Wellbeing Learnings from Pandemic Pedagogies in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

This paper discusses data from a survey of New Zealand teachers conducted in 2020 during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. It considers this data in the light of a series of contexts: Te Tiriti o Waitangi; social inequalities particularly in relation to the impacts of colonisation and neoliberal social and economic policies on Māori; the New Zealand government’s commitment to wellbeing; Te Ara Waiora, a Māori model of wellbeing utilised by the New Zealand Treasury; and the status of the teaching profession in Aotearoa New Zealand. Using data from the teachers’ responses to the survey, it outlines ways in which wellbeing was prioritised by teachers during these early months of the pandemic, when teachers were suddenly required to pivot to online teaching. It argues that the wellbeing values as espoused in te ao Māori, a Māori worldview, and those articulated by teachers provide inspiration for a pathway beyond the privations of the pandemic.