Fakaalofa lahi atu! Pennie hails from the villages of Avatele Oneonepata and Makefu Falekaho Atua, Niue Island. She is the proud granddaughter of the late Reverend Toamio Fotume and Manogi Tongalea and Kitekau and Meleini Togiatama. Pennie is also the proud daughter of Reverend Emeritus Penesikoto and Fiamafola Togiatama. Born and bred in Mangere, she is the super proud mama of four beautiful Niuean Samoan children and the proudest Nena of five amazing little wonder beings with Niue, Samoa, Cook Islands, Kiribas and Tahitian ancestry. 

Pennie joined the Laidlaw College Education team as Head of Education in January 2026. Her background is in education, namely secondary teaching, where she has served across South and West Auckland as well as Dunedin. 

She is a former Senior Advisor for Sector Enablement and Support at the Ministry of Education, providing advice and guidance for school principals and Boards of Trustees for over 50 schools, mainly in West Auckland, North Shore, and South Auckland. She also delivered the Pasifika Education Plan 2012 - 2018 to schools and communities, encouraging and empowering Pasifika voices.

Pennie is a life-long learner who has been teaching and involved in education for over 30 years, including key senior leadership roles at Kelston Girl's College and Manurewa High School.  She has initiated and tutored Niuean cultural groups for the ASB Polyfest at McAuley High School, Papatoetoe High School, and Otago Boy's High School and was a school leader for the Auckland Girl's Grammar Niuean group as a student. She also initiated and taught the first Vagahau Niue classes that utilised NZQA assessments from 2008 - 2013 at Papatoetoe High School while also designing and implementing the Polyfest Assessment Package for the Niue Stage at the ASB Polyfest during that time.

She holds a master's degree in professional studies and a doctoral degree in Education from the University of Auckland. Pennie is an ordained Presbyterian Minister and has also worked for the Department of Corrections as a Prison Chaplain.

Pennie's interests are in Indigenous framings and the contribution of Pasifika and Indigenous minority groups across all spaces.

Publications:

Togiatama-Otto, P. (2019). Through my brown eyes: Niuean school boys’ experiences in two New Zealand secondary schools. Set: Research Information for Teachers, 3, 12–18. https://doi.org/10.18296/set.0147

Togiatama-Otto PV. (2015). Through My Brown Eyes. Midwifery Today Int Midwife. Autumn;(115):44-8. PMID: 26591420.

Kalauni, R., Pocock, F., Otto, P., O’Halloran, T., Lafu, B., Drysdale, L., Asekona, H., Peika, K., Otto, P., & Viliko, M. (2010). Tau Kaleveleve Ne Tauhele Aki E Mauaga He Vagahau Mo E Aga Fakamotu Niue: Challenges of language and cultural loss: Challenges of language and cultural loss. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 6(2), 163-170.

Research Presentations:

2025

• NZARE Conference November
• Breath of Change, NZATE Conference July
• Manukau Institute of Technology Pasifika Series August

2020

• MANA Pasifika Research Symposium, Manurewa High School, November

2019

• NZ/Tonga Education Symposium, Siasi Tokaikolo ‘ia Kalaisi - ‘Api ko Nasaleti Church, Mangere Bridge, January

2018

• Symposium – Critical Friends and Guides on the side, University of Auckland, January

2017

• NZARE Pasifika Symposium (New Zealand Association for Research in Education), The University of Auckland, November
• Doctoral and Postgraduate Symposium, Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, October
• International Critical Autoethnography Conference, Melbourne, Australia, July

2016

• Tu Pasifika Manukau Institute of Technology Conference 2016

2015

• Through my brown eyes: hearing the voices of secondary school Niuean boys
• ISATT, Auckland, July
• ‘Niutupu’ growing the coconut: developing a Niuean (‘new way in’) methodology from Indigenous inspirations: He Manawa Whenua Hui (Indigenous Research Conference), Hamilton, June

2014

• Through my brown eyes: Pasifika Pedagogy; TERNZ 14 (Tertiary Education Research New Zealand), November
• Through my brown eyes: Niuean secondary school boys’ perspectives; ULearn Conference, CORE-Education, October
• Through my brown eyes: Niuean secondary school boys’ perspectives: Postgraduate Talanoa Workshop- The Grid, October
• Through my brown eyes: Niuean secondary school boys’ perspectives; Lalaga Fono, PPTA Pasifika Conference July

2012

• Vagahau Niue: a unique look into the maintenance, retention and revival of an endangered language; Pasifika Voices; PPTA Pasifika Conference,
• Vagahau Niue in the Secondary School Curriculum: a unique look into the maintenance, retention and revival of an endangered language; Niue Fono Motu Annual Conference; Tamaki Pacific Islanders’ Presbyterian Church, June