From teen dad to top grad: Tane Marsters

Things didn’t start out being easy for University of Auckland Bachelor of Education graduate Tane Marsters (Cook Islands Māori, Ngāpuhi).

The young father of two, now in his first year of teaching at Hurupaki School in Whangārei, became a dad for the first time at the end of Year 11 at Whangārei Boys High, but was determined to stay on at school.

“I was pretty much thrown straight into the deep end, but then I stuck at school through Year 12 and 13,  and I ended up becoming head boy, alongside my mate. I think it was the first time two Māori boys were head students at the same time. That was a proud moment, finishing school while being a dad.”

Tane says he’s especially grateful to his te reo Māori teachers for their guidance and support.

“I didn't really have any sort of connection with my culture at that time, and they pretty much reassured me of my identity.”

He says he can’t believe that he’s now not only able to speak te reo in personal situations but also in public ones, welcoming visitors at the Tai Tokerau campus, for example.

“I got to the point where I could even do assignments in te reo.”

Tane made the decision to become a teacher in his last year of school and started his degree at the University’s Tai Tokerau campus, doing the Huarahi Māori (Māori-medium education) specialisation.

The course is for students reasonably proficient in te reo who want to learn to teach the Māori-medium curriculum, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, which covers areas like Te Reo Matatini (literacy), Pāngarau (numeracy) and Tikanga/Mātauranga Māori (culture and knowledge).

He says he liked all the lecturers and the whole campus felt very close-knit, with the "family style" atmosphere perfect for students who also had small children, which was the case for many.

“It was great because they let you bring your kids in at any time. We pretty much had a campus full of kids, newborns at one point. People didn’t have to feel embarrassed if their baby was crying; they could take care of their child and study. It was very welcoming in that way.”

Even the lecturers took turns “holding the babies”, he says. “I think they wanted to hold them!”

The presence of the tamariki “solidified” the reason they were all there, says Tane, and at the beginning of his second year (2024) he and his partner Aorangi, who is also studying for a Bachelor of Health Science majoring in Health Promotion, had their second child, a son Kokowai, to join daughter Kahikatea, now five.

“I had said to myself when I started at uni that I wouldn’t rely on getting extensions, but after Kokowai was born, I had to swallow my ego and ask for help, so I got plenty of extensions, and that’s how I survived!”

To make things even harder, his son turned out to have serious swallowing problems, was in and out of hospital, and now has a feeding tube.

“We’ve just been very lucky to have the support of our families to get us through.”

Tane is one of five siblings, with both parents living in Whangārei, and partner Aorangi’s mum is Dr Maia Hetaraka, the director of Tai Tokerau Campus.

Tane has been enjoying his first year of teaching and says it’s “everything he hoped it would be”.

“I’m in a collaborative classroom with another teacher and 50 Year 3 and 4 students. I feel like there’s just so much to do, I hardly ever get through my checklist!”

At the moment he’s spending lots of time after class organising school camp and planning, but he doesn’t mind.

“You have to be flexible.”

He did used to play a lot of rugby, he says, but after some bad head knocks, decided “if he was going to be a teacher, he needed his brain” and has given it up in favour of running and learning to play the guitar.

His advice to anyone considering a similar path, especially as a young parent, is to learn to balance life alongside study and not let it “take over your life”, and to imagine the sort of teacher you want to be.

“I’ve always wanted to be ‘that kind of teacher’, the one you remember years later as really making school fun, teaching you important things and having a positive impact in your life.”

Tane joined nine other Bachelor of Education (Teaching) graduates at the ceremony on 10 March in Whangārei,  five of whom did the Huarahi Māori specialisation.

There were also 14 graduates from the School of Nursing (Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences), graduating with a range of postgraduate qualifications.