SPCA instructional readers in te reo Māori: making animal welfare education more accessible to tamariki

The focus of SPCA’s Education Programme is to nurture young hearts and minds around the country. Here at SPCA, we know that tamariki are the animal guardians of tomorrow, and working with them is a vital step in achieving our long-term vision of preventing animal cruelty in New Zealand.

Our instructional readers are a crucial part of this process. Aligned to the New Zealand Curriculum, they can be easily incorporated into the classroom. Through them, teachers are able to use engaging, real-world animal stories to not only help young learners improve their reading skills, but to take on key lessons about care and responsibility when it comes to all animals.

SPCA feels strongly about ensuring resources we create for tamariki and schools are as widely accessible as possible. That is why the English versions of our instructional readers have been provided free-of-charge to primary and intermediate schools nationwide, with the latest one going out in mid-2022.

Since translating and distributing our first two instructional readers in te reo Māori back in 2018, SPCA has been looking forward to being able to do the same with the latest, Animals in the Wild and Responsible Animal Guardianship.

Thanks to the generous donations from some of our supporters passionate about animal welfare education, we are thrilled to share that earlier this year, Animals in the Wild and Responsible and Animal Guardianship were translated into te reo Māori. In addition, supporting teaching resources were translated and recrafted for Māori medium settings. Throughout April, 21,960 copies of these te reo readers (there are six readers in total) were distributed free-of-charge to Māori medium settings around the country.

As anyone who has ever attempted translating something will know, translation is not a straightforward task. SPCA is incredibly grateful to Sunshine Books and Huia Publishers for guiding this nuanced and important work.

Experts in creating readers and publishing resources that are centred in te ao Māori and Māori worldviews, The guidance of Huia was paramount to the success of this mahi/work.

“It wasn’t just about translating the words,” SPCA Education Manager Nicole Peddie says, “but recrafting the associated lessons and resources to ensure they would connect with and meet the needs of tamariki in Māori medium educational settings.”

We’re thrilled to share that this release of Animals in the Wild and Responsible Animal Guardianship in te reo is accompanied by supporting learning resources which SPCA has been unable to offer before.

While English releases of our instructional readers have had corresponding resources for teachers to guide tamariki through the lessons, this is the first time we have been able to offer supporting learning materials in te reo Māori.

“This is the first time we have been able to make these additional resources available in te reo Māori – it’s a really exciting next step for our programme,” Mrs Peddie says. “Before now, learners in English school settings have had the full package, whereas we weren’t able to offer the same in Māori medium settings... until now! We are so grateful to Huia for helping us make this possible.”

Resources were provided alongside the instructional readers, free-of-charge to 305 Māori medium educational settings in the country, and are also available for free download via SPCA’s Teachers’ Portal.

SPCA would like to thank all our incredible supporters who help make this exciting education work possible. From Sunshine Books who publish and distribute the readers to schools nationwide, Huia who translated and adapted the supporting learning resources, and our special supporters who have provided funding specifically for our Education Programme which made this all possible. We are so honoured to be helping build a brighter future for animals together. Ngā mihi nui.