Contributors to Te Rito Toi

Professor O’Connor is an internationally recognised expert in making and researching applied theatre and drama education. He has made theatre in prisons, psychiatric hospitals, earthquake zones and with the homeless. He is the Academic Director of the Creative Thinking Project,a multi and cross disciplinary research programme that investigates the nature and application of creativity in everyday life.  His work in Christchurch schools following the series of earthquakes  lead to UNESCO funded research and programme development and the development of the Teaspoon of Light Theatre Company. Peter's most recent research includes multi and interdisciplinary studies on the creative pedagogies and the arts, the nature of embodied learning and the pedagogy of surprise.

Professor Mutch is a professor of Critical Studies in Education in the Faculty of Education and Social Work and focuses her research on disaster response and recovery. She is also the Education Commissioner for UNESCO New Zealand. Dr Mutch came to The University of Auckland following many years as a primary teacher, teacher educator and policy advisor. Her teaching and research interests are in research methods, education policy, curriculum development and social education. She has published in scholarly books and journals on qualitative and mixed methods research, social studies and citizenship education, education history and policy, curriculum and evaluation theory, and the peer review process. Most recently, following the Canterbury earthquakes, she has focused on the role of schools in disaster response and recovery. Her disaster-related research has taken her to Australia, Japan, Samoa, Vanuatu, Nepal and China.

Professor Dunn's research interests are diverse but connected - linked by a passion for the Arts, applied theatre, drama, play, and playfulness. Across these fields she has engaged with young children, secondary students, adult drama learners, young people from refugee backgrounds and people living with dementia. Within the context of early childhood education, Julie has investigated connections between child-structured dramatic play and adult-structured drama education, with a major component of this work being the possibilities these approaches offer for the development of children's language and literacy. Julie is particularly interested in the role of the adult in children's play, and in extending teacher and parent understanding of the vocabularies of play.

Professor O’Toole is the Foundation Chair of Arts Education at the University of Melbourne (and also Australia’s first professor or chair of Arts Education). He was formerly Professor of Drama Education and Applied Theatre at Griffith University. He spent twelve years teaching in secondary schools, becoming a Senior Teacher and Head of Curriculum, and also worked in theatre-in-education and community theatre companies as writer, education officer and director. For over thirty years he has been teaching and researching in Colleges of Advanced Education and Universities, and has taught and demonstrated arts pedagogy and curriculum at all levels from pre-school to adult, and on all continents.

Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh is an Auckland-based Pacific poet and scholar of Samoan, Tuvaluan, English, Scottish and French descent. She was the first person of Pacific descent to graduate with a PhD in English from the University of Auckland, where she now lectures in both creative writing and Māori and Pacific literary studies. Selina’s work has been widely published and has appeared in a range of online and hardcopy literary journals and anthologies including Blackmail Press, Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poetry in English, Mauri Ola: Contemporary Polynesian Poetry in English–Whetu Moana II (Auckland University Press/UHP), Best New Zealand Poems 2006, Niu Voices: Contemporary Pacific Fiction 1 and The Contemporary Pacific (UHP). Tusitala Marsh was named the Commonwealth Poet for 2016. In August 2017 Marsh was awarded the New Zealand Poet Laureate for 2017–2019.

Poutokomanawa is a bicultural collaboration that supports Māori voice, leadership and decision making in the growth and development of arts based pedagogy in New Zealand schools.  The work aims to acknowledge and support those working in Māori immersion settings and to honour the expertise and pedagogical knowledge being developed in these contexts. Our collective advocates for learning that is grounded in: creativity, artistry, wellbeing, child-led exploration and play, the natural environment and local place-based curriculum.

Poutokomanawa is the central pole of a wharenui (meeting house).  It is the heart of the wharenui, supporting the whole house and connecting earth and sky.  It is a piece of art, representing ancestry and story.  As a name for our collective it signifies the aim we have for our mahi: to create a space for creativity, growth and learning that supports the heart of the child.

Ginnie Thorner has loved working in drama education for 29 years. She is a specialist dance and drama teacher in Christchurch working with students aged 5 – 18yrs and also works with teacher trainees. Most of her work is focused on drama for inquiry – usually in science, humanities and hope. She has a real passion for student voice and student devised work, and helps students use theatre to express their thinking around issues that they experience in their world.

