A former kindergarten teacher has called out his workplace over a "lack of cultural understanding", after a senior staff member visited his centre without a pōhiri taking place.
Reweti Elliott worked as a kaiako for over a decade at Central Kids Pūtauaki Kindergarten in Kawerau, Bay of Plenty, but an issue arose when he tried to organise a pōhiri for three staff from head office, one of whom was a new member.
Elliott said he sent a date for the pōhiri but was told it wasn’t necessary, as a pōhiri for the staff member had already taken place on behalf of the organisation at its head office in Te Awamutu.
He attempted to explain the situation, that “she wasn’t mana whenua, that she’s coming on to Tūwharetoa ki Kawerau whenua and that it’s appropriate for our families to meet whoever their children will be involved with”.
But the visit went ahead without ceremony.
In an email sent to Elliott two days after the visit in August from Central Kids chief executive Christine Hall, she stated that Pūtauaki staff had initially declined the visit due to Elliott being on leave and unable to conduct a pōhiri, but plans were changed at the last minute "because the same opportunity for all three kaimahi to visit Pūtauaki would not occur again" and the centre was identified as “a priority service".
“Central Kids is one entity and pōhiri is part of what we do when appointing new kaimahi to any role in [head office. Being geographically spread out, our new kaimahi are welcomed as part of the whole organisation by a representative group," the email read.
"Tikanga must be contextualised to the situation and in this situation [Elliott] was on leave, but the mahi must continue. It is important for all team members to step into manaaki and build confidence to awhi new people entering the service".
Hall goes on to say she was concerned about "a closed culture within Pūtauaki", and "a lack of transparency, and potential engagement in Central Kids systems, policies, procedures and processes".
Elliott said he was then notified two weeks later of a complaint, and that a preliminary inquiry would take place into the issue. He was told the inquiry would also look into an early morning phone call he placed to the staff member to discuss a change of date but admits the call “became hostile”.
He said he was shocked and overwhelmed by the letter.
“It was quite a stressful eight weeks because I was unsure what was happening. I was supported by my colleagues that I worked with but because of the environment and the drastic change, which was noticed by our families, I decided to hand my notice in.”
Between receiving the initial letter and being told the complaint had been dropped, Elliott said he felt stressed over the matter “because every time someone from head office would come I thought it might be to address the complaint that was laid against me but it wasn't”.
Since his resignation, Elliott said four of his colleagues followed suit in support.
Te Karere reached out to Central Kids for comment, but they declined a request for an interview.
Glossary
pōhiri – Māori welcoming ceremony
kaiako – teacher
mana whenua - local iwi authority
whenua - land
kaimahi – staff (member)
tikanga - custom(s), protocol(s)
mahi - work, job
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