Tere Ngawai Gilbert is a New Zealand early childhood educator and advocate for the te reo MÃÂori language. In 2024 Gilbert was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to early childhood and MÃÂori language education.
Gilbert is MÃÂori, and affiliates to Te ÃÂti Awa, NgÃÂti Hauiti, NgÃÂti Raukawa and NgÃÂti Kahungunu iwi. Gilbert attended the University of Waikato where she earned a Bachelor and a higher diploma of teaching, a postgraduate diploma in education, and a Master of Business Administration.
Gilbert has been a part of the MÃÂori language revival movement, KÃ Âhanga Reo, for more than thirty years. Gilbert was the kaiako (teacher) and tumuaki (manager) of the University of Waikato on-campus early childhood education centre from 1994 until 2015. In 2015 she established the first puna reo for Te KÃ Âhao Health in Hamilton, providing kaupapa MÃÂori immersion education for children up to the age of six, that is, education both in the te reo MÃÂori language and within a MÃÂori cultural framework. That puna reo, Te KÃ Âhao Health, was so popular that a second, Te Puna Reo o Te KÃ Âhao, was established two years later.
Gilbert founded the collective for puna reo in New Zealand, NgÃÂ Puna Reo o Aotearoa, and chaired it since its inception in 2021. The organisation represents 54 puna reo around the country, and advocates for better resourcing for puna reo and pay parity with kindergarten teachers. Gilbert represents NgÃÂ Puna Reo o Aotearoa on the Ministry of Education's Early Childhood Advisory Committee.
In the 2024 Queen's Birthday Honours Gilbert was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to early childhood and MÃÂori language education.