From local government leadership and sporting excellence to dedication to education and rescue efforts, five Nelson locals have been recognised in this year’s New Year Honours. Today, we are bringing you their stories.
David Pluck had a background in teaching and psychology before going on to work with some of the most challenging young people through an intensive wraparound service. Now, he has been appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to education.
Born with moderate to severe hearing loss, David acknowledges that the challenges he faced learning and communicating through lip reading at school likely gave him the empathy that led to a career committed to equity in education. His mother, Jessie Pluck, also played a significant role. Her own empathy prompted her to establish playcentre in New Zealand and she was also nominated for an award – an honour she declined.
David himself declined a nomination in the past, but now retired, says he decided it was a privilege to accept. The recognition follows a career in which he helped establish the Rainbow Reading programme with his wife Meryl-Lynn, leading to more than 100,000 books being donated to low-decile schools in New Zealand and around the Pacific.
He also helped establish Whakatū Kōhanga and whānau classes in Nelson, developed a programme to promote the training of female psychologists - including distance training for rural women - and developed guidelines for the use of Māori cultural advisors in the Family Court. In 2011, he established the Ministry of Education’s Intensive Wraparound Service Te Kahu Tōī, which continues to provide support for more than 600 tamariki around the country each year.
He describes the wraparound service as “literally a chance of a lifetime” that works with children between eight and 15 with highly complex behaviour, social and learning needs.
“Those are the toughest kids in the system and have had previous interventions that have been unsuccessful. If you go down the line of punishment and say this kid is so bad, we have to lock them up, then it becomes the focus. But if you want to make them a good citizen for the future, punishment isn’t going to do that. As soon as you punish them, they are going to become aggressive.
“Moving young people from antisocial behaviour to pro-social behaviour – that is the secret. It’s unbelievably successful.”
A key factor in the programme’s success, he says, is the inclusion of whanau or wider hapū – often aunties and uncles - and steering the young person towards positive experiences.
One example he recalls is a young gang prospect who could not swim but wished he could. Once that was identified, the boy was given swimming lessons and went on to become a regional champion.
“The success is to get them involved in positive activities, so they can be successful in the community rather than heading down the negative antisocial behaviour.”
Throughout his career, David says he found the Māori way of dealing with issues were often more successful with young people than Pākehā methods. Such as the powerfully therapeutic taiaha wānanga, he says, using a fighting staff to teach respect and self-discipline for both Māori and Pākehā.
“We worked out it was such a powerful therapy and in particular for Māori, because it linked them with their whakapapa, but it also worked for Pākehā.”
The wraparound programme costs about $41,000 per student over two years, which David says represents in a strong cost benefit case because it is “better to spend a dollar now and save five dollars later”.
“It was a great way to finish my career – being able to do that level of intervention. But I couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been a teacher, a psychologist and a manager.”
