Tania M. Ka'ai, sometimes known as Tania Kaai-Oldman, is a New Zealand Education academic. She is of

Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Porou is affiliated with the 28th Maori Battalion and has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi in New Zealand ...

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim), Mount Mahanga and Kahurangi Poi ...

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

Cook Island Māori Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

, and Sāmoan descent and is a full professor of Language Revitalisation at the

Auckland University of Technology Auckland University of Technology (AUT) ( mi, Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT ...

Academic career

Ka'ai earned a 1995 education

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

from the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato), is a Public university, public research university in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand established in 1964. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university perfo ...

, with thesis titled '' ' Te tātari i te kaupapa' '', looked ''at ways the New Zealand qualifications framework could be used as a tool for indigenous knowledge to be integrated and recognised as a valid part of the education system in New Zealand'' After working at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

, Ka'ai moved to the

with

John Moorfield John Cornelius Moorfield (18 October 1943 – 19 May 2018), also known as , was a New Zealand academic whose expertise was in the teaching of the Māori language. His work, including the publication of resources for learners of the language, con ...

. Ka'ai's research is centred on learning of indigenous languages (particularly te reo) in formal and semi-formal educational settings. She is a strong advocate for te reo being compulsory in New Zealand schools.

Selected works

* Ka'ai, Tania. Introduction to Māori culture and society. Longman, 2004. * Ka'ai, Tania M., and Rawinia Higgins. "Te ao Māori–Māori world-view." Ki Te Whaiao–An Introduction to Māori Culture and Society. Auckland: Pearson Education (2004): 13–25. * Jenkins, Kuni, and Tania Ka’ai. "Maori education: A cultural experience and dilemma for the state–a new direction for Maori society." The politics of learning and teaching in Aotearoa–New Zealand (1994): 79–148. * Ka’ai, Tania.
Te hiringa taketake: Mai i te Kohanga Reo i te kura= Maori pedagogy: te Kohanga Reo and the transition to school.
MSc Thesis, ResearchSpace@ Auckland, 1990. * Ka'ai, Tania. "Te mana o te reo me ngā tikanga: Power and politics of the language." (2004).

References

External links

* *
AUT homepage

Te Ipukarea homeapge
Living people Year of birth missing (living people) New Zealand women academics University of Waikato alumni University of Auckland alumni Auckland University of Technology faculty Māori language revivalists New Zealand Māori people New Zealand people of Samoan descent Native Hawaiian people Cook Island Māori people New Zealand Māori women academics New Zealand women writers {{Māori-bio-stub