He Whakakitenga mō Ōtautahi hei Taone Mātauranga – A Vision for Ōtautahi as a Learning City

The event opened with an engaging ‘out of your seat’ activity adeptly facilitated by Josh Hough, Kaiwhakahaere at Ako Ōtautahi Learning City Christchurch. Josh asked the audience to get physical with their thinking. 

They formed an imaginary line across the room representing whether they think learning in 2050 might be bright or bleak. 

Audience members then moved along another imaginary line to represent whether they think we can change the future or that we are prevented from changing the future by forces working against us. 

Josh encouraged the audience to share their thoughts: 

We’ve been through a lot and know how to make things better, stronger, and more resilient…I’m very optimistic about how we might change the future.

• Erica

I like to cling to hope and ideas.

• Sarah

[There are] a lot of players and very few resources. There’s an element of competitiveness and there shouldn’t be because we all want the same thing.

• Sam

It’s a complex situation and I am concerned for our educators. I see them very disempowered…we need the educators leading the tools…we’ve got to protect the teachers who know how to teach.

• Alex

There is a massive amount of bureaucracy and systems working against what we’re doing. People always find a way to succeed in some way.

• Audience member

Using Te Kawa o Te Korekoreka, a tool grounded in Ngāi Tahutanga and mātauranga, Alice Dimond from Tokona te Raki introduced an innovative mātauranga Māori approach to exploring future thinking. 

Starting with te ao tūroa (the physical world), the audience reflected on the current realities of learning in Ōtautahi. Some of the prompts to support the kōrero were:

• Why do we learn?
• How do we currently learn?
• Where do we learn?
• When do we learn?
• Who gets to learn and who doesn’t?
• What do we learn?

Moving to te kore (the nothingness), the audience viewed four AI-generated images (created from scratch from a text description) representing learning in 2050. The purpose was to seek new understandings. 

• What are we assuming about this future?
• What is it we want to bring forward?
• What do we want to let go of? 

Popcorn-style sharing from the audience generated good debate about learning as a digital experience, its role and the assumptions we make about digital progress.

It’s not binary, not all tech or all back to nature. It’s the best things from the past and present to create the future.

• Ali

If the assumption is that people want to learn and learning is personalised and customised, that means that the role of the educator and learner is going to have to change substantially. 

• Garry 

The importance of bringing culturally responsive learning into the future.

• Kate 

What we have experienced here is a little different…earthquakes, mosque attacks, COVID-19, the current financial crisis. Significant events bring about changes. How can we go that extra step for Ōtautahi? We've still got a long way to go.

• Audience member

Before moving to te ao mārama (the light), Alice artfully guided the audience through a visualisation of te pō (the darkness) imagining what could be different about the future of learning. 

The audience took a few minutes to think about the message they received through their visualisation. Together with people at their tables, they created a collective vision of what learning would be like in 2050 if things were very different from now. 

Brave leadership, superseding election cycles, holding ‘true north’ for our city and country.

• Audience member

In 2050, it’s inclusive, intergenerational, [there is] easy access, [there are] no barriers, and lots of cooperation between sectors.

• Audience member

We need an attitudinal change e.g. you come from a learning city and how you frame yourself.

• Audience member

Reindigenised space. Physical and spiritual space. Intergenerational; where people go when they’re curious. Community is a big thing - the emergence of communities where lots of learning occurs. 

• Audience member

The audience was then invited to commit to one action they would take to bring their collective visions to life. 

Josh wrapped up with a commitment that Ako Ōtautahi Learning City Christchurch will collate all the ideas and share an action plan. 

You can’t take the lid off Pandora’s box and do nothing with it. There will be another part soon and you’ll all be invited.

• Josh 

You can read this action plan, A Declaration for our Future: Ōtautahi Christchurch — The Learning City, below. 

• Te Korekoreka | Tokona te Raki
• Ngai Tahu 2050 | Mō Kā Uri  
• Ngāi Tahu Stories from the Future (PDF 5.17 MB) 
• Ako Ōtautahi Learning City Christchurch 
• Ōtautahi Christchurch - The Learning City: Actionable Interventions