Cultural dissonance in tertiary education: History repeating itself

In Aotearoa New Zealand, the largest growing cohort of Mäori engaging in tertiary education at degree level is mature Mäori women. For most Mäori beginning university there are considerable challenges to achieving a universitylevel education and qualification. This paper reports on a study that used Kaupapa Mäori and Mana Wähine research approaches to give voice to five mature Mäori women who shared aspects of their first year at university, highlighting the cultural dissonance they experienced and how they overcame the challenges they faced as students. Attitudes to education as the result of the colonising effects of assimilation and educational policies contributed to the lives of these wähine as children and also later in life as tertiary students. This paper contributes to the understanding of tertiary education experiences from mature Mäori women’s worldviews and explores the role cultural dissonance plays in educational engagement.