Youth diversity - Diverse needs 

How can we support diverse youth in Aotearoa New Zealand? 

In the previous topic we looked at the Youth Development Strategy Aotearoa and the six principles of youth development.¹ A central aim of the strategy is to acknowledge diversity and the range of different needs of several groups of New Zealand youth. In this topic we will explore each of those groups in more detail.  

It is also important to be mindful that many youth identify with more than one group. In the words of one respondent (a Pacific secondary school student) to the Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation online survey: ‘Respect diversities of religions, cultures, gender, sexualities, classes, castes, nationalities, languages, abilities, socioeconomic statuses.’² 

What does it mean to be a rangatahi in New Zealand?

Just under 17 percent of people living in Aotearoa New Zealand are of Māori heritage and almost 24 percent of Māori are rangatahi (aged between 12 and 24). This is 23 percent of the entire youth population.³ As you can see, rangatahi make up a good proportion of young people living in New Zealand.

When UNICEF asked 24 rangatahi what was important to them, they replied that loved ones and whānau are everything. One interviewee said ‘Whānau is family. It means we don’t give up on each other’.⁴ Whānau, hapū (subtribe) and iwi (tribe or people) are clearly an integral part of growing up Māori, which needs to be respected when working with these young people.

What do rangatahi Māori need?

Rangatahi have the right to establish and maintain connections with their whānau, hapū and iwi. Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) established this as a young person’s right. Rangatahi have the right to participate in a culturally appropriate way.

Some rangatahi have opportunities to learn more about their culture and heritage through their whānau, while others may need more support to establish this connection. Supporting this learning and encouraging opportunities to learn te reo (the Māori language) and tikanga (Māori cultural practices) can help to solidify a young person’s Māori identity.

Realising that many rangatahi live between conflicting cultures is an important issue. Increasing non-Māori people’s understanding and acceptance of tikanga Māori practices and rights can help rangatahi feel better able to make choices and decisions that are meaningful for them. There may also be community-based rangatahi-led youth development programmes you could look into that would be valuable for rangatahi you work with.

Explore further

If you want to learn more about the experiences of rangatahi, and supporting youth in Aotearoa New Zealand, the documents linked below are good resources to refer to:

• Thriving Rangatahi: A review of protective and risk factors is a detailed overview of factors (e.g. health, education, cultural identity) that influence the lives of young people in New Zealand. It is a long document, but if you read the high level findings and key themes (pages 4 and 5) and then the summary considerations (starting on page 39) you will gain a good understanding of how those factors affect the wellbeing of young people.⁵
• Working together to support tamariki, rangatahi and their family/whānau is an Oranga Tamariki guide to help people working with tamariki (children) and rangatahi (young people – note that in this course we use the word ‘rangatahi’ to mean Māori youth specifically, but in this Oranga Tamariki document the term is used to mean any young person). The guide covers a range of adverse issues rangatahi may face, and how an adult who works with them can recognise when they need support. It provides information on places to find help with specific issues (e.g. sexual abuse), and the process for reporting dangerous situations (Oranga Tamariki is New Zealand’s agency for protecting children and young people who are at risk).⁶

Task: Supporting rangatahi

Think about the following question:

• Whānau, hapū and iwi are extremely important to rangatahi. As someone who works with young people, how might you respect and encourage those relationships when you interact with rangatahi Māori in your role?

Task: Te Tiriti o Waitangi in your practice

Read about Te Tiriti o Waitangi on this Archives New Zealand webpage.⁷ This resource explains the background, contents and history of Te Tiriti | the Treaty.

Think about the following question:

• How could you apply Te Tiriti o Waitangi to your practice with rangatahi specifically?

What does it mean to be a Pasifika youth in New Zealand?

Pasifika youth are young people living in New Zealand whose families are originally from Pacific Island nations such as Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Niue, Fiji, Tokelau or Kiribati. Young Pasifika people you work with may have just arrived in New Zealand, they may be the first generation of their family born in New Zealand, or their family may have been living here for many generations.

Young Pasifika people born in New Zealand often have a connection to their original heritage and culture. Although New Zealand shares many similarities with other island nations, it is important that Pasifika youth can develop their own identity and connection to their heritage.

Community, family, and church can be central to Pasifika youths’ wellbeing. As Josiah Tualamali’i, a co-founder of the Pacific Youth Leadership and Transformation Council, tells us: ‘If you can assist a young Pacific person to live to their full potential, that has a whole ripple effect in the community.’⁸

What do Pasifika Youth need?

