Abstract
There continues to be a critical need to address the colonization and inequities that have been perpetuated throughout the education system of Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu New Zealand. This chapter describes a professional learning programme developed with two non-Māori and two Māori staff members. The programme aimed to disrupt colonization in teacher education through place-based professional learning that prioritized and privileged the knowledges and experiences of the people of the local place/land (takata whenua). The professional learning or Wanaka sessions drew upon kaupapa Māori principles and were inclusive of te reo me kĀ tikaka Māori (Māori language and cultural practices). The professional learning took into account “the tikanga of where [we] are teaching” and challenged “[our] own ‘taken-for-granted’ world” (Penetito, n.d.). Narratives from early childhood teacher educators are utilized to illustrate how teaching practices changed and what provoked these changes. This process-oriented professional learning demonstrated the need for collaborative, responsive, localized, place-based knowledges, learner choices, and shared journeys.