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We're crafting a programme that makes the most of our time together in Tāmaki Makaurau, with a focus on interactive, practical and engaging sessions. Join us to hear from inspiring keynotes, empowered rangatahi, and more than 20 concurrent workshop presenters.
Celebrate and share the mahi happening in our sector, with a focus on practice and research that supports learners and educators with positive action, collaboration, interconnection, wellbeing, agency, creativity and joy.
This page will be updated regularly as our programme timing and sessions are confirmed. The section below includes an overview of the focus for each day and the range of activities we have planned so far. Please note that timing and details may change, but we will publish the final version by early August.
Monday 5th October 1 - 5pm
Focus: Connecting and grounding ourselves with te taiao and each other, centred around the conference theme and mana whenua pūrākau.
12 -12:45pm Delegates arrive and register, including those staying onsite. The afternoon will then include:
Mihi Whakatau and opening keynote, followed by shared kai.
Whakawhānaungatanga and nature connection activities.
Setting the scene for the conference, including an overview of the programme, theme and goals.
Tuesday 6th October 9am - 5pm
Focus: Inspiration, learning and connection through a range of interactive and engaging sessions. We will publish the timing for this day soon, but for now you can view the key activities below.
Welcome and Keynote speaker: Dan Hikuroa
Concurrent workshops: choose from a mixture of short and long sessions, across a range of topics and education levels, from early childhood and primary through to secondary and tertiary. We will have two rounds of concurrent sessions, including some field trips in the local area. See the section below for workshop presenters and descriptions.
Curriculum and sector change: focused sessions for discussion, analysis and action planning, based on the interests and expertise of delegates.
Rangatahi panel discussion: highlighting the hopes, actions and expertise of youth.
Lightning talks: highlighting a range of Aotearoa research and practice from across the motu.
All meals included during the day: morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.
Tuesday evening: optional conference dinner at Motu Moana camp.
Wednesday 7th October 9am - 12pm
Focus: Connecting and applying our learning. The morning will include time to process, reflect, collaborate and plan for the future.
Keynote panel: Education leaders and future thinkers.
Structured networking and discussion time.
Poroporoaki and reflection time.
We have a wide range of options across 20+ concurrent sessions, with interactive presentations, practical workshops and short field trips. Learn more about the diverse range of speakers and groups who are contributing to our conference this year by reading the section below.
We will keep adding to this page as sessions are confirmed.
Tara Solomon, Kaitiaki Kindergartens, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
Ripples of Kaitiakitanga explores how an Enviroschools approach can transform early childhood education by empowering tamariki, strengthening community connections, and creating lasting change through localised, action-based learning. Grounded in Enviroschools kaupapa and woven through the principles of Te Whāriki and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, this approach positions children as capable contributors, active citizens, and guardians of their environments.
Rather than sustainability being taught as a separate subject, kaitiakitanga becomes a lived experience embedded in everyday practice. Tamariki develop agency through hands-on learning, growing gardens, restoring natural spaces, reducing waste, caring for living things, and making decisions that shape their kindergarten and wider community. These authentic opportunities foster curiosity, responsibility, leadership, and a strong sense of belonging.
This session will highlight how meaningful partnerships with whānau, mana whenua, and local communities can deepen learning and create shared ownership of place and purpose.
Practical examples from Kaitiaki Kindergartens will demonstrate how frameworks provide the strength for scalability, while allowing rich localisation and cultural responsiveness. Participants will gain insight into how weaving together bicultural practice, sustainability, and community engagement creates learning environments where tamariki, kaiako, and whānau thrive together, proving that real transformation begins with small, intentional acts of care.
Watch Ripples of Kaitiakitanga - An Enviroschools Approach Read more in this article, selected as part of the HundrED Global Collection 2026.
Lisa Winiata, Kaitiaki Kindergartens, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
This session is grounded in the Voices of Children pedagogy and reframes young children as active contributors to sustainability thinking and practice. Rather than positioning children as emerging participants in adult-defined agendas, it explores how their thinking, questions, and relationships with place generate meaningful insight into ecological, social, and ethical dimensions of sustainability—enacting a “think globally, act locally” approach from the earliest years.
Drawing on practice within Kaitiaki Kindergartens, the session illustrates how sustained pedagogical listening to children’s voices informs curriculum in real and consequential ways. Children’s ideas shape inquiry, guide decision-making, and influence collective action within early learning communities, particularly in relation to te taiao, wellbeing, intergenerational responsibility, and futures-oriented thinking.
