His journey in education, Matani describes it as “simple”. His passion for education began in 1993, when he returned to normal school. Subsequently, he became a teacher in a demonstration school in To’ata. He then takes an exam to become a specialist teacher because he is interested in children with educational difficulties. He then taught for 7 years at Papenoo, in an improvement class which welcomed children with different types of difficulties.
Since 2010, Matani has been working as an educational advisor for the Arue, Mahina and Hitia’a O te Ra sector.. After so many years in education, it is only natural that being an inspector, for him, “It’s part of a journey, but above all it’s a commitment. A commitment that I make to serve the school differently ”.
In 2021, hundreds of teachers but also educational advisers, school directors and second-degree teachers are trying their luck in the national competition to become IEN, a national education inspector. “I think we were more than 500 to 600 people at the start, then 180 people were selected to take the oral. And out of the 180 people, there are 88 inspectors on the normal list and then 5 more people were selected for the complementary list ”.
This year, Matani Kainuku is the only Polynesian to have passed the competition he has been preparing for ten years already. He passes the admissibility test which consists of a written document and then leaves for the mainland for 10 days in order to take the oral examination. If they are rare, other Polynesians have also succeeded in the past “The last one who succeeded is Rainui Hugon who today is an inspector in Paea, Papara, Mataiea and Papearii. He left 2016 or 2017 I think. And since then, no one has succeeded in our academy in French Polynesia ”. “I hope I’m not the last and I know that we have a lot of professionals in the area who are able to carry this new professional stature. I am happy to have succeeded. […] In the end, I was prepared by people who believed in me and I thank them ”.
Leaving far from one’s roots in order to come back better
“The next step for me is to wait for information from the metropolis, which should organize the meeting of all the newly appointed inspectors. In any case those who are selected to, initially, provide institutional information on the education policy led by Jean-Michel Blanquer. And then, I think the assignment of all the inspectors will follow in a constituency, an academy. All this should be done next June ”.
For now therefore, the troop leader of Nonahere must do a year of internship in France. Regarding the transfers of new inspectors, he explains that “For the moment, the current inspectors have made their transfer requests. And so, from there, the new arrivals, that is to say us, we will recover the rest ”.
“It is true that it may seem very unfair to have to leave for the metropolis, to leave his fenua, his land and often to leave his family behind – which is not my case since I am leaving with my family. But I find it interesting to live this experience in metropolitan France, to come back armed and in particular to fully understand the requirement of the national […] to pull our children, our teachers who work every day, to the top. We are certainly a small grain of sand in the ocean, but we have value and I think it’s our turn to show what we can do at the national level ”.
“Today, we can no longer work without parents. School was also a silo […]. While in Canada, parents have entered the classroom, in France, parents are still being kicked out. We must value the teachers, their work and bring parents into the school ”.
Regarding the resumption of his dance group, Matani said to trust and bequeath the reins of Nonahere to his niece.
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