National Executive

OMEP Aotearoa National Executive

Co-Presidents

Vice Presidents

Ngaroma Williams
Co-President Tangata Whenua

Tēnā koutou katoa
Ka tuku mihi atu ki a koutou katoa
Ko Ngaroma Williams tōku ingoa
He uri nō ngā roherohenga katoa o Te Arawa waka mai i Maketū ki Tongariro
Ka toro atu ōku tātai whakapapa anō hoki ki te waka o Tainui ko Ngāti Raukawa ki Wharepūhunga me Ngāti Awa ki tai o Mataatua waka.
Me kī ko ōku mahi kei roto i te Whare Wānanga Pākehā,
ko ngā mahi whakaakoranga mātauranga, anō hoki tēnei e kokia nei, e ākina nei, tēnei ao Māori kei roto i ngā momo mahi whakaakoranga.
   Ko te tikanga e whai au tēnei huarahi ka tīmata ki tāku whakatupuranga nōku te waimarie i tupu ake au i roto i te ao Māori waenganui ngā koeke me ngā whānau katoa o ngā pā o Te Whakarewarewa, Ngāpuna, Ōhinemutu,
 ko rātou kē ōku tino pūkenga.
 
Greetings
My name is Ngaroma Williams
I have connections to all of Te Arawa people from Maketū to Tongariro.
I am also connected to Ngāti Raukawa ki Wharepūhunga and Ngāti Awa.
I work in the education space within New Zealand’s University in the School of Teacher Education.  Integral to my work is weaving our Māori culture, language and identity into our teaching contexts, curriculum, and practices.
I was fortunate enough to have been raised by my people within our own language, culture, and ways of doing. I am currently a Senior Lecturer (Early Childhood education, Primary education, Māori Education) within the School of Teacher Education at the University of Canterbury. I am passionate about Māori educational priorities and OMEP is one such catalyst to support the growth of our tamariki to become tomorrow’s leaders of our country. 

Andrea Delaune
Co-President Tangata Tiriti

​Andrea is dedicated to raising social justice awareness, with a specific focus upon transformative change and pedagogical possibilities in a wide range of disciplines and research areas. She actively seeks to resist approaches to education that limit our appreciation of the complexities of learning and teaching with a view to disrupting binary and didactic enactments and promoting pedagogies of attention and love.
She is currently involved in projects on sustainability, anti-racism commitment, philosophy of education, teacher advocacy, and speculative thinking for educational change. She is an experienced infant and toddler specialist teacher with over 20 years in early childhood education. Currently, Andrea is a lecturer in initial teacher education, focussing upon early childhood education

Fleur Hohaia-Rollinson
Co Vice-President Tangata Whenua

Tēnā koutou katoa
Ngā mihi nunui ki a koutou katoa.
Ko wai au?
No Te Tai Tokerau me Waikato ahau.
Ko Ngātokimatawhaorua me Tainui ōku waka.
Ko Waihou me Waikato ōku awa.
Ko Ngāpuhi, rātou ko Te Rarawa, ko Ngāti Apakura, Ko Ngāti Maniapoto ōku iwi.
Ko Ngāti Hua, rātou ko Ngāti Hinetu, ko Ngaati Te Maawe ōku hapu.
Ko Fleur Hohaia-Rollinson tōku ingoa.
E noho ana ahau i te rohe o Tāmaki Makaurau.
He pūkenga matua ahau ki Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand.
Nō reira, tēnā koutou katoa.
 
Greetings
My name is Fleur Hohaia-Rollinson
My ancestral connections reside within the Northland and Waikato regions of New Zealand, and I was born, raised and live in Auckland.  
I have been working in the early childhood sector for twenty plus years, primarily in initial teacher education. As a senior lecturer at Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand, I teach in both the Bachelor of Teaching (ECE) and Master of Education (ECE) programmes and have taught across a range of courses including Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Mātauranga Māori, Inclusive Education and Practicum.
 
I have and continue to be involved in collaborative research projects investigating equity, inclusion, and disability rights for ECE student teachers and teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand in initial teacher education environments and workplace settings.
 
I believe it is essential to have diverse teachers working in early learning services to effectively meet the needs of the diverse identities, languages, cultures, and backgrounds of the communities they serve, and to send a clear message that the ECE sector values and celebrates difference.
 
I am also passionate about education for sustainability in particular sustaining Māori language and cultural practices in early childhood settings.
 
