Partnering with Pacific Aotearoa communities

Strong relationships with your Pacific community will help create a school where all students feel supported and valued to achieve their educational aspirations.

This article introduces some key considerations and actions your board can take when engaging and communicating with your Pacific community.

Which groups are in your community?

We have many people with Pacific heritage in our communities across this country.

When we say “Pacific peoples”, we’re talking about a wide mix of Pacific Island nations and communities, all unique in their languages, cultures, and identities.

While referring to all these nations as a large group, it’s OK to use terms like Pasifika or Pacific Peoples. However, be more specific when referring to an individual or their community.

It’s also important to know that status, authority, tradition, and obligation work differently within these distinct Pacific communities.

There is no one way to engage with all these communities.

For example, what works when engaging with the Tongan community in Ōamaru might not work for the Tokelauan community in Porirua.

Your Pacific community will vary depending on your local area, but it may include:

• The parents and families of Pacific students at your school.
• Local Pacific leaders, businesses, social or cultural groups, church ministers and parishes.
• Your local Ministry of Education Pasifika Education Co-ordinator.

By starting conversations with your community, you’ll discover the unique groups in your area, the key people who connect different networks, and those who may not usually engage with your board.

Why are partnerships with Pacific communities important?

When your board engages with Pacific communities, you help create a more inclusive and supportive learning environment where students feel valued and thrive.

Building strong relationships with families fosters trust, encourages involvement, and ensures your policies reflect community needs.

It also allows you to provide better support, address challenges, and celebrate cultural diversity in meaningful ways – ultimately leading to better learning outcomes.

What is your board’s role?

Effective engagement with Pacific peoples involves creating strong and sustainable relationships.

The Ministry for Pacific Peoples developed the Yavu (foundations) framework for Pacific Engagementopen_in_new to provide guidance on engaging with Pacific communities in a more meaningful and relevant way.

This framework is an excellent resource for school boards.

Your board’s role is to set the school’s vision for the future and develop plans for what it should achieve.

For successful Pacific education, this means your board should:

• Ensure your Pacific community has a say in your planning and decisions by creating dedicated spaces for regular Talanoa (open discussions) with Pacific families and community members.
• Build long-term reciprocal partnerships with each of your identified Pacific communities.
• Allocate resources to enable staff to provide culturally relevant learning opportunities that meet the needs of your Pacific students.
• Review policies, procedures and school culture to address systemic racism and discrimination.
• Be accountable for the performance of Pacific students at your school.
• Evaluate how student success is measured – moving beyond traditional measures to incorporate wellbeing, inclusion, and cultural identity.
• Ensure your school is a good employer and staff get professional learning and development, focusing on cultural capability and inclusion.
• Invest in pathways for your Pacific teachers to advance into leadership roles.

Consult your school’s Pacific communities about your policies, plans, targets, and about any big decisions or changes.

Insights and perspectives from them will help you govern in the best interests of your school and its Pacific students.

What guidance is there from the Ministry?

The Ministry of Education has an Action Plan for Pacific Educationopen_in_new 2020-2030.

To successfully implement the Action Plan, your board should focus on fostering culturally responsive practices across the school, as indicated above.

To support this, the MOE have developed a guide to help schools and kura strengthen Pacific community engagement to support student learningopen_in_new.

Another focus of the plan is on creating opportunities for Pacific students to learn and use their language.

You can learn more about bilingual and immersion programs on the Ministry’s site, Pacific languages in educationopen_in_new.

By committing to these actions, your board can create an education system where Pacific learners and their families feel valued, safe, and equipped to achieve their aspirations.

Tips when looking to involve your local Pacific community

• Use accessible language and avoid jargon.
• Explain what happens at community engagement events. For example, when the family should listen and when they can ask questions.
• Think “family” rather than “parent” when planning activities.
• Consider using a bilingual community liaison to bridge language and cultural differences.
• Ensure that your school planning, vision, and values reflect your community.
• Engage the support of local churches and leaders in the Pacific community.
• Ask your local Pacific community if they want a representative to join your school board.
• Promote school board elections to your Pacific community so they know how to be involved.

Questions your board could ask 

• Does our board consult with Pacific families and communities before making plans? Do we report the results to them?
• How are we making it easier for Pacific families and communities to engage with us?
• Do we have a plan to attract Pacific representation on our board?
• If we have Pacific representation, how does our board culture encourage full and safe participation?
• How is our board informed of what is happening day-to-day for its Pacific students?
• Does our school’s planning and reporting reflect a focus on engagement with Pacific families and communities?
• Are our school’s Pacific families and communities satisfied by their engagement with the school?
• Is the way we engage with Pacific community members respectful, considerate, and appropriate?

Templates, resources, and references     

Click on the link(s) below to access this topic’s templates, resources, and references.

Depending on your device, these may download or open in a separate browser.

Ministry of Education

• Refreshed Action Plan for Pacific Education 2023open_in_new
• Pacific languages in educationopen_in_new
• Strengthening Pacific community engagement to support student learningopen_in_new

Ministry for Pacific Peoples

• Yavu – Foundations of Pacific Engagementopen_in_new