Anyone who works with Pasifika youth needs to keep in mind they aren’t all from the same island nation. Two young people who identify as Pasifika may have completely different traditions or cultural practices. However, many nations do have shared values, such as an emphasis on the importance of family and church.

Pasifika youth are facing ‘new’ problems that were not part of the experiences of their parents’ or grandparents’ generations, because they are a new generation of young people who were born and/or are growing up in New Zealand. Many young Pasifika people would like to have the opportunity to be heard and participate in decisions that affect them and their communities. It may be important or effective to work alongside the church in some situations and to look for community-based programmes available for Pasifika youth.

Consider encouraging opportunities for a native language to be used in aspects of their activities and tasks. Try to be aware of cultural differences when engaging with the young person or taking part in activities – this could be differences between the young person’s culture and your own cultural norms, or between young people from various cultural backgrounds. Increasing general awareness of Pasifika cultural practices among people who don’t have Pasifika heritage may be helpful in making Pasifika youth feel more comfortable to be themselves.

Here was one Pacific tertiary student’s response to the Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation online survey about what they wanted to see in a more robust education system²:

Task: Voices of Pacific people

In 2018, the Ministry of Education collected feedback and suggestions from more than 43,000 New Zealanders about what they wanted in the education system of the future. Part of the purpose of this Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation project was to hear the voices of people whose voices are not usually heard in these discussions, including educators, parents, children and young people, Māori and Pacific communities, people with disabilities, and those needing learning support.

The online survey responses from Pacific peoples has been summarised in the report ‘The voices of Pacific people’. Skim through this report and you will see that many quotes of individual respondents have been included in their own words. Read these quotes and find one that resonates with you – think about what you are doing in your own work practice that relates to what that person wants to see in our future education system.

Note: The Pacific Voices Summary Report is also available in Samoan, Tongan, Cook Island Māori, Niuean and Tokelauan.⁹

Explore further

There are numerous organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand whose work intersects with education and the needs of Pacific youth. Make a note of these agencies and have a look at their websites, as you may find them useful to refer to in the future.

• Le Va is an organization whose aim to support Pasifika families and communities to reach their full potential. They provide resources for teaching and education, offer scholarship opportunities for youth and cultural competence programmes for educators, and many other services. Check out their website.¹⁰
• The Pasifika Proud website shares stories and resources for Pasifika living in New Zealand. Pasifika Proud also provides workshops and community programmes.¹¹
• PHAB Pasifika state that it is ‘all about giving young people with Pacific Island heritage the confidence to explore their options providing culturally appropriate opportunities for fun, inclusion and social participation.’ On their website you can see the range of services and projects they offer, including holiday and sports programmes.¹²
• Ministry for Pacific Peoples is part of the New Zealand Government. On their website you can see details on programmes, publications, funding and general information for Pacific peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand.¹³

Task: Supporting Pacific language initiatives

Take a look at the government’s Youth Languages Fund which was created to combat the decline of Pacific languages being spoken in New Zealand.¹⁴ Do you think government initiatives like this are valuable? Why or why not?

What does it mean to be an LGBTQI+ Youth in New Zealand?

In Aotearoa New Zealand, one in every 10 people describe themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex (LGBTQI+). Often referred to as the ‘rainbow community’, LGBTQI+ people are becoming more visible in our societies; gender fluidity and same-sex or multiple-sex attraction relationships are more common.

When working with youth you will almost certainly work with someone from the rainbow community.

What do LGBTQI+ youth need?

Young LGBTQI+ youth face all the same issues as heterosexual young people as well as additional social and health stigmas from a society that sometimes does not accept their sexuality. Many young people who belong to the rainbow community feel unsafe in certain everyday environments and report experiencing harassment in various forms including verbal and physical abuse. According to Just Like Us (a LGBT+ charity organisation from the UK), 85% of LGBT+ young people still regularly hear homophobic remarks and one in four experience daily tensions in the place they are living because of their sexuality.¹⁵ These youth may face social exclusion and issues where family members may not accept the young person for who they are.

LGBTQI+ youth may find it difficult to come to terms with their sexuality. It’s crucial that young people develop a positive sexual identity as it can affect their self-esteem and wellbeing. Many young people in the rainbow community need encouragement to feel safe, understood and accepted. One of the ways this can be done is providing opportunities to engage with peers or mentors in their community through youth development programmes, online communities, and LGBTQI+ youth organisations. Increasing awareness and acceptance of other queer youth around them could really help the young person to feel safe and supported.

