Nau mai, haere mai, kuhu mai!
Welcome to Kia Māia Bicultural Communications. We are the developers of Te Rito, a series of transformational bicultural competency modules.
Te Rito has its genesis in our vision of a truly bicultural Aotearoa New Zealand, where everyone understands the impacts of our shared history and where everyone has a strong sense of belonging and the opportunity to thrive.
What does Te Rito offer?
Te Rito provides:
- a captivating, engaging way to increase confidence and understanding of te ao Māori – including te reo Māori, tikanga and kawa – and how to apply new learning in the workplace
- a deep and robust exploration of issues that stem from the colonisation of Aotearoa
- the confidence for learners to recognise and tackle discrimination and harmful stereotyping, and
- the opportunity to develop and apply new practices that support equity and counter racism.
“Absolutely brilliant training course, one of the best I have had the pleasure to be involved with. A very courageous and effective approach, celebrating differences, highlighting the facts and reasons for these differences, and acknowledging the areas where people feel comfortable, and uncomfortable, about te ao Māori. Ka rawe!
My gratitude goes to the course writers, and also to my employer for the opportunity to participate in this course. I feel encouraged that it will make a difference to the way we approach our mahi from now on.”
Why is Te Rito transformational?
Because it invites you to become a conscious learner.
With the skills, tools and new awareness gained, you can contribute to weaving the strong threads we need to make a more cohesive social fabric in Aotearoa.
Te Rito is not just about increasing organisational competency as a ‘feather in the cap’ of the individual. We’re aiming to transform workplace practice through raising awareness, increasing knowledge, and building cultural capability.
Te Rito asks you to use your new skills and perspectives to help create a better, more equitable future.
Some of our Te Rito whānau
Is Te Rito right for your organisation?
Te Rito is a taonga that draws on the mahi of many people who have dedicated their lives to these issues. For this reason, it should be deployed with care and commitment in the right conditions.
Te Rito is right for you if you:
- are aligning your values, strategies, policies, and organisational culture towards becoming a Tiriti-responsive organisation, and you’re ready to translate this into action
- seek an online, interactive, self-paced training tool to support other face-to-face and experiential offerings in your workplace
- are prepared to make this training an expected part of working for your organisation for all staff, and
- are willing to provide appropriate tautoko for both the training itself and your learners.
If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you!
What's in Te Rito?
There are 44 modules of Te Rito, spread over seven carefully scaffolded courses. Te Rito is designed to be delivered and tracked through your workplace’s Learning Management System (LMS). Alternatively, it can be easily accessed via the Kia Māia LMS.
Te Pakiaka
Foundational Courses
- Introduction /
He Whakatakinga - Te Ao Māori, the Māori World
- Back to the Future /
Titiro Whakamuri - Walking in Two Worlds /
Kia Hīkoi i Ngā Ao e Rua
Te Kōrari
Extension Courses
- Identity /
Tuakiritanga - Decolonisation /
Purenga Ihomatua - Back to the Future /
Titiro Whakamuri
Who are we?
Kia Māia is the creative and long-standing partnership of Alexandra Tidswell (Tangata Tiriti) and Janine Kapa (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha).
We have been creating and delivering bicultural training since 1999, with the launch of Te Waharoa, and an early prototype of Te Rito in 2003. Since then, Te Rito has been through a number of different iterations, with a focus on continual improvement as a result of learner feedback, self-reflection and social change. It was born from a clear need in the private and public sectors for a powerful yet compassionate online tool to augment in-person training and other educational experiences.
We bring to Te Rito all our professional experience, plus our natural passion, curiosity to keep learning and our deep commitment to the kaupapa.
Alexandra Tidswell
Janine Kapa
What's our kaupapa?
The vision we work towards each day is of an Aotearoa New Zealand where biculturalism is a natural way of being, and where everyone is empowered to contribute fully to our nation.
To this end, educating our learners about the impact of our shared history and the subsequent inequities and discrimination is a key driver for us.
Aotearoa New Zealand is the only place in the world where our unique indigenous culture and language exist. Our passion is celebrating this fact, and providing high quality information and tools that help others celebrate it too.
