HEALTH EDUCATION

Health and wellbeing are understood in diverse ways according to a person’s values, cultures, experiences, identities, and worldview. To approach health and wellbeing in a holistic way is to understand the multiple, interrelated dimensions of health and wellbeing as it relates to individuals, whānau, communities, and the surrounding environment. This Big Idea is about hauora as an important Māori body of knowledge, which encompasses and connects physical, social, mental and emotional and spiritual wellness, and the appropriate practices associated with holistic wellbeing.

This Big Idea is about how the practice of whakawhanaungatanga is critical to the health and wellbeing of individuals, whānau, and communities. Kaitiakitanga refers to Māori environmental management and sustainability practices that have evolved to protect and enhance the mauri of the whenua. By exploring this Big Idea, ākonga can learn about diverse cultures’ ways of creating and nurturing relationships, and understand how mana and identity are connected with the sense of self-worth. Through this understanding, ākonga can develop skills to build relationships and enable mutual care, and foster attitudes and values that support the wellbeing of themselves and others.

This Big Idea is about how perspectives of wellbeing are not static and linear - they change continually as the result of the interaction between a broad and complex range of political, environmental, social, cultural, and other factors in seen and unseen ways. Ākonga can learn about how perspectives can influence the wellbeing of others, and similarly, how a societal perspective can impact the wellbeing of individuals.