Leading from the front issuu

EXPERIENCED FACILITATOR SAYS
TREATY AWARENESS IS ON A ROLL
Robert Consedine facilitated workshops on the Treaty of Waitangi for 30 years and is considered
one of the best facilitators in the country. One year before Treaty principles will be taught in schools
up to year 10, Robert is enjoying a slower pace. On the eve of Waitangi Weekend 2021, he shares his
thoughts and experiences of Treaty training and when Aotearoa might see true biculturalism.
Do you think parents should learn the principles
of the Treaty of Waitangi at the same time as their
children, to help minimise resistance that children
could experience from some parents?
In an ideal world parents would be Treaty literate, but
if you look at public opinion it moves very slowly over a
long time. Some parents will be on board and some of
them won’t but I certainly think a Parent Night with a
trained facilitator running it would be a good start. The
problem with these sessions though is that people come
along with enough questions to ask for a two day workshop
and facilitators need to have the skills to help them
unlock the meaning behind their questions.
What we do in Treaty workshops is help people explore
why they think the way they do but that takes a
reasonable amount of facilitative skill. Using follow up
questions, you then draw out of them what they already
know and take them in a direction. You can take them
through a whole process and you may not have told
them anything, which is important because people are
Above: Healing Our History — it’s the only way to go; Pat on the back for another successful Treaty Workshop, with Kerry Kitione and
author of Healing Our History, Robert Consedine; on the Parihaka Peace Hikoi in 2016 — Image Courtesy @ Stuff.
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Healing our History through Te Tiriti