Unit 6 Guided Inquiry Project — Rangatiratanga in Action
He Kaupeka Ūiuitanga Ārahi · Investigating youth leadership and civic participation · Years 7–10
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga · Learning Intentions
- Investigate how young people have created change in Aotearoa through civic participation.
- Analyse the strategies and values that made that leadership effective — not just what happened, but how and why.
- Apply inquiry findings to a personal leadership context with clear, specific connections.
- Communicate findings clearly and persuasively using evidence and structured reasoning.
Paearu Angitu · Success Criteria
- Inquiry question is specific, researchable, and connected to a real case of youth leadership in Aotearoa.
- Research uses at least 3 different sources with evidence of credibility assessment.
- Analysis explains HOW leadership worked (strategies, values, relationships) — not just WHAT happened.
- Personal application section clearly connects inquiry findings to own leadership context.
He Pātai Ūiuitanga · My Inquiry Question
A good inquiry question is specific, researchable, and requires analysis — not just description. Examples: "How did the kohanga reo movement use rangatiratanga to protect te reo Māori?" or "What strategies did youth activists use to stop the development of Ihumātao?"
He Mahere Rangahau · Research Planning Grid
Use at least 3 different sources. For each source, record what you found and assess how credible and useful it is.
Tātari Āhuatanga · Case Study Analysis Framework
Use your research to answer these questions about your chosen case of youth leadership.
Who led? (individuals, groups, organisations):
What was the issue? What injustice, problem, or need were they responding to?
What strategies did they use? (petitions, hikoi, media, negotiation, art, kapa haka, legal action…)
What values drove their leadership? (e.g. manaakitanga, kotahitanga, justice, kaitiakitanga)
What obstacles did they face? How did they respond?
What were the outcomes? (immediate + long-term)
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Civic participation and democratic processes; understanding how communities create change; developing research, analysis, and communication skills for active citizenship.
Research and information literacy; evaluating sources for credibility; communicating findings clearly using structured argument and evidence.
Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Personal Application and Reflection
What can you learn from this case of youth leadership? Which strategy or value most resonates with your own context — and how could you apply it in your community?
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
Māori have a long tradition of rangatiratanga-in-action — from the signing and ongoing advocacy around Te Tiriti o Waitangi, to the kohanga reo movement led by kōhanga whānau, to young Māori activists today protecting waterways, language, and land. These are not just historical events: they are case studies in how communities identify injustice, organise, and create change using both Western civic tools and tikanga Māori frameworks. An inquiry into youth leadership that centres these examples gives students a richer picture of what is possible and who counts as a leader. He aha te mea nui o te ao? What is the greatest thing in the world? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata — it is people, it is people, it is people.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Resources already provided
- rangatiratanga-leadership-self-assessment-unit6.html — connecting inquiry findings to your own leadership dimensions
- youth-leadership-action-plan-unit6.html — applying inquiry learning to your own community action plan
- unit-6-vision-board-2050.html — connecting the historical case to future possibilities for Aotearoa
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to develop their understanding of rangatiratanga as a living leadership ethic — exploring how youth can exercise mana, vision, and collective action to shape the future of Aotearoa New Zealand. This unit asks: what kind of leaders does our future need, and how do we grow them?
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can articulate their own vision for Aotearoa's future and identify concrete leadership actions they can take now.
- ✅ Students can explain how rangatiratanga — the right and capacity to lead with integrity — applies to young people in their communities.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide vision-board templates and future-mapping frameworks for entry-level access. For students who find abstract futures thinking challenging, ground the task in a specific local issue they care about. Extend confident leaders by asking them to design and present a youth-led action proposal to a real or simulated community audience.
ELL / ESOL: Leadership vocabulary (advocacy, tino rangatiratanga, mana, collective action, vision) benefits from visual and narrative anchoring — use case studies of specific youth leaders (local and global) to make abstract concepts concrete. Allow oral presentation of vision work as an alternative to written forms.
Inclusion: Leadership looks different across cultures and personalities — affirm that quiet, relational, and behind-the-scenes leadership is as valid as public advocacy. Neurodiverse learners benefit from structured goal-setting frameworks and clear success criteria for leadership tasks. Celebrate diverse leadership strengths within the class community.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Rangatiratanga — the capacity to lead with mana and integrity — is one of the most important concepts in Te Ao Māori. A rangatira is not simply a chief but a servant-leader whose authority derives from their relationship to people and place. Kaitiakitanga frames leadership as guardianship — of land, people, and future generations. Youth rangatiratanga has a powerful history in Aotearoa: from the young Māori leaders of the early 20th century to contemporary rangatahi activists. The question is not whether rangatahi can lead — it is which challenges they will choose to address.
Prior knowledge: Students benefit from prior exposure to concepts of mana and tino rangatiratanga. No specialist knowledge required for entry-level engagement with vision and leadership tasks.
Curriculum alignment
- Identity, Culture, and Organisation — Social Studies: Understand how people participate individually and collectively in response to community challenges, and how leadership is exercised through rangatiratanga and civic action.
- Do — Social Studies: Explore perspectives, use evidence to form conclusions, and present ideas — develop and share a vision for community change using evidence and leadership frameworks.