School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Jeremy Hapeta from the School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition is passionate about sport, but not simply for its own sake. His research focuses on \u2018sport-for-development\u2019, an area which works to provide platforms for sport to be used as a tool to contribute towards positive social outcomes in areas such as social inclusion, education, and reconciliation and peacebuilding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One area that Dr Hapeta has researched involves using sport as a \u2018carrot\u2019 to gain better educational outcomes. One case study, for example, involved a rugby academy for secondary school-aged students, which functions as an alternative education programme for youth who have not found mainstream education models successful. \u2018The distinctiveness of that programme was that they didn\u2019t really care if their learners played rugby or not after they left the programme, only that they had their Level 1 and 2 NCEA,\u2019 said Dr Hapeta. \u2018The majority of learners who we spoke with went into full-time employment when they exited the programme, which was a really positive outcome in terms of social change. Others even returned to mainstream school and did NCEA Level 3. For those who had disengaged from the mainstream system, because it wasn\u2019t working for them, to have the confidence to go back there, that was a pretty neat story.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Previously, Dr Hapeta has also conducted research at what is now Manukura, a designated special character school for Years 9\u201313 based at Massey that has a focus on high-performance sport and academics. \u2018They aspired for their learners to be balanced in terms of sport, education, and flourishing as rangatahi M\u0101ori [young M\u0101ori],\u2019 said Dr Hapeta, \u2018but when they started, they were probably more well known for their sporting successes. They had to wait for educational success to manifest before they could show that they were consistently producing successful educational outcomes for M\u0101ori as well. Now they have the evidence, they\u2019ve shown that they are leading as M\u0101ori in sports and are doing amazingly well educationally. Their results for rangatahi M\u0101ori in particular contrast with mainstream models of education.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Dr Hapeta\u2019s passion for this area of research stems from his own background. \u2018When I attended secondary school, I was pretty good at sport, but I didn\u2019t really leave with anything tangible in terms of qualifications, just a whole lot of cool sporting experiences and not much else to show for it. I thought, it\u2019s wrong, our rangatahi might earn mana [prowess] on the sports field \u2014 but how are they being looked after off it? I knew there must be others like me who weren\u2019t dumb, maybe they just matured a bit later than everybody else. So, a key driver was my own auto-ethnographic lived experience in school and sport. Part of my rationale for getting into the system was to disrupt it and ensure that I was part of the solution, providing service back to the communities that I came from with high deprivation and low socio-economic backgrounds. I want to help not only M\u0101ori, but all learners navigate their way through the system and come out the other end; to advocate for and be an agent of change for them in terms of where they may end up later in life. I\u2019m by no means at the top of the maunga [mountain], I\u2019m part-way up it \u2014 I suppose if I wanted to, I could be selfish and use both my hands to ascend it more rapidly, but I\u2019m holding on with one hand and trying to raise others up with the other.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next, Dr Hapeta is planning research into how sport, across Canada, Australia and Aotearoa can be used for cultural reconciliation. In particular, he is interested in how M\u0101ori culture can be used as a mechanism to galvanise team culture and to bring together people from culturally diverse backgrounds. \u2018The old-school way of developing team culture in the past was that M\u0101ori and Pasifika athletes had to leave their true selves at the door and buy into this thing which was predominantly a P\u0101keh\u0101 values- based environment,\u2019 he said. \u2018That\u2019s our history, which nowadays is outdated, but thankfully we\u2019re moving towards the light. New Zealand rugby and increasingly other major sports are responding by adopting culturally inclusive approaches. We\u2019re going to shine light on some of these international indigenous case studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Sport is a significant part of our national identity and many of us do take a lot of pride in the fact that we punchabove our weight globally. I believe we need to do things respectfully and not exclude ethnic-minority members of our communities. If you\u2019ve got a culture of inclusion and celebrating diversity and everyone feels a sense of belonging, then that\u2019s where the magic happens. Worldwide, sport is one platform where these things can be debated \u2014 it\u2019s in the spotlight daily.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DR JEREMY HAPETA Ng\u0101ti Raukawa, Ng\u0101ti Huia School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition Dr Jeremy Hapeta from the School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition is passionate about sport, but not simply for its own sake. His research focuses on \u2018sport-for-development\u2019, an area which works to provide platforms for sport to be used as a tool … Continue reading Using sport for social change<\/span>