The session is supported by practice-based examples and visual documentation, and offers provocations relevant to tamariki voice, te taiao, hauora, sustainability, and mātauranga Māori in early childhood education. At a broader level, the presentation contributes to policy and research conversations by examining how centring children’s perspectives can shift dominant assumptions about knowledge, agency, and participation in sustainability education.
Judy Crooks, Enviroschools ECE Facilitator, Taitokerau Northland
SHow can we support tamariki to understand and respond to a changing climate in hopeful, meaningful, age‑appropriate ways? This practical, hands-on workshop is designed for early childhood educators and Year 0–2 teachers wanting to integrate climate learning into everyday teaching. It connects climate science with Te Whāriki through engaging, inquiry-based approaches.
In this workshop, we will explore how to navigate Te Whāriki to access resources to support climate change learning, and try out some hands-on activities, including “If the World Were an Apple", acid rain experiments, and simple global warming demonstrations. Participants will build confidence to talk about climate change in ways that are empowering and hopeful for tamariki. You will leave with practical ideas, ready-to-use activities, and inspiration to grow climate-conscious learning in your setting.
Kimberley Sullings, Holy Cross Catholic School, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
SThis session shares how environmental learning can move beyond “topics” and become real, student-led action through an inquiry approach called Pūtātara – a call to action. Participants will leave with practical ideas for building student agency, connecting learning to real-world environmental issues, and integrating environmental education across the curriculum.
Drawing on classroom practice, I will share how my Year 5–6 students have investigated real environmental issues, including stormwater and climate resilience following the 2023 Auckland floods, and biodiversity through rewilding projects within our school. Students have worked alongside community partners such as Auckland Council, Watercare, and Sustainable Schools, and have taken their learning beyond the classroom through presentations and action within their local environment.
Read more here: Empowered students share stormwater designs
Toni Shaw, Albany Senior High School, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
SThe new curriculum potentially provides challenges in ensuring that secondary students have the opportunity to experience rich, authentic learning outside the classroom. This workshop will focus on the experiences the facilitator has had in working in partnership with two marine education providers: Blue Nature Aotearoa and Seakeepers International. It will be a narrative of the development of student action projects and insights into what students have gained. The session will also include a future focus, using an ‘answers in the room’ format, exploring how this important mahi could continue to work into the future.
Arna Rose Solomon-Banks, Kura Waitii ki Kura Waitaa - Waikato Regional Council
SWai means water and according to te ao Māori (Māori worldview), Waitī is a star within the Matariki star cluster that is connected to fresh water and all the creatures that live in rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands, while Waitā is the star within the cluster that is associated with the sea and marine life. This worldview is at the heart of our Kura Waitī ki Kura Waitā programme.
Kura Waitī ki Kura Waitā is designed for rangatahi to advance their knowledge and understanding of mātauranga Māori by utilising both traditional and contemporary approaches to environmental education and learning. Launched in 2022, Kura Waitī ki Kura Waitā helps build the confidence of rangatahi and their sense of connection to te taiao (environment) while fostering te reo, tikanga and mātauranga Māori. Kura Waitī ki Kura Waitā encourages future kaitiaki through an intergenerational approach in which whakapapa, pūrākau (storytelling), whānau and iwi all play critical roles.
This approach, which utilises waka tētē (canoe), waka hourua (double-hulled seafaring canoe) and waka ama (outrigger canoe), helps rangatahi to understand their place in te taiao and how they can make a difference in protecting, restoring and revitalising our environment and addressing the impacts of climate change.
Darryn Aitchison, YouthLaw, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
SCivics education explores how people work together to address issues of social significance. WAHA is an innovative approach to the topic. Using games, videos, and beautiful design, WAHA teaches civics in a positive, motivating and uplifting way. Making WAHA was a journey of imagination, discovery, and creativity – framed by the following question:
What would civics education look like if we helped young people see they have the power to make the world better for themselves…and we got them doing it? The result is not just a civics education programme – but a systems change kaupapa – inviting young people to see themselves as effective change-makers in their communities.
In this session we will explore some of the content and learning outcomes of WAHA. Participants will gain new insights into how the legal and political system works, how public policy change happens and the tools and tactics all communities can use to shape the future they want. Secondly, we will explore how WAHA was made. Co-designed by rangatahi, educators, and legal experts, making WAHA meant trying to bridge the gap between knowledge holders (educators and justice professionals) and those seeking a more just and equitable future (young people from marginalised communities).
