Educators Inquiry Meetup: Reflections on the Hawaiian Public Education System: A Native Hawaiian Teacher's Story

Hosted by the Global Educators Network (GEN), this Educators Inquiry Meetup addresses the following questions: What is missing in Hawaiian public education? How is the absence of 'Hawaiian' in Hawai'i's schools understood at classroom, state, and federal levels? Why is Hawaiian culture left out of Hawaiian education? Can we reclaim Hawaiian education through language, culture, and land-centered connections? What lessons can be drawn from the Hawaiian case for understanding and promoting global education across the Pacific? 

In conversation with GEN Executive Board Member Dr. Tomasz Stanek, Bella Finau-Faumina, a local teacher from the ahupuaʻa of Kalihilihiolaumiha and the ʻili ʻāina of Mokauea, Oʻahuʻs last fishing village, will explore these questions. Faumina is an advocate and educator who is dedicated to implementing Hawaiian culture, history, and practices in public schools across Hawai’i’s pae ʻāina. She serves as an educational specialist in the Hawaiʻi Department of Education and provides support and training to schools and teachers throughout the island chain, delivering Hawaiʻi-centered content and practices aimed at addressing the historical and ongoing suppression of Hawaiian education.  

This event is part of a series of Educators Inquiry Meetups organized by the Global Educators Network and will explore how community college educators can understand and implement some of the lessons of Hawaiian-centered education and encourage meaningful dialogue in their classrooms.