In a world awash with fake news and misinformation, and a context where anyone can write and share anything, anytime online, developing effective information evaluation skills is essential.

The Rauru Whakarare Evaluation Framework provides a kaupapa Māori-informed approach to evaluation that enables us to critique and engage deeply with the information that surrounds us. It is available for teachers, students and librarians in all educational contexts to start a conversation about information quality and its contribution to our learning.

We integrated Māori concepts into the framework to promote deeper engagement with the information evaluation process than can be captured using English terms. We believe that the Māori concepts contain an embedded spirituality and metaphor that is often lost in a purely literal English translation. The framework embodies the connectedness of Whakapapa (background), Orokohanga (origins), Mana (authority), Māramatanga (content) and Aronga (lens) of information we are using. The Rauru Whakarare pattern was chosen as it represents interconnectedness. We see this pattern as a visual depiction of how information evaluation is not a linear process; to establish which information can be trusted, multiple strategies must be woven together.

RWEF bilingual

The framework was created by Massey University colleagues Angela Feekery, an information literacy researcher, and Carla Jeffrey (Ngai Tuhoe), a business librarian. The Māori concepts underpinning the framework were selected in consultation with with Sheeanda McKeagg (Massey University Kaihautu Māori/Māori Services Manager) and Hinerangi Kara (Waikato University, Te Kaitakawaenga Māori / Māori Academic Liaison Librarian). The te Reo version has been translated by Professor Hone Morris (Pukenga Reo, Massey University)

Here, we provide you with the framework and a set of descriptors that unpack each of the terms and offer suggestions for how to answer the questions posed in the framework. We have created the English, Te Reo and Bilingual versions of the framework. Please select which version best suits your context.

Download the PDFs here:

*Note: a small error was identified in the Aronga entry – this was fixed on 21 March, 2022. If you have downloaded an earlier version, please access the correct version using the links above.

Our SET article outlines the development of the model :

Feekery, A. J. & Jeffrey, C. (2019).  A uniquely Aotearoa-informed approach to evaluating information sing the Rauru Whakarare Evaluation Framework. SET: Research Information for Teachers 2019 (2). 3-10 https://doi.org/10.18296/set.0138

The framework is available through a creative commons licence: Rauru Whakarare Information Evaluation Framework by Angela Feekery and Carla Jeffrey is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. So, feel free to use and adapt the framework in your context. Please let us know how you are engaging with it by contacting us through the contact page on this website or by emailing Angela directly (A.J.Feekery@massey.ac.nz).