Education Education Programmes

Secondary Education Programmes

Te Whare Taonga O Waikato Museum & Gallery's exhibitions and collections are a wonderful resource to support your teaching in intermediates and high schools.

Our senior Education programmes are devised around current high school curricula, aiming to support recent changes where we can, such as new histories and arts curricula. The programmes have both fixed content and the capacity to flex with our changing exhibitions calendar – and with your needs. As always, they will include tours of our wonderful current exhibitions and, occasionally, classroom time.

Education programmes are typically one hour long. If you want a longer visit please contact us to discuss your options. For example you can combine any two gallery programmes, or extend your topic with some time in our classroom doing a Mahi toi / Creative practice session. Please see below for details. 

Tertiary educators and adult learning organisations

Please note these Museum Education programmes can also be adapted for adult learners, university and polytechnic students. Contact Cassandra to discuss your specific topics and needs. 

Toi

Art

Topics in contemporary art: artists, movements, histories, politics

This 1-hour programme for 20 learners uses the current art exhibitions in our galleries to dive into topics in recent art history and practice.

It will include a gallery tour and discussion time (touching on the artists, their practices and the changing social and political context); offer learners some practical techniques for close viewing and responding to works of art; and build their confidence and joy in engaging with creative cultures. 

Topics will shift according to the changing exhibition programme. Coming up in Terms 3 and 4 we can choose from Inside Out, the National Contemporary Art Award (August 2025) and Cultural Threads (September 2025). 

Toi Maaori: Toi tuuturu, toi whakawhiti, toi rerekee – From taonga Maaori to contemporary practice

This 1-hour programme for 20 learners is suited to anyone interested in exploring the evolution of toi Maaori, from whenua-based customary practices (the whare whakairo, raranga and more) through transcustomary practices to contemporary toi Maaori on the global stage.

It will include: a gallery tour and discussion time (touching on maatauranga Māori, whenua and whakapapa as well as global and contemporary contexts).

Students will be encouraged to reflect on the cultural complexities of engaging with taonga, of making (or borrowing from) indigenous art today, and on their own relationship to these artists, works, and issues. 

Topics will shift according to the changing exhibition programme. In Terms 3 and 4 our options include Robyn Kahukiwa: Tohunga Mahi Toi, Inside Out, Ripples, the Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award and Cultural Threads (both from September 2025).

 

[Detail, Hinetītama by Robyn Kahukiwa, 1980, Te Manawa Art Society Collection]

Te taiao

The environment

Uplifting Waikato ecologies: Awa, repo, ngahere – What are they, who are they & what do they want from us?

This 1-hour programme for 20 learners looks at the ecologies of the Waikato region, with a focus on waterways – our awa, swamps, wetlands, rivers and streams – and the gullies alongside them.

We will consider the current challenges faced by the awa and its environs, and introduce contemporary and customary kaitiaki practices (such as iwi-collaborative translocations, raahui and legal personhood) while looking at the taonga in the Museum and the koorero they carry.

Galleries visited will shift according to our changing exhibition programme.

In Term 1 2025 we will focus on:

Note: Entry fees apply for Astronomy Photographer of the Year. If added to your trip, we can also look at the role of the maramataka.

Ngaa koorero

Histories

Time travels: Taonga revisited – understanding history through our Museum collection 

This 1-hour programme for 20 learners teases out the hidden narratives of taonga and collection items, moving from the Tainui waka migration and settlement to He Whakaputanga, the Kiingitanga, the Waikato wars and more.

By hearing the stories embedded in material objects – their many journeys from darkness to light, and from past to present to past – we can better understand our place in the Waikato today. 

For Term 1 2025, this programme will focus on the Te Winika exhibition and Shaping Hamilton - Huringa Kirikiriroa.

Ngaa kupu

Histories

Puuraakau: He aha te koorero o teenei taonga? What’s the difference between a story and a puuraakau?

This 1-hour programme for 20 learners will focus on artworks and taonga connected to specific puuraakau of the Waikato region – stories connected to atua, landforms, and the naming of whenua.

Some traditional stories will be told, and we will think about the differences between western literacies and indigenous oral storytelling. Who gets to tell a story and how should it be told? What happens when you write it down? And what happens when a story loses its taonga, or vice versa?

Galleries visited will shift according to our changing exhibition programme.

In Term 1 and 2 of 2025 we may visit:

Mahi toi

Creative practice

Creative kupu: Poem/story/puuraakau/rap/poster/zine – The last word is yours!

This 1-hour programme for 20 learners is an opportunity to explore culture, art and taonga by using language creatively.

Starting with some close looking in a current exhibition, students will be guided through a process for writing poetry, prose or toi kupu of their choice in response to any Museum piece that speaks to them. An incredible work of art. A taonga that has returned from darkness to light. A galaxy or supernova beaming across the lightyears. A mushroom flaunting kookako blues!

For those wanting an extended programme, there is the option of a second hour (or more!) in the classroom, where they can design their poem-piece into a postcard or poster or zine, all ready to publish and share!