Task: People and moments in rainbow history

Watch this documentary video (20:37) about some of the history of New Zealand Parliament’s involvement – in terms of both its participants and laws – in this country’s rainbow community.¹⁶ Think about how things were before some of these laws were passed and how this could have affected LGBTQI+ youth in previous decades.

Explore further

Here are some more links with information and resources for supporting rainbow youth in Aotearoa. Make a note of these and have a look at their websites, as you may find them useful to refer some young people to in the future.

• RainbowYOUTH is a national charity that works ‘with young people, their whānau and their wider communities to provide safe and respectful support’ to queer, gender diverse, takatāpui and intersex youth.¹⁷  Their website lists social media accounts to follow, support services they provide, information and volunteer opportunities.
• Takatapui is a website run by RainbowYOUTH and Tīwhanawhana Trust. It aims to be on online hub for resources, including books and articles, for those who identify as takatāpui (a traditional Māori term meaning ‘intimate companion of the same sex’, which has nowadays been reclaimed by Māori LGBTQI+ people to describe themselves) and for their whānau.¹⁸
• Inside Out is a national charity that offers resources, information, workshops and consultation services to support the safety of LGBTQI+ youth in their schools and communities.¹⁹ Inside Out provides training and education programmes aimed at schools, workplaces and community organisations.
• Rainbow Mental Health is a resource guide to working with the rainbow community in a mental health setting.²⁰ Although it doesn’t only deal with youth (it is about supporting LGBTQI+ people of any age) and it is written for a mental health setting, there may be areas in this guide that could be applicable in your work practice.

What does it mean to be a youth living rurally in New Zealand?

Around 27% young of young people in New Zealand live in small urban or rural areas. The proportion of those living in rural areas who are youth between 15 and 24 years old is lower than the national average.²¹ This could be explained by the many young people moving to cities for study, work and the lifestyle.

Many young people living rurally will have a positive experience of growing up, but they may also face a unique set of challenges.

What do youth living rurally need?

Many youth development programmes and support services are available for young people living rurally – encouraging or helping young people to access these could have a positive impact.

Transport and other logistical issues may need to be addressed in areas where there is no public transport. Where there is significant distance to the nearest amenities, young people may need assistance in attending school, development programmes, courses or workplaces. Lack of transport can also cause barriers when trying to see friends and extended family members. Socialising can help a young person to feel connected.

Another way to stay connected is through good high-speed internet connections, but again, young people in rural areas may need help accessing this. Helping them to stay connected may also involve encouraging and enhancing opportunities for socialising, training and employment in the young person’s own area.

Keep in mind, however, that many youths living in rural areas will eventually leave to live in urban or more populated areas to access services, education and employment.

Explore further

Here are some other potential resources that might be useful in supporting young people living in rural areas.

• Future Leaders is a youth development programme aimed at helping young people living in rural areas; the programme is currently running in Kawerau, Whakatāne, Ōpōtiki, Greymouth, Whangarei and Kaikohe.²² Through this programme the young people receive mentoring and participate in workshops to help develop skills and ideas for the future to make a different in their communities.
• The New Zealand Police have a webpage titled Staying Safe in Rural New Zealand with advice for people living in rural areas on how they can keep safe and prevent rural crime.²³

Task: Mental health strategies for those living rurally

Read this article on caring for your mental health for those who live in rural or isolated areas.²⁴ For each of the following strategies, give an example of how a young person you work with could achieve this:

• Staying connected
• Volunteering in your community
• Eat a healthy diet
• Reach out for help.

What does it mean to be a young parent in New Zealand?

The number of young people becoming parents has dropped over the years, particularly the proportion of young women becoming mothers. This is due to – amongst other factors – couples waiting longer to become parents while instead focusing on their careers, or because of more thorough sex education in schools and better access to cheap contraception options.

Māori women in their late teens and early twenties have a higher rate of pregnancy than other women of their age in New Zealand. In 2000, young Māori women had a birth rate of 22.7 births per 1000, compared to 4.9 for non-Māori young women. The babies born to Māori women under 18 years accounted for five percent of all babies born to Māori women in 2005.²⁵ Due to these statistics, some of the support young parents need should take into consideration the young people’s cultural backgrounds and their cultural needs.

