Justice and Law Reform

September 2009 - Marae-based Training

How to influence aggressive, impulsive, truanting, teenage boys (disproportionately Maori), often alcohol and/or drug dependent, and who have personality disorders from disadvantages and dysfunctional families with anti social friends.

The greatest success I have witnessed with young Maori (both male and female) has been with well-run marae-based training and work.

As a teacher in Hamilton I saw young Maori from highly abusive families, who were dangerously violent and who had not responded to any other intervention turned around in a marae-based training scheme. One 14 year old girl whom I referred to the onsite marae from my class, returned to me 18 months later to do some research in the library. She was polite and organised and we set about looking for a research subject. She was interested in finding out about child abuse and during our time together I discovered she was caretaker for her eight younger siblings and had been molested by her father for many years. She was now working toward having the qualifications to work in recreation - physical education - if she could. It is important to say that those running the marae were hugely dedicated and that the training was both vocational and social. Learning was contextualised as opposed to classroom teaching where subjects are removed from their physical uses and relationships were considered as important as the learning content. Strong, but relevant and reasonable, rules were instigated and backed up.

My current work with the environment has involved me with the Auckland marae and, specifically, with their environmental restoration team. They have a large nursery and they are restoring the vegetation on the marae grounds as well as going out and doing paid revegetation projects around Auckland. Many of the team are young Maori men and boys who have been gathered together from a variety of ok to not so good backgrounds. The team is run by a Maori woman but also includes several men - all are under 45. The rules are strict but all are treated as important contributors - they eat together, work together and form an extended family type group. It is a highly functional group of respectful, kind and humble people - they do a great job and are dignified and quietly proud. The dignity and pride comes from their understanding that they are guardians of the trees and are healing the land - so there is a strong meaning to their work that stems from it being aligned with their cultural beliefs.

It seems this holistic, strongly culturally-based and vocational learning style has particularly startling results with troubled young Maori.