Manutaki Kim Rogers describes her role at Kerikeri High School as providing pastoral care and academic counselling to Māori students, in order to support an holistic approach towards Māori student achievement. The role is based on Professor Sir Mason Durie’s Whare Tapa Wha health model (taha tinana, taha wairua, taha whānau and taha hinengaro).
Kim suggests that Māori students need more than a focus on intellectual or academic development. Making authentic connections for Māori students to their physical, cognitive, whānau and spiritual well-being, in ways that link the past, present and future sees Kim’s role as an important point of contact between the school, individual students and their whānau.