Task: Read (or watch) real-life stories of teenage motherhood

Annika was 15 years old when she got pregnant. You can read a very personal and moving account of her story on the Conversations with Teen Mums website.²⁶ Conversations with Teen Mums is a documentary project carried out over four years where director and photographer Juliette Veber interviewed and filmed a number of teenaged mothers in Auckland. You can watch videos of three other teen mums on the website, as well as read the stories of several others like Annika.

The New Zealand Herald article ‘Life as a teen mum: “Incredibly tough” but with “positive” outcomes’ by Kirsty Johnston looks as some facets of the stories shared in Conversations with Teen Mums, but examines them in the broader context of other societal factors like poverty rates and the housing situation in Auckland.²⁷

Think about things you would have done to support these two women if you had been working with them either when they found out they were pregnant or when their baby was born.

What do young parents need?

An enormous part of what young parents need – not only for Māori but for many others – is a supportive family/whānau and community. This can sometimes be difficult if the parents are very young and their families or community aren’t very accepting of young parenthood. Support groups with other parents or parenting experts can also help with a sense of support and community.

Often young parents will need financial assistance and could have trouble applying for their entitlements or knowing what they are eligible for in terms of social support services.

Helping a young parent to continue in education or other types of personal development can also be an important way of supporting them. Young parents need to know that just because they have become parents does not mean they are not able to pursue further training, higher education or a chosen career.

Explore further

Here is a list of websites and resources that may be helpful in your practice working with young people, some of whom might be young parents. Make a note of the resources that stand out to you now and save the links, so you can refer back to them later if you need to.

• This page on teen parents on Birthright’s website provides a brief overview of financial assistance available to teen parents in New Zealand who want to continue their education.²⁸ Elsewhere on their website you can also find resources and links to other websites that could be helpful.
• E Tipu E Rea (previously known as Thrive, established in 2011) is a teen parent programme that aims to to support, advocate for, and empower teen parents in the Auckland region. They work from a kaupapa Māori perspective to uphold the mana and hauora (wellbeing) of young parents.²⁹ They assist teen parents with things like housing, relationships, parenting courses, mentors, finances and education, among other things. They also have a newsletter and news articles on their website.
• This page on Health Navigator provides a short list of ways you can support young parents.³⁰
• Oranga Tamariki’s ‘Teen Parents Evidence Brief’ is the results of a big study done in New Zealand on teen parenthood. This report is a comprehensive reference source for statistics, research findings, profiles and interventions that could be useful when working with a young parent.²⁵

What does it mean to be a youth living with a disability in New Zealand?

In 2013 around 13.9% of young people aged between 15 to 24 living in New Zealand had a disability that was impacting their daily living in some way. The most common of these are physical disabilities that impact mobility, followed by sensory disabilities that affect sight or hearing.³¹ There are many more disabilities that affect our youth – too many to list here – so it’s important to remember that not all disabilities are obvious or even visible.

What do youth living with a disability need?

Young people with disabilities may need additional support but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the same hopes, goals and aspirations as those without a disability. Supporting these young people can include providing opportunities for interaction and friendships with peers, particularly those without disabilities. Also providing opportunities for the young person to be involved in schools, communities and wider political processes like voting in local elections or campaigning for causes that are important to them.

David Corner, who has spent 12 years working with individuals with disabilities, says it’s important for people who have a disability to speak up about things that are important to them.³² Youth workers can help these young people to engage with what is important to them. This could mean minimising any barriers such as physical access to buildings (e.g. choosing venues with wheelchair ramps), helping others to understand disabilities more thoroughly, and possibly even changing their own attitudes towards disability.

Young people with disabilities may need help to be involved in their wider communities or may need support to get into training courses or youth development programmes. Youth workers may be in a good position to facilitate this.

Explore further

Here are some articles and resources that you may find interesting.

• The Human Rights Commission has this webpage focusing specifically on disability rights.³³ For people who have not considered the range of difficulties faced by disabled people in their day to day life, this is a good introduction to what it looks like to uphold the rights of people with disabilities. This page also outlines what laws protect those rights, and how to make a complaint if those rights aren’t being respected.
• ‘Rethinking language: The rising debate around the use of ableist words and phrases’ by Melanie Earley is a Stuff article about rethinking the way we speak about and to people with disabilities.³⁴
• This article by Ashley Eisenmenger titled ‘Ableism 101: What it is, what it looks like, and what we can do to to fix it’ has lists of examples of everyday ableism and ways we can recognise and combat it.³⁵
• New Zealand Disability Strategy (2016–2026) is the 10-year strategy put forward by the New Zealand Government that sets out principles, approaches and desired outcomes for those with disabilities in New Zealand.³⁶

Task: Barriers and challenges to enjoying life

Read the following three examples about disabled young people wanting to pursue an opportunity or take part in life. What kind of barriers or specific challenges might these young people face, and how could you as a youth worker assist them?

