Flourishing Mentorship as a Journey of Learning and Becoming

How can mentorship become a transformative journey of learning, connection, and becoming?

In Flourishing Mentorship as a Journey of Learning and Becoming: Stories of Connection from the Pacific Islands, Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga explores the profound role of mentorship as a relational and reciprocal practice rooted in Pacific values and strengths-based pedagogy. Through compelling stories from educators, leaders, and community members, Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga reveals how mentorship can nurture confidence, resilience, and meaningful human connection. The book highlights both the challenges and triumphs of mentoring relationships, showing how cultural wisdom, empathy, and reciprocity can shape powerful learning experiences for both mentors and mentees. By weaving together personal narratives and practical insights, Chu-Fuluifaga presents mentorship not simply as guidance, but as a shared journey of growth, transformation, and flourishing.

Ideal for educators, mentors, academic leaders, students of pedagogy, and community practitioners, this book will resonate with anyone interested in relational learning, culturally grounded mentorship, and personal and professional development.

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Learning objectives
• On weaving: A note to the reader
• 1 The voyage
• Mentorship and relationships
• Reading the moana (Ocean)
• Locating mentorship purpose
• The challenges and opportunities of Pacific education
• Western mentoring models and Pacific relational mentorship
• 2 Contextual foundations
• Education
• Pacific people in Aotearoa New Zealand
• A flourishing Pacific population
• 3 Narratives in mentoring
• The origins of mentoring
• The difficulties and intricacies of mentoring
• The mentoring duo
• The mentor’s journey: Beyond misconceptions
• Navigating challenges in mentoring relationships
• Mentoring youth: Building social capital
• A reflexive perspective on mentoring
• 4 Appreciative inquiry: A strengths-based lens for mentorship
• The power of affirmation
• The five principles of appreciative inquiry
• The process of appreciative inquiry
• Stories and provocative propositions
• The role of positive language and assumptions
• Flourishing mentorship: A narrative of appreciative inquiry
• Appreciative pedagogy
• Lessons for flourishing mentorship
• 5 Mentorship as passion
• My story
• My first tour: Family, identity, and navigation
• Learning through observation
• Working with my mother: Lessons in dignity and growth
• Mentoring insight: Learning through shared work
• 6 Applying strengths-based pedagogy to mentorship
• Navigating university education: The absence of mentorship
• 7 Relational leadership and learning
• The leadership cluster: A journey of connection
• Shape-shifting through cultural identities
• The heart of mentorship
• Inclusion
• Anchors of belonging: Spaces that hold us
• Identity and relational mentorship
• Reflections on the tauturu journey
• 8 Flourishing mentorship: Nurturing Pacific students and reinforcing Pacific identities
• The Kato: A woven gift for educators of Pacific learners
• Why habits, and why now?
• Habit 1 | Fenua: Ground yourself in a pedagogy of reflection
• Habit 2 | Moana: Know your Pacific learner and context
• Habit 3 | Vaka: Educate with Phenomenal Pacific-centric methods
• Habit 4 | Le Teu le va: Building relationships with Pacific learners
• Habit 5 | Ola: Develop phenomenal practices
• Habit 6 | Teatea: Instil motivation and good work habits
• Habit 7 | Aupuru: Embrace creativity and enthusiasm
• Habit 8 | Putuputu: Create a Pacific learning community
• Habit 9 | Arofa: Enable mentoring to be a natural part of your teaching
• Habit 10 | Tiama: Deconstruct and emancipate your learners’ experiences
• Carrying the kato forward
• 9 Navigating challenging waves of mentorship
• When mentorship harms: Learning through disruption
• Mentorship insight: When it is time to leave a mentorship relationship
• 10 Mentoring the whole person: Doctoral study and the journey of becoming
• A unique complexity
