Today we looked at the final Manaiakalani kaupapa word: Empowered. Vicki spoke about how sometimes our students and whānau may not be empowered in areas like housing, money, healthcare etc, so it is really important that our tamariki are empowered when it comes to their education. This ties in closely with issues of equity and accessibility; we want all learners to be empowered, engaged and successful with their learning. Vicki talked about how students beginning school in low decile areas start with a mean academic performance of 3 years, which puts them nearly half a lifetime behind their peers in higher decile schools. This really hit me as a New Entrant teacher, thinking about how we can support students to ‘catch up’ so they can achieve their full potential. Vicki provided us with a quote “The greatest joy comes from empowering students to discover the treasure that lies within them” and then asked us to think about our own quote. Mine is “The greatest joy comes from empowering st...