Maori media course taught in te reo offered

2007

MIT to offer New Zealand’s first specialist Maori media course taught in te reo

A new Maori media programme at Manukau Institute of Technology is designed to give students a head start in their broadcasting careers, as demand for fluent te reo speakers rises in New Zealand.

The Maori Media, Language and Broadcasting Diploma – New Zealand’s first Maori media course to be taught in te reo – has been developed through close consultation with industry. The department has established relationships with Mai FM, Radio Waatea, Mana magazine, TV One and Maori TV.

Work experience is an integral part of the qualification and the alignment of industry needs and course content means students earn a relevant qualification, while media organisations benefit by drawing from a future pool of employees with skills that go beyond more traditional media training.

“On-the-job training will start in the first semester,” says head of Te Tari Matauranga Maori (department of Maori Education), Wiremu Doherty.

“This means our students will be skilled in the latest inhouse media technology. They will be improving their te reo to broadcast standards while working within dual language environments. It will be a balance between written and oral te reo and English.

“We’re confident our graduates will be all-rounders. Some will choose to move into the mainstream media where their bilingualism will be a huge asset. Others will work at places like Mai FM where their youth and technological savvy will give them a great advantage.”

The managing director of Mai Media, Graham Pryor, agrees that there will be significant benefits for Mai FM. “We are participating because it fulfils our kaupapa of
‘promoting te reo me ona Tikanga Maori as part of everyday life’,” he says.

“We see education and ongoing training as key to success in our industry, and assisting the advance of te reo Maori speakers into the broadcast industry to gain appropriate industry knowledge and skills at a tertiary level will help to achieve this.”

To qualify for the programme a student has to have a high degree of fluency in te reo. “This is precisely where a lot of our secondary students excel. Language is going to act as a bridge to get them into a tertiary institution and help them take off. They are going to be acquiring new skills while within their te reo comfort zone.”

Graduates will take advantage of job opportunities in production engineering, copywriting and radio announcing to presenting or working as a journalist in television, radio, newspapers, magazines, multimedia or public relations companies.

The one year full time diploma is an offshoot of the Maori Language Immersion Diploma (Te Pokairua Te Reo Rumakanga) and will primarily draw on students who have come through Kaupapa Maori schools and who are also proficient in English.

The first intake of students is scheduled for the second semester on 15 July.

ENDS

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