Darren Powell is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Curriculum and Pedagogy in the Faculty of Education and Social Work. Darren’s previous career was as a primary and intermediate school teacher. Over an eleven year period he taught students across all year levels (Year One – Eight) in schools in Auckland, Glasgow, London and Nottingham. Based on his work with children, Darren developed an interest in children’s experiences of health and physical education and conducted research that explored children’s understanding of concepts such as ‘health’, ‘fitness’ and ‘fatness’. Darren is also a recent recipient of a Royal Society Te Apārangi Marsden Fund Fast-Start Grant and is conducting a research project about the impact of marketing health to children in New Zealand.

As a first-generation New Zealander, Dagmar Dyck is an artist, researcher, art educator, and social justice advocate. Her navigation in and around different worldviews is at the heart of her identity and arts practice. She regularly exhibits nationally and internationally, with her work held in significant national collections. Dagmar was Deputy Principal at Sylvia Park School where she championed Pakirehua (whole school inquiry) and The Arts. She is now the Assistant Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific at AUT University. In 2019, she completed her MProf (Hons) in Education at the University of Auckland. Her dissertation topic involved examining art teachers’ beliefs, attitudes and pedagogical practices and how these could affirm Pasifika students’ success as Pasifika. Dagmar’s maternal lineage hails from the Wolfgramm and Hemaloto kainga from the village of ‘Utungake, Vava’u, Tonga. Her paternal lineage includes Dutch, Polish and German ancestry and links to her father’s birthplace in Gdansk, Poland.

Maui Arts & Cultural Center opened in 1994 as the culmination of a long-standing dream of Maui’s residents to build a world-class gathering place for the arts. Now familiarly known as "The MACC," this center has been described by The Maui News as “the artistic and educational heart of an entire community” and “Maui’s entertainment and arts crown jewel.”

Lesson Plan Contributors include Cara Griffin, Christy Chadwick, Julie Matheis, Kaʻena Elaban-Manuwa, Kaliko Kaauamo M.Ed., Kela Kahikina,  Kilihune Ka'aihue, Makalani Franco-Francis, Pasha Lani-Montira, Rachel Florer, and Skyler Sands.

https://mauiarts.org/

Christa is a research assistant in the Centre for Arts and Social Transformation. She was part of the team conducting research into school use of Te Rito Toi after Aotearoa New Zealand’s first two lockdowns. Christa has degrees in the Visual Arts and Art History, post-graduate qualifications in teaching, and is currently undertaking a Masters of Social and Community Leadership. She has taught Years 1-13 in schools, and separately, for eight years headed the Year 1-13 schools team at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Christa has provided visual arts professional development support for teachers for over ten years. Christa developed the Te Rito Toi resource The Long and Short of It, and supported Dagmar Dyck in the development of Making a Kahoa Kakala, and The Magic Seashell.

Briar O’Connor completed her PhD at the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, University of Auckland in 2021. Briar does research in Community Empowerment, Teacher Education, and Primary Education. Her PhD is a case study of how child protection policies become implemented, embedded and integrated (Normalization Process Theory) in a school.

Emily Gibson, MEd, (she/her) is a well-being and trauma-informed practice educator and consultant. She has over 20 years of community development experience providing leadership and support to Indigenous communities, not-for-profit organisations, schools, and businesses in Canada, New Zealand, and Central America. Before founding Emily Gibson Consulting in 2021, Emily was the Program Director for Right To Play Canada’s national Indigenous youth life-skill and suicide prevention program. Emily completed her Masters of Education at the University of Auckland. Her thesis explores Māori approaches to trauma-informed practices in arts-based mental health education. Emily divides her time between Canada and Aotearoa.

Katy Pérez works at the University of Auckland’s Centre for the Arts and Social Transformation. She has worked using applied theatre in national and international disaster zones, youth justice centres, teen-pregnancy units, anger management courses, and spent 8 years delivering family violence prevention workshops in low decile schools across Aotearoa New Zealand. Katy currently specialises in both research and facilitation of arts post-disaster practice and believes the arts are a perfect way to restore hope and inspire revolution.

Alan Dingley is a passionate champion of youth literacy, blending creativity, performance, and a deep love of books to inspire the next generation. As the Library Manager at Freyberg High School and the current Te Awhi Rito NZ Reading Ambassador, he is on a mission to ignite a lifelong love of reading in young minds.

With a rich background spanning school libraries, youth engagement, and the stage as a professional improviser and MC, Alan brings a unique energy to everything he does. Whether running immersive literacy programs, leading confidence-boosting workshops, or using books as a bridge to explore complex ideas in unexpected and innovative ways, he makes learning an adventure.

