Te Whare Tapa Whā — Personal Wellbeing Self-Assessment

Ko Te Whare Tapa Whā · About the Framework

Te Whare Tapa Whā was developed by Sir Mason Durie in 1984. The image of the whare (house) is deliberate: just as a house needs four strong walls to stand, a person needs strength across all four dimensions of hauora. If one wall is weakened, the whole structure is at risk.

Taha Tinana · Physical Wellbeing

Reflect on your physical health: movement, sleep, kai, energy, growth.

1. What physical activities support my wellbeing right now?

2. What does my sleep / kai / energy look like this week?

3. What is one thing my tinana needs more of right now?

Rating (circle one):   1   2   3   4   5   (1 = needs a lot of care · 5 = feeling strong)

Evidence for my rating:  

Taha Hinengaro · Mental & Emotional Wellbeing

Reflect on your mental and emotional health: mood, self-talk, coping, expression.

1. How would I describe my mood across the past week?

2. How well am I managing challenging thoughts or feelings?

3. What supports my hinengaro most? (e.g. exercise, journalling, music, talk)

Rating (circle one):   1   2   3   4   5

Evidence for my rating:  

Taha Whānau · Social Wellbeing

Reflect on your relationships and sense of belonging: whānau, friends, community.

1. Who are the people who make me feel safe and connected?

2. How connected have I been to my whānau / friends this week?

3. Is there a relationship I need to give more attention to?

Rating (circle one):   1   2   3   4   5

Evidence for my rating:  

Taha Wairua · Spiritual Wellbeing

Reflect on your sense of purpose, meaning, culture, and connection to something beyond yourself.

1. What gives my life meaning and sense of purpose right now?

2. How connected do I feel to my culture, faith, or community values?

3. When do I feel most like myself? What activities or places connect me to that?

Rating (circle one):   1   2   3   4   5

Evidence for my rating:  

He Hononga Pou · Pou Interconnection Reflection

The pou are never separate — they affect each other. Give one example from your own life where one pou being low affected another pou.

When my   is low, I notice it affects my   because:

Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment

Tuhia ōu whakaaro · My Strengthening Intention

Choose the pou that needs the most attention right now. Write one specific, realistic intention — not a vague goal, but something you can actually do in the next two weeks.

The pou I will focus on:  

My specific intention (what, when, how often):

Aronga Mātauranga Māori

Te Whare Tapa Whā was developed by Sir Mason Durie in 1984 as an explicit challenge to biomedical models that reduce health to physical wellbeing. The image of the whare (house) is deliberate: just as a house needs four strong walls to stand, a person needs strength across all four pou. If one wall is weakened, the whole structure is at risk. This framework is not merely a metaphor — it is a lived understanding that the Māori communities Durie worked with had long held, and that research in holistic health continues to validate. Using it in school is an act of recognition: Māori knowledge built this model, and all students deserve to learn about wellbeing through it.