Best for
Years 3-8 health, class culture, oral language, restorative practice, and school values work where students need clearer action than "show respect".
Health / Relationships • Years 3-8 • Mana, listening, repair
Respect & Values
Help ākonga understand respect as action, not decoration. This handout connects respect to mana, manaakitanga, active listening, boundaries, and restorative response so classroom values become teachable behaviours that students can notice, practise, and improve.
Free class-culture scaffold, premium localising path
This public page already includes values prompts, listening scaffolds, restorative reflection, and a class agreement builder. Te Wānanga becomes useful when you want it rebuilt around your kura values, PB4L language, or a particular class issue.
- Swap in your school values, whakatauki, or behaviour language.
- Generate a more visual junior version or a deeper intermediate discussion version.
- Save the adapted version in My Kete and reopen it in Creation Studio.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 25-35 minutes for one explicit class-culture lesson.
- Grouping: Whole-class co-construction first, then pair or table-group work.
- Prep: Decide whether students should reflect on class norms, playground behaviour, online behaviour, or a recent conflict.
- Teaching move: Keep respect tied to mana, listening, and repair rather than empty compliance language.
Resources already provided
- Respect-in-action cards
- Listening ladder and discussion prompts
- Restorative reflection table
- Class values and agreement builder
- Differentiated support, core, and stretch pathways
- Teacher-only curriculum companion
If the lesson mentions a values sort, listening prompt, or repair plan, those materials already exist on this page.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning to explain what respect looks like in actions, words, and choices.
- We are learning to connect respect with mana, listening, and care for people and places.
- We are learning to repair harm when respect has broken down.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can name actions that show respect in different situations.
- I can use listening and language that protect another person's mana.
- I can explain one way to repair harm after disrespectful behaviour.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
Use the curriculum companion to connect this page to oral language, respectful discussion, relationships, and participation in diverse communities. The strongest teaching use treats respect as a live classroom skill, not a poster heading.
Respect is connected to mana
In Te Ao Māori, respect is not only about being polite. It connects to mana, manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and how we care for people, spaces, and relationships. In classrooms, that means students need specific examples: how we listen, how we disagree, how we look after property and whenua, and how we put things right when harm has happened.
Respect in action
Respect for self
Making choices that protect your own wellbeing, boundaries, and dignity.
Respect for others
Listening, using kind language, and noticing how your actions affect someone else's mana.
Respect for place
Looking after classrooms, shared spaces, taonga, and the environment.
Respect for difference
Letting people have different cultures, identities, strengths, and viewpoints without ridicule.
Listening ladder
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1
Face the speaker Stop side conversations and show with your body that you are ready to listen.
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2
Listen to understand Pay attention to words, tone, and how the other person might be feeling.
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3
Respond with care Use respectful words, ask a clarifying question, or reflect back what you heard.
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4
Act consistently Respect is not only what you say. It is what you do next.
When respect breaks down
| What happened? | Whose mana or wellbeing was affected? | What would repair look like? |
|---|---|---|
Our class values charter
Three behaviours we want to see every day
What we will do when harm happens
Use the drawing space for a class symbol, whakatauki, or simple visual agreement.
Different pathways
Support
Sort respect-in-action examples and complete one restorative reflection row with teacher support.
Core
Use the listening ladder, complete the restorative table, and write class values statements.
Stretch
Design and present a class charter that explains not just the values but why they matter.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Investigate social, cultural, environmental, and economic questions; gather and evaluate evidence from diverse sources; communicate findings and reasoning clearly for different audiences and purposes.
English — Communication
Level 3–4: Read, interpret, and evaluate information texts; write clearly and purposefully for specific audiences; apply critical thinking skills to evaluate sources and construct well-reasoned responses.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
This resource sits within a kaupapa that recognises mātauranga Māori as a living knowledge system with its own frameworks, values, and ways of understanding the world. The New Zealand Curriculum calls for learning that reflects the bicultural partnership of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which means every subject area has an obligation to engage authentically with Māori perspectives — not as cultural decoration but as substantive contributions to how we understand our topics. The concepts of manaakitanga (care for others), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), whanaungatanga (relationship and belonging), and tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) provide a values framework applicable across all learning areas, and all are relevant to the work in this handout.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. Related resources from the same unit are linked in the unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
Curriculum alignment
- Identity, Culture, and Organisation: Understand how cultural identity shapes participation in society — whakapapa, tikanga, and mana as foundations of Māori identity in Aotearoa New Zealand.