Education Working Group members
Community Rep and Chair: Grant Cleland ONZM
Grant has worked in the health, disability, education and employment sectors for over 30 years at governance, senior leadership and practitioner levels. Based in Christchurch he brings lived experience of disability from birth and uses a wheelchair.
Grant has worked extensively in the vocational and tertiary education sector with the development and implementation of Disability Action Plans and was also on the NZQA board. Grant has a thorough understanding of the issues that disabled tamariki, rangatahi and other learners face in our education system and the systemic issues that need to be resolved. He was the project lead for the drafting of the Kia Orite Toolkit, TEC 2020: A framework to assist tertiary and vocational providers to create and implement Disability Action Plans. He also wrote the Te Pūkenga report, Te Rito: Insights of the experiences of Disabled Ākonga (Learners) in vocational education. He has also provided strategic advice and support to tertiary and vocational providers on the implementation of their disability action plans. Grant was also Chief Executive of Workbridge for more than nine years.
Sector Rep: Dr Barbara Disley ONZM
Barbara is the former Chief Executive of Emerge Aotearoa. She has extensive leadership and management experience leading large teams within the education and mental health sectors.
Barbara has held many senior public positions including chair of the first Mental Health Commission and Deputy Secretary Ministry of Education where she was responsible for learning support (formerly known as special education).
Sector Rep: Dr Kiri Fortune (He uri nō Te Āti Awa me Kāi Tahi)
Kiri has lived experience as the mother of a daughter Te Ahupō who was born with Down Syndrome. Te Ahupō is a raukura (graduate) of kura kaupapa Māori education and speaks te reo Māori as her first language. The whānau journey has been represented in Kiri’s PhD titled: E kore e piri te uku ki te rino: He huarahi hei tautoko i ngā ākonga hauā i roto i ngā horopaki reo Māori. The Pathways Forward in Supporting Māori Learners with Special Needs in Māori Medium Education Settings.
Kiri has experience across all education sectors from kōhanga reo through to tertiary education. Her leadership role as Kaihautū Whakarito for Ngā Kura ā Iwi requires her to lead, develop and execute a strategic plan across 50 kura reo Māori to create change. She also has broad experience through her contribution and membership on many advisory groups and boards.
Sector Rep: Adjunct Associate Professor Sonja Macfarlane (Ngāti Waewae, Ngāi Tahu) PhD, FRSNZ
Sonja is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Te Kaupeka Mātauranga Faculty of Education, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha Canterbury University. She researches and writes about culturally responsive, evidence-based approaches in education, health, psychology and counselling.
Sonja’s work has been published in leading research journals nationally and internationally. She has national awards for her contribution to Māori research and in 2019 was made a Fellow of the New Zealand Psychological Society. Sonja’s academic excellence and leadership is founded on her experience as a teacher and resource teacher in learning and behaviour.
Community Rep: Dorothy Taare-Smith (Ngāti Porou)
Dorothy is deeply committed to supporting whānau as they navigate the complexities of the disability sector. She brings extensive experience in special education, advocacy, and system-level transformation, with a strong focus on culturally grounded and inclusive practices.
Dorothy holds postgraduate qualifications in Specialist Teaching (ASD) and has worked as a specialist teacher supporting disabled learners. She is the founder of Taonga Takiwātanga Charitable Trust in Tairāwhiti Gisborne. The Trust partnered with Te Mahau – Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga Ministry of Education to deliver marae-based wānanga on takiwātanga (autism from a te Ao Māori perspective) to fostering culturally responsive practice in education.
Dorothy is doing a PhD in Health Studies at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington on how neurodiversity is understood within Te Ao Māori and the implications for clinical practice.
Community Rep: Nikita Van Dijk
Nikita is completing her Masters in Disability and Inclusion Studies at the University of Waikato. Her lived experience is through living with two rare disorders, chronic illness, neurodivergence and her disabled whānau members.
Nikita has leadership experience in a variety of roles including as the founder of the University of Waikato Disabled Students Association. She is now the Co-President of the National Disabled Students Association.
Nikita’s lived experience is complemented by her study, her advocacy for other disabled people, and her experience as the former Youth Ambassador for Ehlers Danlos Syndromes New Zealand, and as a representative for Aotearoa New Zealand at a UNESCO summit on supporting students with rare disorders in education. Nikita is also a member of the Ministry of Education Te Mahau Advisory Group for Young Persons with Disabilities.
The group will also include representatives from the Ministry of Education.