1. Jacqui would love to pursue a degree at university but has trouble reading and writing because of dyslexia.
2. Tim would like to attend his school assemblies but is on the autism spectrum and is sensitive to loud noises.
3. Kate would like to make more friends but finds it hard to communicate with people as she communicates through sign language.

What does it mean to be a migrant youth in New Zealand?

New Zealand has a really diverse range of ethnicities and cultures. In the 2018 census it showed that 70% of New Zealanders are of European descent. This reflects the large number of migrants who came from countries like England and Ireland. More recently the number of immigrants from Asia has been increasing, along with migration from other non-English speaking countries.³⁷ Many of the young people who have arrived here from these countries came to New Zealand as students and/or with their families. As more of these young people settle in New Zealand and seek opportunities for education, training and employment, it is important for those who work with youth to understand some of the challenges faced by new migrants or refugees.

What do migrant youth need?

The kind of support young refugees and migrants need can depend on how recently they have arrived in New Zealand. They may have arrived just weeks ago, or they may have grown up here after being brought here as young children by their families.

Young people who have just arrived may need help with language barriers, cultural differences and/or practical aspects of settling into life in an unfamiliar country. They may struggle with having to have different identities at home, school, or work.

Some young people might have come here alone to study, meaning they are away from their family and friends, which could lead to loneliness or anxiety. They may not qualify for free healthcare or other benefits that citizens are entitled to, which can lead to financial stress. When working with these young people, helping them to find any entitlements they have or letting them know about other ways they can be supported will be valuable to their wellbeing.

Young people who have grown up in New Zealand but whose families are migrants may not have the same problems with language but may still face difficulties with cultural differences and expectations. Parents might struggle with their children growing up in different ways to how they themselves grew up in their native countries.

Youth workers can support young migrants and refugees by being considerate of the unique needs these young people have and encouraging these young people to retain their cultural practices.

Racism and the occasionally unrealistic expectations placed on refugees and migrant families from other New Zealanders is important to take into account. In one of the personal stories shared on the Migrant Times’ website, one mother of a teenage boy said: ‘I think many immigrants face isolation, racism, lack of understanding of cultural context of immigration communities within the schools, work places and health system.’ She said the discrimination and racism in these immigrants’ communities may lead to mental distress and feelings of isolation, fear, intimidation and low self-esteem.³⁸

Youth workers will be an important link to New Zealand society for these young people and can help with their transition into adulthood at the same time as they are transitioning into a new cultural setting as migrant New Zealanders.

Explore further

• The Migrant Times has a section called ‘Your Corner’ that shares many personal stories of those who have migrated to New Zealand as children or young adults.³⁹ Reading one or two of these stories can give us a good insight into some of the experiences migrants have when moving to New Zealand.
• Immigration New Zealand’s The Settlement Outcomes of Migrant Youth is a report combining research findings that are relevant to government departments and other organisations that work with migrant youth.⁴⁰ It is a huge resource containing many different links to articles and studies that have looked at how young people settle and adjust when they move to New Zealand.
• Belong Aotearoa has some great anti-racism information and advice.⁴¹ Belong Aotearoa supports and offers services for recently arrived migrants and refugees.
• English for Speakers of Other Languages: Refugee Handbook for Schools is a resource published by the Ministry of Education.⁴² This handbook is specifically written for schools, but it still has a lot of relevant information for working with refugee youth more broadly.

Task: Different stages of settling in

Read this page on New Zealand Now, which is a website run by Immigration New Zealand, about the different emotional stages of new migrants settling in to a new country.⁴³

Look at the ‘Settlement curve’ line chart and think about ways you could help to support a young person in each of these five stages.

1. You are excited about moving to a new life in a new country
2. You might have a bad experience, large or small, that frightens you.
3. You are not sure if you want to stay - you may decide to leave.
4. You fight against the bad feelings and decide to make the most of the opportunities here.
5. You start to feel settled and comfortable in your new life (some people will feel settled sooner than others).

For this assessment you will read some case studies and answer questions on the diverse needs of young people and the different issues they face.

Then, you will listen to (or read) a conversation between youth workers and reflect on the needs of Pacific youth.

You are now ready for Task 1, Task 2 of Assessment 2.3.