Note: After Darryn’s presentation, rangatahi delegates at the conference will be able to participate in an interactive session with some of the WAHA team (including rangatahi) to try out the resources and games.
Rachel Cummins and Sian Crowley, ,Climate Action Campus Ōtautahi
LClimate Action Campus Ōtautahi will share stories of authentic, place-based learning that empower young people to move from climate anxiety to climate action. Our purpose is to demonstrate how immersive, hands-on environmental education can build capability, connection, and hope in ākonga while contributing to real-world outcomes for their communities.
This session will highlight learning success stories from our campus, located alongside the Ōtākaro Avon River. We will share examples of ākonga engaging in environmental stewardship, sustainable practices and meaningful climate action. Stories will include student voice, showcasing how curiosity evolves into inquiry, collaboration, and community impact.
Join us for a session that will be narrative-driven, combining short storytelling, visuals, and opportunities for participant reflection. We aim to share kōrero that invites educators to connect these stories to their own contexts and explore how similar place-based approaches could be adapted in their settings.
Sian Crowley, The Seed Pod, Ōtautahi
SIn this collaborative, interactive workshop participants will engage with selected activities, explore how science communication can be applied in their own contexts, and exchange ideas with others in the room. The emphasis is on practical application, shared learning, and reflective practice. Participants will leave with adaptable strategies and resources that support inquiry learning, alongside approaches for using storytelling and science communication to deepen connection with the natural world.
The Seed Pod develops open-access, story-led resources designed to make science more relational, creative, and adaptable to different learning contexts. What started as a passion project of sharing nature connection stories, naturally evolved into a hub of activity weaving together science communication, storytelling, art, design, and photography to support accessible, place-based environmental education.
This workshop will include examples of practice, with a focus on the Awa Engagement Project at the Climate Action Campus. Examples will highlight how learners have engaged with activities to ask their own questions, explore local ecosystems, and develop inquiry pathways grounded in curiosity and place.
Jacqui Knight, Moths and Butterflies of New Zealand Trust, and Bianca Woyak, Tuia Burnside Primary School
Join Jacqui Knight and teacher Bianca Woyak for a visit to the butterfly habitat at the Blockhouse Bay Recreational Reserve. This practical session is relevant for educators working with early childhood, primary and intermediate schools, with links to citizen science, nature connection and environmental action.
Butterflies are surprisingly powerful tools in environmental education because they’re visible, relatable, and tightly connected to ecosystems. Their beauty and familiarity create an immediate emotional and cultural connection, drawing people in and sparking curiosity. Butterflies help introduce ecosystems and food webs, showing how plants, insects, and other animals depend on one another. Because they are highly sensitive to pollution, climate change, and habitat degradation, changes in butterfly or moth populations can signal wider environmental shifts.
In NZ, there is a history of schools planting “butterfly gardens” for monarchs as a hands-on way to teach conservation. However, expanding this focus to include native butterfly and moth species adds a richer, more locally relevant dimension. The Moths and Butterflies of NZ Trust has developed targeted resources to support this, helping schools explore endemic species and participate in citizen science projects. These initiatives deepen students’ understanding of biodiversity and highlight how climate change is affecting our unique Lepidoptera.
Read more here: Moths and Butterflies of NZ website
Education Gazette article about Bianca and the Burnside butterfly project
Frazer Dale, Sustainable Schools Auckland
PJoin Frazer Dale, The Biodiversity Guy, for a short walk down to Green Bay Beach at low tide to look at the birds. This is a bird Hotspot on the international citizen science app eBird. The Manukau Harbour gets its name from the abundant manu (birds) that feed on the shell banks and mudflats when the tide goes out.
Frazer will have sets of binoculars, bird scopes and bird ID charts for an engaging, hands-on, place-based education session. The skills learnt can be applied to any habitat with birds, so participants can do this back home in their local area.
Discounted rate for members. Attendance for daytime programme Monday - Wednesday including food.
Attendance for daytime programme Monday - Wednesday, including food.
Discounted rate for current tertiary students. Attendance for daytime programme Monday - Wednesday including food.
Tuesday evening dinner at the conference venue.
Accommodation on Monday and Tuesday nights with breakfasts included.
