Leadership through learning – Normalising Māori and Pacific leadership and learning success in a tertiary environment

Leadership Through Learning is a 12-week (i.e., one-semester) programme for Māori and Pacific tertiary students run by Te Fale Pouāwhina, a Māori and Pacific student learning service at the University of Auckland in Aotearoa New Zealand. The programme is designed to help students lead, empower and transform through normalising their leadership and learning success. As a strategy, normalising success counters negative stereotypes, micro-aggressions, and the everyday colonialism and racism these students encounter. By normalising success, positive stereotypes are created that challenge the deficit framing faced by Māori and Pacific students. This article describes research exploring the Leadership Through Learning programme, its focus on “students as leaders”, the relationships that develop between students on the programme as they engage with the curriculum, and the impact of innovative teaching and learning praxis. Kaupapa Māori and Pacific research methodologies, particularly talanoa, are employed to highlight the student leaders’ voices, aspirations and growth as leaders. Student leaders’ engagements and relationships strengthen their identity and self-efficacy, and provide opportunities that have created positive stereotypes, especially in the programme’s three critical areas: leadership, empowerment and transformation.