• Reciprocity and reflection
• 1. Integration of the “whole person”
• 2. Unlearning and cultural reclamation
• 3. From transactional to relational progress
• 4. Collective success and leadership
• 5. Resilience and overcoming
• Growth as a learner
• Growth as a community leader
• Knowing oneself
• Overcoming
• Life challenges and the reality of doctoral study
• Mentorship as shared learning
• Mentorship as care
• Reflection for growth
• 11 Shape-shifting in mentorship
• An evolving understanding of mentorship
• The flourishing tauturu mentorship: Identity, land, heart, and soul
• Rooted in place and family history: Land
• Reflections on mentorship
• 1. The pedagogical imperative: Mentorship as growth
• 2. Ethical models: Reciprocity and the sanctity of the Va
• 3. The ethics of care: Authenticity and identity
• 4. Counter-narratives: Identifying and rejecting harmful practice
• 12 Flourishing mentorship: Pacific feminist navigation and voice
• Feminist mentorship as relational care
• Expanding women’s roles and possibilities
• Voice as navigation
• Motherhood, care, and mentorship
• Rainbow youth and an expanding vaka
• Creativity and a living Pacific future
• Shape-shifting as strength
• Keeping the vaka sailing
• Looking back, facing forward, and developing
• The difficulties of serving as a tauturu
• 13 The flourishing tauturu mentorship: Identity, land, heart and soul: A practice of care, belonging, and becoming
• Purpose of this framework
• The framework at a glance
• The four pillars
• 1. Identity – who we are, who we are becoming
• 2. Land – the places that hold us
• 3. Heart – the relational and emotional core
• 4. Soul – meaning, purpose, and the “why”
• The five practices of the tauturu
• Practice 1: Sustain community as a relational environment
• Practice 2: Lead with values
• Practice 3: Make room for shape-shifting
• Practice 4: Enable rather than direct
• Practice 5: Use appreciative inquiry
• A practice cycle for a mentoring conversation
• 1. Prepare the space
• 2. Open relationally
• 3. Hold the conversation
• 4. Close with care
• 5. Reflect after
• When to lean on which pillar
• A practitioner’s commitment
• Activity 1: Reading yourself through the pillars
• Instructions
• 14 What the journey has taught me
• My aunts
• The year I was most needed
• What appreciative mentorship actually is
• On being Tahitian and Chinese
• The shape of the journey
• The shore, and what comes after
• References
• About the Author
• Index
• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Learning objectives
• On weaving: A note to the reader
• 1 The voyage
  • Mentorship and relationships
  • Reading the moana (Ocean)
  • Locating mentorship purpose
  • The challenges and opportunities of Pacific education
  • Western mentoring models and Pacific relational mentorship
• 2 Contextual foundations
  • Education
  • Pacific people in Aotearoa New Zealand
  • A flourishing Pacific population
• 3 Narratives in mentoring
  • The origins of mentoring
  • The difficulties and intricacies of mentoring
  • The mentoring duo
  • The mentor’s journey: Beyond misconceptions
  • Navigating challenges in mentoring relationships
  • Mentoring youth: Building social capital
  • A reflexive perspective on mentoring
• 4 Appreciative inquiry: A strengths-based lens for mentorship
  • The power of affirmation
    • The five principles of appreciative inquiry
  • The process of appreciative inquiry
  • Stories and provocative propositions
  • The role of positive language and assumptions
  • Flourishing mentorship: A narrative of appreciative inquiry
  • Appreciative pedagogy
  • Lessons for flourishing mentorship
• 5 Mentorship as passion
  • My story
  • My first tour: Family, identity, and navigation
  • Learning through observation
  • Working with my mother: Lessons in dignity and growth
  • Mentoring insight: Learning through shared work
• 6 Applying strengths-based pedagogy to mentorship
  • Navigating university education: The absence of mentorship
• 7 Relational leadership and learning
  • The leadership cluster: A journey of connection
  • Shape-shifting through cultural identities
  • The heart of mentorship