I have been part of the OMEP family for a number of years and am committed to advocating for children’s rights to quality, inclusive and equitable education and care, with a well-qualified, diverse and inclusive teacher workforce.
 
Ngā mihi
Fleur

Kate McAnelly
Co Vice-President Tangata Tiriti 

I believe that early childhood education by its very nature is a necessary site of political advocacy and social justice. This is what lead me to my initial involvement with OMEP Aotearoa's Ōtākou rōpū in 2017, and now to contributing to the mahi of OMEP Aotearoa's national executive too. My research and activism interests coalesce around kaupapa of inclusive early childhood education, disabled children's childhood studies, children's rights, the sociology of diverse childhoods, and the politics of inclusive education in Aotearoa New Zealand. I'm proud to have been part of the Ministry of Education's Centre Design, Environmental Factors and Group Size (CEGAP) expert advisory panel, which was created to provide high-level advice to the Ministry to, in turn, support the enactment of action 1.3 of He Taonga Te Tamaiti, Aotearoa New Zealand’s Early Learning Action Plan, as well as the Teaching Council's Inclusive Education Capability Framework working group. I'm an experienced, fully registered early childhood kaiako, with the bulk of my teaching experience being in supporting the learning and wellbeing of pēpi and their whānau. The main of my mahi is a combination of two roles - the first of these a full-time position as a lecturer within the Open Polytechnic's regional early childhood education team, based in Ōtepoti Dunedin, and the second a part-time position as the Lead Practitioner for my own small not-for-profit PLD kaupapa, Tūranga mō ngā Mokopuna, where my focus is on supporting early childhood kaiako to strengthen the inclusivity of their practice through disability, equity and inclusion oriented lenses. 

Secretary

Watch this space

Treasurer

Gwen Davitt

I have been a member of OMEP for nearly 20 years.  In my day job I am a senior lecturer, active researcher and learner with an extensive background in early childhood education as well as adult teaching and learning. I am  passionate about advocacy for children and leading change for best practice whether that be integrating theory and practice; strengthening pedagogies of teaching and learning; or contributing to submissions; engaging with policy; and/or facilitating professional learning. Being an ECE lecturer and belonging to OMEP ensures that I forefront the rights of the child and work to maintain currency of knowledge and practice.  

Rōpū Coordinator

Lianne Dudson

I have been a member of OMEP in the Ōtakou Rōpū since 2017. I am a senior lecturer of early childhood education based in Ōtepoti, Dunedin at Otago Polytechnic, Te Pūkenga.

My experience in early childhood education began with my own children who attended a rural mobile kindergarten in Matatoki. I have worked in the roles of kaiako and supervisor in both private and community centres and for many years the head teacher at Thames Kindergarten.

I am passionate about equity and children's rights and am currently an educational doctoral student at The University of Otago.

Membership

Kristy Austin

Ko Kristy Austin ahau. 
My passion for early childhood education and child advocacy started while attending Playcentre with my eldest son. I completed my Graduate Diploma of Teaching ECE and became a kindergarten teacher in 2015. After a short time back at Playcentre with my 2nd son I returned to teaching and currently work as Head Teacher at Birdwood Kindergarten in Ranui, West Auckland. I am passionate about parent partnership in children's education, equity and inclusion. I love working and living in a diverse community.

Immediate Past President

Charlotte Robertson

In 1995 Auckland held a meeting to ascertain an interest in having an Auckland Chapter of OMEP and I was hooked. OMEP opened doors for me to the wider early childhood community both locally and globally. In 2021 I was elected National President to support our changing structure as we move from chapters to rōpū with national instead of regional membership.
My interest in children’s rights grew when I was on the Playcentre Federation Education Committee and was cemented when studying at the Children’s Issues Centre, University of Otago then continued as a committee member of Action for Children and Youth Aotearoa now Children’s Rights Alliance Aotearoa NZ.  
My early childhood journey started as a parent in Playcentre and continued in community based home and centre services culminating in retirement in August 2021 after 15 years as a kindergarten teacher. Like many others I have been blessed to have held early childhood related roles from volunteer to manager, from student to tutor, from first time parent to grandparent. 

While my heart lies at Hamurana on the shores of Lake Rotorua I have lived in rural and urban settings in the North and South Islands. For me OMEP provides an opportunity to hear others’ perspectives so I look forward to working collaboratively with you all to further OMEP’s aims.