Kimai Tocker began teaching and lecturing in the school of Te Puna Wānanga at the University of Auckland-Faculty of Education and Social Work, in 2000. Prior to that, she worked as a primary school teacher in a rumaki reo/Māori medium unit within a mainstream school and later at a kura kaupapa Māori.
Tocker's focus on kaupapa Māori continues at the Faculty of Education and Social Work where she teaches in Māori medium courses as part of the BEd-Te Huarahi Māori programme. As the Director of English Medium Programmes, she manages a number of courses at undergraduate and graduate levels. Tocker also co-ordinates courses within the BEd mainstream and BEd-Te Huarahi Māori degree programmes and supervises students at Masters level.
Tocker's doctoral thesis, “Hei oranga Māori i te ao hurihuri nei. Living as Māori in the world today: An account of kura kaupapa Māori” interrogates the ideas about ‘living as Māori’ that underpin the objectives of kura kaupapa Māori. Tocker was awarded a Doctorate in Education in 2014.
Biographical sources
- https://unidirectory.auckland.ac.nz/profile/k-tocker 11 October 2016
Non-fiction
- "Kura kaupapa Māori experiences." New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies 42.1-2 (2007): 65-76.
- "Hei oranga Māori i te ao hurihuri nei: Living as Māori in the world today- An outcome of kura kaupapa Māori." MAI Journal 1.1 (2012): 15-28.
- "The Origins of Kura Kaupapa Māori." New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies 50.1 (2015): 23-38.