  • Inclusion
  • Anchors of belonging: Spaces that hold us
  • Identity and relational mentorship
  • Reflections on the tauturu journey
• 8 Flourishing mentorship: Nurturing Pacific students and reinforcing Pacific identities
  • The Kato: A woven gift for educators of Pacific learners
  • Why habits, and why now?
    • Habit 1 | Fenua: Ground yourself in a pedagogy of reflection
    • Habit 2 | Moana: Know your Pacific learner and context
    • Habit 3 | Vaka: Educate with Phenomenal Pacific-centric methods
    • Habit 4 | Le Teu le va: Building relationships with Pacific learners
    • Habit 5 | Ola: Develop phenomenal practices
    • Habit 6 | Teatea: Instil motivation and good work habits
    • Habit 7 | Aupuru: Embrace creativity and enthusiasm
    • Habit 8 | Putuputu: Create a Pacific learning community
    • Habit 9 | Arofa: Enable mentoring to be a natural part of your teaching
    • Habit 10 | Tiama: Deconstruct and emancipate your learners’ experiences
    • Carrying the kato forward
• 9 Navigating challenging waves of mentorship
  • When mentorship harms: Learning through disruption
  • Mentorship insight: When it is time to leave a mentorship relationship
• 10 Mentoring the whole person: Doctoral study and the journey of becoming
  • A unique complexity
  • Reciprocity and reflection
    • 1. Integration of the “whole person”
    • 2. Unlearning and cultural reclamation
    • 3. From transactional to relational progress
    • 4. Collective success and leadership
    • 5. Resilience and overcoming
  • Growth as a learner
  • Growth as a community leader
  • Knowing oneself
  • Overcoming
  • Life challenges and the reality of doctoral study
  • Mentorship as shared learning
  • Mentorship as care
  • Reflection for growth
• 11 Shape-shifting in mentorship
  • An evolving understanding of mentorship
  • The flourishing tauturu mentorship: Identity, land, heart, and soul
  • Rooted in place and family history: Land
  • Reflections on mentorship
    • 1. The pedagogical imperative: Mentorship as growth
    • 2. Ethical models: Reciprocity and the sanctity of the Va
    • 3. The ethics of care: Authenticity and identity
    • 4. Counter-narratives: Identifying and rejecting harmful practice
• 12 Flourishing mentorship: Pacific feminist navigation and voice
  • Feminist mentorship as relational care
  • Expanding women’s roles and possibilities
  • Voice as navigation
  • Motherhood, care, and mentorship
  • Rainbow youth and an expanding vaka
  • Creativity and a living Pacific future
  • Shape-shifting as strength
  • Keeping the vaka sailing
  • Looking back, facing forward, and developing
  • The difficulties of serving as a tauturu
• 13 The flourishing tauturu mentorship: Identity, land, heart and soul: A practice of care, belonging, and becoming
  • Purpose of this framework
  • The framework at a glance
  • The four pillars
    • 1. Identity – who we are, who we are becoming
    • 2. Land – the places that hold us
    • 3. Heart – the relational and emotional core
    • 4. Soul – meaning, purpose, and the “why”
  • The five practices of the tauturu
    • Practice 1: Sustain community as a relational environment
    • Practice 2: Lead with values
    • Practice 3: Make room for shape-shifting
    • Practice 4: Enable rather than direct
    • Practice 5: Use appreciative inquiry
  • A practice cycle for a mentoring conversation
    • 1. Prepare the space
    • 2. Open relationally
    • 3. Hold the conversation
    • 4. Close with care
    • 5. Reflect after
  • When to lean on which pillar
  • A practitioner’s commitment
    • Activity 1: Reading yourself through the pillars
    • Instructions
• 14 What the journey has taught me
  • My aunts
  • The year I was most needed
  • What appreciative mentorship actually is
  • On being Tahitian and Chinese
  • The shape of the journey
  • The shore, and what comes after
• References
• About the Author
• Index

Cherie Chu-Fuluifaga is a mentor, researcher, and educator whose work centers on Pacific knowledge systems, strengths-based pedagogy, and culturally sustaining leadership to empower Pacific learners, educators, and communities.