Activating pedagogies for sustainable futures: ‘walking with’ the Maramataka over time

The aim of this study was to understand what, why and how pedagogies for sustainable futures might be activated through encounters with waterways over Indigenous time-space coordinates. ‘Walking-with’ learners of different age groups at key phases of the Māori lunar system (maramataka) – a chronotopic analysis charts the impact of pedagogies in activating sustainable responses by learners over time. Chronotopic mappings across video of learners aged 3–18-year-olds over a series of hikoi, final interviews with children, teachers and local Indigenous iwi knowledge bearers, and reflections, the findings illustrate how pedagogies coalesce in relationships with Indigenous, intergenerational knowledge systems that are encountered over time and space. Findings highlight the ways learners – irrespective of age – came to understand their stewardship roles accordingly. A series of tensions are identified when pedagogical temporalities coincide with, traditional classroom chronotopes – with implications for teaching and learning.