Te Ao Māori and career development
How does Te Ao Māori (the Māori worldview) challenge dominant Western career theories while supporting Māori practitioners?
Intention
This Māori-led study explores career practice using pūrākau/stories and Māori wayfinding—a kaupapa Māori research project celebrating and uplifting Māori voice and pūrākau of life and career.
Ngā Rangatira Rangahau
Dr Val O’Reilly, Executive Director, The Career Development Company. Email: val@thecdc.nz
Dr Lynette Reid, Impact Lead, Hāpai Tūhono. Email:lynetter@hapaituhono.co.nz
Purpose
To explore Māori perspectives on career development and thecontribution of mātauranga Māori to current and future career practice inAotearoa.
Whānau
- Four Māori kaimahi/practitioners connected to the career development sector.
- Two Māori project leads as participant-facilitators.
- Two of the invited participants are CDANZ members and tw oare CATE members.
- Participants were invited to share stories about their own journey and how it connects with Te Ao Māori.
Ways of knowing
- This Māori-led research applies an interface methodology integrating mātauranga Māori and Western approaches.
- Using qualitative, narrative-based methods, it privileges insider perspectives and intergenerational life course/ lifetime inquiry.
- Pūrākau were gathered in individual, paired, and collective hui.
Ways of being
* Pūrākau continue to live through relationships across time and generations, inviting us to consider where and how they live, why they return or remain unspoken, and how our continuing relationships with them bring greater clarity to who we are, what we know and how we practise.
* Māori wayfinding enables a framework for understanding how career journeys are shaped by identity, whakapapa, place, and collective wellbeing.
* Pūrākau bring into view the depth and complexity ofrelationships already present in who we are, inviting us to consider why particular pūrākau come forward, what we bring to their telling and hearing, and how consciously we attend to these relationships as Māori career practitioners.
* Māori wayfinding holds the pūrākau of overcoming and becoming in our career journeys.
Becoming
Pūrākau and Māori wayfinding connect ancestral ways of being to future possibilities for career practice and research.
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