For Alan, books aren’t just stories—they’re powerful tools that challenge perspectives, spark creativity, and build connections.

Elisabeth Price is an experienced and enthusiastic primary school teacher who has taught for over twenty years in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and in Aotearoa New Zealand. Most recently, she was the deputy principal of an urban multicultural primary school in Tāmaki Makaurau-Auckland. Elisabeth is completing her doctoral studies through Waipapa Taumata Rau-The University of Auckland. Her doctoral research focuses on having age and stage of development appropriate classroom conversations about death and dying with primary aged students. Her research is looking to prepare children for an eventual time when they experience the death of a family member, friend, or pet or when a friend of theirs experiences the death of someone close to them. Elisabeth’s research interests include preparing primary aged students to be successful citizens, holistic education, and more specifically ensuring students are equipped for future encounters with death.

Esther Fitzpatrick is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Education, University of Auckland. Esther’s previous career was as a Primary school teacher and manager of an Early childhood centre. Esther has always had a keen interest in arts-based pedagogies in her practice and continues to explore these pedagogies in her work at the university, especially through investigating decolonising, and critical methods for complex identity issues. She has designed and researched a range of arts-based methods has published in a range of journals including Qualitative Inquiry, Cultural Studies-Critical Methods, Art/Research International, Educational Philosophy and Theory. She is the Director of the Narrative and Arts-based Research Network where research students and colleagues share their ideas, their research, and collaborate together in workshops.

Dr Claire Coleman is an honorary lecturer at the University of Waikato, theatre practitioner, educator and the host of the ArtsE podcast. She has an extensive background in arts and education, including previous work as a puppeteer, drama and dance teacher, cabaret theatre manager, ITE programme leader and arts curriculum lead writer. She is passionate about embodied and creative pedagogies for transformative education.

Contact Claire at claire@playfulpedagogy.nz

https://playfulpedagogy.nz/

During her Bachelor of Arts (Hons) at the University of Waikato, Amanda was deeply immersed in Hamilton’s vibrant theatre scene, collaborating with Fullhouse Theatre and Carving in Ice before co-founding Remote Fiction Theatre. Her passion for storytelling and the arts seamlessly blended with her talent for organisation, leading to a seven-year tenure at the University of Auckland, where she orchestrated countless conferences and events – navigating even the toughest challenges of the Covid-19 lockdowns with creativity and resilience.

Amanda took this synergy even further during her time as Manager of the Centre for Arts and Social Transformation (CAST), where she had the privilege of contributing to the Te Rito Toi project, a groundbreaking initiative using the arts to support children in times of crisis. Whether behind the scenes or in the spotlight, Amanda thrives where creativity and logistics meet, bringing people together through the power of storytelling and connection.

Emma Parangi (Ngāpuhi, Pākehā) (MEd) is a kaiako and kairangahau with 15 years experience teaching and leading Early Childhood Education learning communities. Emma completed her Masters of Education at the University of Auckland focussed on the intersections of teacher cultural identity, pedagogy and practice. She is currently a professional learning and development facilitator while completing her PhD, focussed on Indigenous women leading in ECE in Aotearoa.

Yasmine Slater (Te Arawa, Ngāti Kahu) is an early childhood teacher who has worked in the field for the past 14 years in both Australia and New Zealand.  She completed a Master’s Degree in 2016, and returned to study towards a PhD in 2019 where she was exploring the connection between outdoor play, kaupapa Māori approaches and young children’s wellbeing.

Jennifer Boyd is a fully registered Early Childhood teacher with experience in teaching and caring for children aged 6 months to five years. She has collaborated with a diverse range of people and organizations, providing mentoring and professional development during her time at a renowned early learning center. After this, she returned to The University of Auckland, where she recently completed a Master of Education with First Class Honours. Following her graduation, she served as a Professional Teaching Fellow at the University for several years.

Logo Designs – Tema Kwan, Marae Tech Ltd marae.tech@gmail.com

Logo Designs – Nikora Ngaropo, Motion and Design https://www.nnmd.co/

Website Management – Alex Harvey and Tahnee Vo, Centre for Arts and Social Transformation, The University of Auckland

Website by Jenny Keate, Tarnya Burge (Kitchen Table Web Design), and Rebecca Charlton (Clover Creative)