Tavale Tanuvasa
Tavale Tanuvasa, of Auckland, received the Queen's Service Medal, for services to education. Mr Tanuvasa is a key figure in the development of Samoan language and culture education programmes in New Zealand school and university curriculums. He was a tutor of Samoan language at the University of Auckland from 1992 to 1993, where he wrote a Samoan language book that remains its primary textbook. A key leader of the Association for the Teaching of Samoa in Aotearoa, he was the writer and examiner of the first Samoan language School Certificate examination and has since moderated subsequent secondary level examinations. As part of a small team he helped develop the Samoan language curriculum used in schools and recently completed the resources and study tools for NCEA Samoan Language and Culture. He has provided cultural expertise to a number of government organisations and is the President of the Malaeola Auckland Catholic Samoa Community.