Our responsibilities in shaping our counselling curriculum: What do we teach counselling students in Aotearoa New Zealand and why do we teach in these ways?

Abstract

In the field of counselling and other therapeutic practice, practitioners and teachers have begun to question the uncritical modernist approach in which it is acceptable to teach and use ‘universal’ models for practice. In our work, we have begun to take a critical approach to the view of New Zealand as a ‘child’ country (Te Wiata, 2006) where we teach derivative Western psychological therapeutic approaches. In these approaches, difference is often treated as ‘deficit’ or ‘dysfunctional’. Instead, we are developing models of teaching in which we acknowledge the influence on non-Maori by Te Ao Maori and kaupapa Maori practice, just as Maori continue to be influenced by Pakeha world views. We will describe our current teaching model, in which we use specific local metaphors that allow non-Maori counselling students to consider their relationship with Aotearoa, tangata whenua, and each other. We will detail our emphasis on identity, community, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the impact of colonization, and how we encourage our counselling students and their shaping of counselling in Aotearoa today and in the future.