Manaiakalani Education Trust

In 2007, a community of learners, whānau and educators in the Auckland suburbs of Glen Innes, Pt England and Panmure (collectively known as Tāmaki) embarked on a project to raise student outcomes and build capacity and engagement through the combination of media and digital technologies and effective teaching practice. This became the Manaiakalani Programme supported by the Manaiakalani Education Trust.

Manaiakalani’s success in developing digital citizens of learners and their whānau has been well documented and is now a model for socioeconomically disadvantaged school communities all over New Zealand. By offering students full digital citizenship, the Manaiakalani Programme helps them realise their potential. Manaiakalani enables learners and their whānau to access their learning anywhere, anytime and at any pace. The Programme supports parents to invest in a digital learning device for their child, provides wireless internet access at home and school, and drives evidence-based innovation in teaching methods.

You can read more about the Manaiakalani Education Trust and the Manaiakalani Programme here: Home (manaiakalani.org)

In June 2020 the Manaiakalani Education Trust was engaged by the Government to consider how to provide digital skills training to adults at risk of exclusion. The Government recognises that Aotearoa has a digital divide that sees a material proportion of the adult population missing out on the economic and social benefits of digital citizenship, which disproportionately impacts whānau Māori and Pasifika, as well as disabled people. Manaiakalani has partnered with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa to develop and deliver a digital skills programme that elevates participants’ capabilities and knowledge in a way that enables them to participate in a digital world while also preserving and enhancing their mana. This is Kanorau Digital.