Rose Pere was born at Oputao, Ruatahuna and was educated in the ancient Wananga from her immediate forbears at Waikaremoana. She lived with her maternal grandparents for her first seven years on ancestral land at Ohiwa, south east of Waikaremoana. When her grandfather died in 1944, Rose moved to whanau in Waikaremoana where she attended Kokako Native School. She continued her studies at Wellington College of Education from 1956 to 1957 and has a New Zealand Teacher’s Certificate. She has worked as a teacher, adviser, and school inspector. She completed a thirty-three year career in education as a Senior Inspector of Schools in 1989. She has established total immersion classes for children from Kohanga Reo. She became Young Māori Woman of the Year from Rose has represented New Zealand at international conferences including the United Nations International Women’s Year Conference in Mexico City, 1975. She is the Director and Founder of Ao Ako Global Learning. She was awarded the Queen’s 1990 Commemoration Medal for her contribution to New Zealand education and in 1996 was awarded the CBE in the New Year’s Honours List for services to Māori education. She received a Doctorate of Literature from the University of Victoria in 1996. She is a Director on an International Organisation called the Four Winds Foundation, and is a Trustee on the International Indigenous Council of Elders.
Biographical sources
- Correspondence from Dr Rose Pere, 1 Sept. 1998 and 3 Aug. 2004.
- Te Ha questionnaire, Jan. 1992.
- Pere, Rangimarie. "Tangata Whenua." Puna Wairere: Essays by Māori. Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Planning Council/Te Kaunihera Whakakaupapa mo Aotearoa, 1990. 1-6.
Non-fiction
- "Rose Pere - Young Māori Woman of the Year, 1971-72." Te Ao Hou 72 (n.d.): 41-42.
- Reporting on her time as Young Māori Woman of the Year, Rose Pere writes of her upbringing at Waikaremoana where she was immersed in the traditional Māori customs and values. She asserts that combining the best traditions and values of the Māori culture with the ‘worthwhile values, traditions, modern technology and skills brought in by other cultural and racial groups...may help to eradicate some of the human conflict and insecurity facing many of us today.’
- Oxford Māori Picture Dictionary/He Pukapuka Kupuāhua Māori. Ko nga kupu Māori na Pita Cleave, Katarina Mataira, Rangimarie Pere [Māori text by Pita Cleave, Katarina Mataira and Rangimarie Pere]. English text by E. C. Parnwell. Illus. Corinne Clarke and Ray Burrows. Wellington, N.Z.: Oxford UP, 1978. Rpt. 1984, 1986, 1988, 1991. Adapted from the Oxford English Picture Dictionary by E. C. Parnell. Oxford University Press, 1977.
- A comprehensive bi-lingual picture dictionary covering 54 topics.
- "Taku Taha Māori: My Māoriness." He Mātāpuna: A Source: Some Māori Perspectives. NZPC No. 14. Wellington, N.Z.: Te Kaunihera Whakakaupapa mō Aotearoa, Dec. 1979. 23-25. Rpt. in 1989. Rpt. in Te Ao Mārama: Regaining Aotearoa: Māori Writers Speak Out. Comp. and ed. Witi Ihimaera. Contributing ed. Haare Williams, Irihapeti Ramsden and D. S. Long. Vol. 2: He Whakaatanga O Te Ao: The Reality. Auckland, N.Z.: Reed, 1993. 275-277.
- Rose Pere describes the various dimensions that engender her Māori identity using the imagery of the five-leaf cluster of the Parapara tree. These five dimensions are: ‘spirituality, ancestral ties, kinship ties, humanity as a whole, and the earth as part of a vast universe.’
- Ako: Concepts and Learning in the Māori Tradition. Working Paper No. 17. Hamilton, N.Z.: Dept. of Sociology, U of Waikato, 1982. Rpt. (with corrections) 1983. Printed as a Monograph by the Te Kohanga Reo National Trust Board, May 1994.
