ACE Aotearoa

Happy National Volunteer Week! 🇳🇿✨

As National Volunteer Week (14–20 June) is being celebrated across Aotearoa New Zealand, we are pausing to recognise the heartbeat of our sector: our incredible volunteers.

This year’s celebration coincides with the International Year of the Volunteer 2026, with the theme “Your Year to Volunteer – Tōu tau ki te tūao”. It is a powerful call to action that both honours those already giving their time and invites others to begin their own journey.

Within our ACE sector alone, we have identified more than 1,300 dedicated volunteers – though we know the true number of those contributing to lifelong learning is far higher.

To our 1,300+ volunteers: thank you for your labour of love and your commitment to social action. By recognising your vital contributions, we hope to foster a culture of deep appreciation and inspire others to step forward.

Volunteering New Zealand

A good lesson plan provides structure, direction and purpose. A great lesson plan does all of that while remaining flexible enough to respond to the realities of adult learning.

Adult learners come to learning with different experiences, skills, cultures, goals and life situations. Some learn quickly, while others need more time and support. Some have a clear goal from the beginning, while others discover new interests and opportunities as they learn. Life events such as work, family commitments, health issues or financial pressures can also affect how and when people learn.

This means effective lesson planning is not about following a fixed set of activities from start to finish. Instead, it is about creating learning that is clear, purposeful and flexible enough to respond to changing learner needs. Good plans allow educators to adjust activities, pace and support while still keeping learning focused on the intended outcomes. They are designed to work for different learners rather than expecting everyone to learn in the same way.

This Thursday, 18 June, join the third workshop in the 2026 ACE Teaching Standards series to explore practical approaches to lesson planning that balance structure with flexibility. Discover how to create purposeful, adaptable learning experiences that respond to diverse learner needs, goals and changing pathways.

The workshop is fully funded by the Tertiary Education Commission. We know your calendars are full, so if you’re booked up on Thursday, register anyway. Recordings and supporting resources are sent to everyone who registers, so the learning is yours to revisit when it suits.

Thursday 18 June, 12–1pm online.

Register: https://ace-teaching-standards-online-2026.lilregie.com/

Every adult learner arrives in an Adult and Community Education (ACE) programme with their own aspirations, experiences, strengths and goals. Whether they are gaining a qualification, strengthening literacy or language skills, preparing for employment, returning to learning after time away, or pursuing a personal interest – each learner brings a unique pathway and purpose.

Learner-centred teaching recognises that meaningful learning happens when learners have agency in shaping their own journey. By putting rangatiratanga into practice, educators create opportunities for learners to have choice, voice, ownership and influence over their learning. Rather than teaching being something that is done to learners, it becomes a process that is developed with them.

This Thursday, the second workshop in the 2026 ACE Teaching Standards series explores how educators can embed rangatiratanga through learner-centred practice. In this one-hour online session, you'll examine the principles of learner-centred teaching in ACE contexts, explore practical ways to support learner choice and shared decision-making, and consider teaching approaches that respond to the diverse needs, experiences and aspirations of adult learners.

The workshop is fully funded by the Tertiary Education Commission. We know your calendars are full, so if you’re booked up on Thursday, register anyway. Recordings and supporting resources are sent to everyone who registers, so the learning is yours to revisit when it suits.

Thursday 11 June, 12–1pm online.

Register: https://ace-teaching-standards-online-2026.lilregie.com/

Before this week ends, we wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU to everyone who joined us last week at three of our flagship events: Hui Fono, ACE Conference and ACE Aotearoa Awards.

What we also love doing each year is getting a group photo of everyone present. These photos, by our talented photographer Jo Moore, captures the energy of the three days that brought our sector together.

Hui Fono is our dedicated, culturally-grounded, professional development space designed by and for Māori and Pacific working in Adult and Community Education. ACE Conference is our annual sector gathering – two days of professional learning, advocacy and connection across Adult and Community Education in Aotearoa. Our ACE Aotearoa Awards is an annual celebration that recognises the outstanding educators, programmes and leaders in Adult and Community Education across the motu.

Our annual flagship events remind us what is possible when the sector turns up for one another. It is a chance to learn from, and collaborate with each other.

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa.

Thank you also to our Hui Fono keynote speakers and masterclass facilitators – Peter-Lucas Jones and Namulau'ulu Nu’uali’i Eteroa Lafaele, and to our ACE Conference keynote speakers Madeline Newman and Dr Mahsa McCauley (Mohaghegh).

We also want to give a huge mihi to all our Ako facilitators, Jam Mayer, Lara Draper, Carla (Lim) Teng-Westergaard, Steven Renata, Paula Gair, Jia Rong Yap, Rosie Gallen PhD, Helen Lomax, Dr Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga (ONZM) Associate Prof, especially to Jose Roberto"Robbie" Guevara, PhD and Leone Wheeler who travelled from Australia.

Highlights from each of our keynotes are coming over the next few weeks, along with photos and videos from across the three days.

We can't wait to share more with you!

Our 2025 ACE Aotearoa Educator of the Year Tangata Whenua, Whaea Rahera Shortland (Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tawake, Ngāti Hao), has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in this year's King's Birthday Honours.

The honour recognises more than five decades of mahi revitalising te reo Māori. In the 1980s, Whaea Rahera established the first total immersion Māori language unit in a New Zealand secondary school, at Auckland Girls' Grammar. She went on to help found Te Ataarangi Educational Trust, whose methodology has helped thousands of people speak te reo in their homes and communities.

Congratulations Whaea Rahera! ❤️

Read more here:

From classrooms to communities: Northlanders recognised in King’s Birthday list Their work spans te reo Māori, rugby league, health, business and inclusion.