Sandy employs a strengths-based approach to teaching which seeks to promote students’ critical engagement with historical discourses, social and cultural meanings, and power relations. She believes every student brings a range of experiences, ancestral knowledge, memory and insights into the teaching space. These are honoured, and provide the platform for building knowledge, reflecting on knowledge and making knowledge relevant.

Her current position as the Assistant Dean (Academic) for the University of Waikato’s Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies allows her to continue to challenge the thinkers of tomorrow and concentrate on her research interests around Treaties, Adult Education and Indigenous Development.