- In describing this publication Pere writes ‘I have tried to reveal as far as possible the formal and informal structures and processes of traditional modes of Māori learning and to indicate the way some of these have retained their significance for some Māori people today.’ This monograph is divided into three sections: the first section provides a Māori world view from a Tuhoe Potiki and Ngāti Kahungunu perspective, the second section deals with Māori concepts and their impact on children, and the third section ‘is based on written research and perspectives held by Pakeha and Māori people in the debate over the promotion of either cultural pluralism and different forms of mediation or a more intensive "dose of assimilation".’
- Te Wheke: Whaia Te Maramatanga Me Te Aroha. [Gisborne], N.Z.: Gisborne Education Centre, 1985.
- Co-authored with Barbara Blows, David Lind, and Max Stein.
- "He Koorero Mo Nga Kura Mahita." Nga Kete Waananga...Readers in Māori Education: "Akonga Māori: Māori Pedagogy and Learning..." Comp. Graham H. Smith. Auckland, N.Z.: Māori Studies Dept., Auckland College of Education, 1986.
- This is the transcript of Pere’s lecture to Home Economics Teachers at the Auckland Secondary Teachers’ College in 1984. Pere discusses an integrated development philosophy for family health with its different components of wairuatanga/spirituality, mana ake/uniqueness, mauri/life principle, ha a koro ma a kui a/the breath of life from forebears, whanaungatanga/the extended family, group dynamics, taha tinana/the physical side, whatumanawa/the emotional aspect, hinengaro/the mind, and waiora/total well being.
- "To Us The Dreamers Are Important." Public & Private Worlds: Women in Contemporary New Zealand. Ed. Shelagh Cox. Wellington, N.Z.: Allen and Unwin, Port Nicholson, 1987. 53-66.
- Rose Pere discusses her ancestry and notes the strong female role models in her iwi traditions. She describes her philosophy of ‘the individual within the context of the family’ using the symbol of Te Wheke [the octopus], with its tentacles representing wairuatanga, mana ake, mauri, ha a koro ma a kui ma, taha tinana, whanaungatanga, whatumanawa, hinengaro and waiora.
- "Te Wheke: Whaia Te Maramatanga Me Te Aroha." Women and Education. Ed. Sue Middleton. Wellington, N.Z.: Allen and Unwin/Port Nicholson, 1988.
- Rose Pere makes reference to the great wisdom and power each individual has and how important it is to give sustenance to the eight dimensions of one’s development.
- "Tangata Whenua." Puna Wairere: Essays by Māori. Wellington, N.Z.: New Zealand Planning Council/Te Kaunihera Whakakaupapa mo Aotearoa, 1990. 1-6.
- Pere tells a story of creation from the perspective of her ancestor Hine Pukohurangi, the Heavenly Mist Female, and writes of her relationship with Papatuanuku and her celebration of her female essence.
- Te Wheke: A Celebration Of Infinite Wisdom. Illust. Nancy Nicholson. Gisborne, N.Z.: Ao Ako Global Learning New Zealand. 1991. An extract is rpt. in WomanScript 6 (1992?): 17.
- Rose Pere enables parents as first teachers to develop a holistic approach to life and learning alongside their children. It is a book that promotes both individual and group endeavour.
- "Back on the Marae." Education is Change: Twenty Viewpoints. Ed. Harvey McQueen. Wellington, N.Z.: Bridget Williams, 1993. 109-117.
- In this paper on education, Pere discusses her own education, her vision for education and key components in Māori education.
- "The Right to Self-Determination." International Conference for Indigenous Women of The World February 1993. Wellington, N.Z.: Huia, 1993. 12-14.
- "The Mother Energy." International Conference for Indigenous Women Of The World February 1993. Wellington, N.Z.: Huia, 1993. 12-14.
Other
- Erai, Michelle, Fuli, Everdina, Irwin, Kathie and Wilcox, Lenaire. Māori Women: An Annotated Bibliography. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Michelle Erai, Everdina Fuli, Kathie Irwin and Lenaire Wilcox, 1991. 24-5.