains, for the inability of Pasifika peoples drawing from their own rich histories, ancestral traditions and cultural knowledge to inform conceptualisations of leadership that can mobilise success for their own Pasifika communities. From an indigenous perspective, leadership is more than what someone does and where they are going. It is also about who people are, where they have come from, and what people bring to their practice. It is about being connected to land, place and community, and knowing from where people draw their strengths (Fitzgerald, 2010). These ideas suggest that leadership from an indigenous perspective is much broader than a focus on the individual alone or a prescribed set of knowledge, skills and attitudes. There remains, the challenge of working in the Pasifika community, to remove disparities, barriers and obstacles stopping children from achieving their best. If Pasifika children, are successful in New Zealand, they contribute to the success of all New Zealanders. I am pleased to have worked with ECC to develop a new strategic document, aligned with the new Early Learning Strategic 10 Year Plan, to vision a map, setting out pathways for Pasifika ECE services and what is required for indigenous leadership to move forward. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCOMPLISH AS AN ECC EXECUTIVE MEMBER? The last 12 months has been a busy time of learning and understanding the dynamics and challenges of ECE services struggling, persevering through the difficult times, holding Government accountable, and being focused on what matters to sustain a key service for our children and families and ultimately a quality ECE service. I count it an honour to be the first Pasifika person appointed to the Executive Board of ECC (to the best of the ECC’s knowledge), and to represent minority groups of ECE services across the breadth of New Zealand. It is great to see many Pasifika children attending different ECE services across the country. I am committed to supporting the development of successful ECE services for the benefit of all children and to develop and contribute to a cultural model of indigenous leadership to benefit the community involved and inspire teachers and leaders of Pasifika children in all ECE settings. I hope to foster a strong emergent leadership in the ECE sector, and engage with Pasifika ECE services, employing Pacific indigenous knowledge to mobilise the voices of Pasifika peoples in constructing understandings of leadership in Pasifika ECE in Aotearoa New Zealand. WHAT IS THE BEST PIECE OF LEADERSHIP ADVICE YOU HAVE RECEIVED/READ? The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child’s own natural desire to learn – Maria Montessori. First, I position myself as a New Zealand- born Samoan, who had a blended fa’asamoa /chinese upbringing. My family taught me to value family (aiga), to stay grounded through respect (fa’aloalo), and to help others when in need (tautua). Being raised in a mostly English-speaking, and at times Samoan-speaking, household, means I have a blended identity of being a proud Kiwi and Pasifika person with Samoa and Chinese heritage. Also, my upbringing, influences of elders and sense of compassion for “minority” groups motivates myself to support Pasifika communities to see themselves represented in the wider discourse around education as the future door for progress and indigenous leadership that serves the greater good. Ua o gatasi le futia ma le umele. We must be of one mind in the undertaking. While the fisherman swings the rod, the others must assist him by paddling hard. Reference: Old Samoan proverb – author unknown In respecting the legacy of our Mama’s, I am motivated to engage in working with ECE, and research with Pasifika peoples to collectively investigate notions of indigenous leadership that can make a difference for Pasifika children. HOW DO YOU UNWIND AFTER A BUSY DAY/WEEK? I love to find time to relax with the family. We regularly go to the pools to enjoy the steam and sauna as a form of relaxation and meditation. We also play in a social basketball league on a Sunday with our children and their partners as something fun we do as a family. Whilst it’s almost hard to shut off work when you are your own boss we do try to leave our laptop’s and emails at work, but making that rule work has been challenging or outright impossible. But we try! At home, this year, we found that lockdown, bought some unexpected changes to the way we managed lifestyle and life habits. These included; simplifying and sharing cooking and household chores to allow more time to enjoy together as a family. When we can, we try to enjoy quiet days, where the odd sleep-in exists and enjoy good food with the whanau. Reading an inspirational biography also helps to motivate me for the work week or year ahead. Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall. – Stephen Covey. I have sometimes been motivated or inspired to share something new with senior leadership, teachers and challenge or aspire – it has worked well! References Fitzgerald, T. (2010) Spaces in‐between: Indigenous women leaders speak back to dominant discourses and practices in educational leadership. September 2020 { 13 }