Correna Matika

Correna Matika (Ngāti Kuri and Ngāti Wairere (Tainui) descent) won the 2017 Thesis Scholarship. She will use the scholarship to complete her PhD in psychology at the University of Auckland.

Following on from Correna's honours dissertation (that looked at NZ resident support for teaching te reo Māori in NZ schools by demographics and over time), she will research two different questions about support for te reo:

1. How does support for teaching te reo change in the lead up to te wiki o te reo Māori? For example, does support increase as it gets closer to Māori language week and then decrease as we move further away, or does support remain unchanged throughout the year
2. How do people who live in areas with more Kohanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Māori support teaching te reo relative to those who do not live in areas with many te reo focussed kura?

In 2018, Correna intends to look at fluency in speaking te reo Maori among New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS) participants.