Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards

Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards

The Prime Minister presented his 2014 Supreme Award for Tertiary Teaching Excellence to Dr Karyn Paringatai (Ngāti Porou), lecturer at Te Tumu – School of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies, University of Otago.

The Supreme Award, considered the pinnacle of this annual event, recognises Dr Paringatai’s twelve years of teaching learners from a wide variety of backgrounds to become a whānau of champions for the revitalisation of te reo Māori.

The Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards celebrates New Zealand’s finest tertiary teachers - as recognised by their organisations, colleagues, learners and broader communities. A total of twelve awards were presented tonight for sustained excellence in tertiary teaching – under General and Kaupapa Māori categories.

As a committed practitioner of Kaupapa Māori and a passionate student and scholar of te reo Māori and Māori Performing Arts, Karyn Paringatai personifies excellent teaching. Her revival of the ancient practice of teaching in the dark and subsequent research into its benefits is world leading.

While she considers it her job to “produce competent practitioners of te reo Māori and confident performers of Haka and waiata”, Karyn has been solely responsible for developing and delivering that introductory paper. She has taken on senior management roles within the school – as coordinator of the Bachelor of Māori Traditional Arts degree and Head of the Māori Language programme, undertaken training and mentoring of other teaching staff, and designed and taught Māori language and cultural competency programmes and workshops for visiting and international groups.

The parliamentary dinner was jointly hosted by the Minister for Tertiary Education, Hon Steven Joyce, and Dr Cam Calder, Chairperson of the Education and Science Committee. Ako Aotearoa – The National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence, administers the awards. The Centre aims to recognise and celebrate excellence in tertiary teaching and share good practice that has proven benefit for learners.

Dr Peter Coolbear, director of Ako Aotearoa, and member of the Awards Committee, comments “Being on the Awards committee is a great privilege. We had 37 nominations for these awards this year and each of their portfolios reinforces to us that the best of New Zealand teaching is undoubtedly world class. The awardees being celebrated tonight are truly inspirational tertiary teachers.”

Chef and senior tutor Adrian Woodhouse from Otago Polytechnic stepped forward to receive his second national teaching excellence award. In 2009 he received an award as an individual teacher; this time it is as a member of the talented Culinary Arts teaching team from the School of Hospitality at Otago Polytechnic. The team - the only group to receive an award this year - also includes Stephen Ellwood, David Gillespie, Antony Heptinstall and Daniel Pfyl. Together they have developed a highly innovative learner-centred undergraduate programme at the polytechnic that is framed by reflective practice, experiential learning, design-led thinking and authentic work projects.

Chair of the Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards Committee, Phil Ker says, “Being Chair of this Committee was a very rewarding experience. To see the breadth and depth of the experience of tertiary teachers within New Zealand through their portfolios was outstanding and a real privilege. The Committee had a difficult task in deciding the winners of each category and my congratulations go to all those who submitted portfolios and especially those who received awards tonight.”

The Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards recipients for 2014 are:

Twelve awards for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching (worth $20,000 each) were presented tonight: ten in the General category, and a further two awards presented to teachers in the Kaupapa Māori category. (The Prime Minister’s Supreme Award, valued at $10,000, is an additional award that is presented to one of these twelve awardees).

Kaupapa Māori category:

• Ēnoka Murphy

Pūkenga, Te Pua Wānanga ki te Ao

Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato / The University of Waikato

• Tākuta (Dr) Karyn Paringatai (also Prime Minister’s Supreme Awardee)

Pūkenga, Te Tumu – School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies

Te Whare Wānanga o Otāgo / University of Otago

General category:

• Bachelor of Culinary Arts Teaching Team: Stephen Ellwood, David Gillespie, Antony Heptinstall, Daniel Pfyl, Adrian Woodhouse

School of Hospitality

Otago Polytechnic

• Andy Ballard

Senior Lecturer - Management, AUT Business School

AUT University

• John G Davies

Senior Lecturer, Department of Performing and Screen Arts

Unitec Institute of Technology

• Professor Charles Fleischman

Undergraduate Co-ordinator – Civil & Natural Resources Engineering

University of Canterbury

• Dr Rainer Hoffman

Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Lincoln University

• Caro McCaw

Principal Lecturer and Academic Leader, Communication Design

Otago Polytechnic

• Kyhlee Quince

Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law

The University of Auckland

• Judith Roddick

Principle lecturer, School of Nursing

Otago Polytechnic

• Mike Scott

Academic Staff Member and Programme Coordinator

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic

• Teresia Teaiwa

Lecturer, Pacific Studies

Victoria University of Wellington

For more information please visit: www.akoaotearoa.ac.nz/awards

<

© Scoop Media