Best for
Solidarity-planning lessons, action-project design, and discussion about what ethical allyship actually looks like in practice.
Unit 5 action skills • Years 10-13 • Ethical solidarity
Transnational Activism Skills
Solidarity across borders is not about rushing in as a hero. It is about listening well, following Indigenous leadership, amplifying responsibly, and acting in ways that remain accountable long after the hashtag fades.
Free skills sheet, premium adaptation path
This version is ready to print. Te Wānanga becomes useful when you want a scenario-based version, a junior allyship lesson, or a teacher-moderation copy with sample responses.
- Generate a role-play version with real-world campaign scenarios.
- Create a shortened junior version with sentence frames and exemplars.
- Save student drafts to My Kete and refine task variants in Creation Studio.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 30-40 minutes before students design a campaign, letter, fundraiser, or awareness action.
- Grouping: Pairs or small project teams.
- Prep: Provide one or two current Indigenous-led issues or let students choose from a vetted list.
- Teaching move: Keep asking “Who asked for this?” and “Who benefits from this action?”
- Support / stretch: Support with sentence frames; stretch with communication plans and impact measures.
Resources already provided
- Four-part solidarity skill sequence
- Respectful / disrespectful action comparison prompts
- Scenario table for action testing
- Planning space for one real issue and one accountable response
- Teacher-only curriculum companion
Strong student responses should show humility, specificity, and leadership-following, not just enthusiasm.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning how to act in solidarity without centring ourselves.
- We are learning how to follow Indigenous leadership and protocol across borders.
- We are learning how to test whether an action is useful, respectful, and sustainable.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can explain who is leading the issue and how I know.
- I can distinguish amplification from speaking over others.
- I can design an action that has a clear purpose, audience, and accountability check.
Curriculum integration / Te Marautanga alignment
This handout supports participation, fairness, rights, and relationship-based social action. It also strengthens kaiako conversations about culturally safe allyship and global citizenship.
Mātauranga Māori action note
Students should understand solidarity through concepts like manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and tino rangatiratanga. Those values are not decorative additions. They change how a person behaves: listen first, seek guidance, respect protocol, and stay accountable after the public moment passes.
1
Listen deeply
Learn the issue, place, names, and protocols before deciding what support should look like.
2
Amplify well
Share the message of the people affected. Do not become the main voice or spokesperson.
3
Act strategically
Choose actions that fit the issue: letters, fundraising, attendance, education, or logistics support.
Strong solidarity practice
- Ask how to help and follow existing leadership.
- Use the group’s preferred names, language, and framing.
- Keep showing up after the media cycle fades.
- Share resources, labour, and platforms in accountable ways.
Red flags to avoid
- Speaking for people who did not ask you to represent them.
- Turning the action into your own leadership story.
- Using sacred imagery or language carelessly.
- Doing one visible action and calling it long-term support.
Scenario test: what would ethical support look like?
| Issue or campaign | Whose leadership should be followed? | What respectful support could look like | How would you know it helped? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pipeline, mining, or land-rights campaign | |||
| Language revitalisation initiative | |||
| Cultural heritage or sacred-site protection effort |
One issue I want to support
Name the issue and the Indigenous-led voice or organisation connected to it.
What I need to learn first
What context, protocols, or names do I need to understand before acting?
My accountable action
What is one realistic action I can take this month that follows leadership rather than speaking over it?
How I will measure impact
What evidence would show that the action was actually useful, respectful, and worth continuing?
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Verified statements carried by the unit this handout belongs to (y11-13-history-social-studies-global-indigenous-solidarity):
- The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) · Social Studies · Level 8 (Years 12–13): “Understand how ideologies shape society and that individuals and groups respond differently to these beliefs.”
- And: “Understand how policy changes are influenced by and impact on the rights, roles, and responsibilities of individuals and communities.”
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
Social Sciences taught well in Aotearoa should be uncomfortable — because the history of this land is one in which Māori and other communities have faced injustice, and in which those injustices are not yet fully addressed. Mātauranga Māori offers frameworks for thinking about social change that go beyond Western political theory: the concept of tino rangatiratanga (self-determination), of kotahitanga (unity in purpose), of utu (reciprocity across time) — these are not abstract ideas but working tools for analysing how power has been distributed and how it might be redistributed more justly. Social Sciences that centres these frameworks gives students the analytical vocabulary to name what they see in the world and imagine what could be different.
Tuhia ōu whakaaro · Write Your Thoughts
Reflect on what you have learned today. What was the most important idea? What question do you still have?
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. This handout stands on its own; it is not part of a linked unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will investigate global indigenous solidarity movements through a historical lens, using whakapapa of resistance to trace how communities have organised across borders to assert tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake. This unit connects Aotearoa's struggle for sovereignty to broader international movements for indigenous rights and decolonisation.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ I can analyse and compare perspectives from multiple indigenous resistance movements globally.
- ✅ I can explain how solidarity across difference has strengthened indigenous rights campaigns.
- ✅ I can evaluate the significance of international indigenous solidarity for Aotearoa New Zealand.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide graphic organisers for comparing movements. Entry-level tasks focus on identifying key events; extension tasks require evaluating the effectiveness of solidarity strategies and writing a persuasive historical argument.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach key historical terms (sovereignty, solidarity, colonisation, decolonisation). Provide bilingual glossaries where available; allow discussion in home language first.
Inclusion: Use structured note-taking templates and chunked readings. Neurodiverse learners benefit from visual timelines and choice in how they demonstrate understanding — oral, visual, or written formats all valid. Ensure content is presented sensitively given the potential for personal connection to histories of dispossession.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Centre whakapapa as a methodology — tracing the genealogy of resistance ideas across cultures and time. Frame the hīkoi as both a political act and a cultural expression of rangatiratanga. Connect to the whakataukī: "He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
Prior knowledge: Best used after foundational study of colonisation and the Treaty of Waitangi. Familiarity with basic historical inquiry skills is recommended.