Indigenous knowledge & Cultural responsiveness in my practice

My third year at University had a profound impact on my belief system about the levels of equality within education. A shift so great that it went against common opinion and is still being slowly translated into my classroom practice. It involved the heady combination of Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (2000) and Bourdieu (cited in Szeman & Kaposy 2010) looking at the cultural capital passed on by the dominant class to maintain the status quo. Smashed was my naive view that we all had an equal chance and that success was determined by effort. This was not an equal playing field and it was being maintained by the education system itself.

This is obviously something that has been brought to the attention of the education system as noted in Bishop’s Edtalk (2012). He pointed out the disparity of Māori achievement which impacts on our country economically, socially and politically. Under the Treaty or Waitangi Māori were promised equal rights, opportunities and education.

But obviously, equal access to education has not translated in equality of success. The common voice might argue that success is based on effort or innate ability and that Māori are failing because they have a cultural deficit.

Feuerstein (2010) would argue that there is no ‘deficit’ but that everyone is modifiable. The Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools report states that it is not the learners but the system that needs to be modified. (2002) Our key response needs to be to put the child in the centre.

Ko te Tamaiti te Pūtake o te Kaupapa

The Child – the Heart of the Matter

In the Te Kotahitanga research (Gutschlag, 2007) it was suggested that the teacher needs to become the agent of change for our Māori students. To achieve this there are some key changes to be made which will lead to improved learning for Maori but I truly believe they are beneficial for all.

1. Build relationships for learning.
2. Adjust the curriculum so it is engaging and values the Māori world view.
3. Use assessment to provide feedback to inform learning and the social nature of co-constructing learning with and between students.

So what does cultural responsiveness look like on our school?

My initial response is to think - wow, we have a way to go in our being culturally responsive in our school of 250, with only 20 Māori students. And while that may be true, we are in the process of taking action but also have some areas of strength.

Our school vision, mission, and core values

As a school we have recognised the need to adapt our school vision to make it fit our community and be more culturally responsive. We have asked the local Marae for our Māori name and are building stronger relationships as we begin to incorporate our cultural narrative into the fabric of who we are at Springston School.

We are in the process of developing our new vision, in connection with the Taumutu Marae and with our learning community. The clear difference in our new vision is that it is all about excellence - for all.

Vision: Inspiring excellence and outstanding character.

This is supported by our goals of ...

Learner: Self motivated role models who demonstrate empathy and resilience.

Community: Leading engaged, connected school and community partnerships.

Environment: Dynamic, inspirational and nurturing learning environment.

And the final aspect weaving these concepts together is our A+ Characteristics of being articulate, accountable, accepting, adventurous and adaptable. We have the challenge of unpacking the Māori view of this wonderful representation of our Key Competencies to develop the ‘story’ behind each aspect e.g. 

Adventurous: 

Like the tuna, we know our goals and never give up when it gets tough because we are determined and persistent.

PD leading to school activities:

I want to unpack all the things we are doing well and they don’t really fit into just one category so here goes…

1. In 2013 the whole teaching staff made a commitment to learning Te Reo and completed a year at Te Wananga of Aotearoa (TWoA), two staff then took it on for a further year. This has resulted in a confidence and use of Te Reo across the school with daily use in waitata, karakia, whakatouki and speeches at official functions.
2. Personally I continued with TWoA with a further year in raranga (flax weaving), which has played a large role in my AKO students teaching others how to weave and preparing putiputi (flax flowers) for a teacher’s wedding.
3. The weekly admin meeting begins with a waiata and a new Te Reo phrase to use for the week.
4. Tracking boards are kept where Teams can track the progress of target and Māori students to keep ourselves accountable that we are meeting the needs of our Priority Learners. (2012)
5. The Kapa Haka team performs in both the Christchurch and local Ellesmere Kapa Haka Festivals.
6. Our whole school participated in a powhiri to welcome the new principal, as supported by our local marae, and images were included in their document to explain the protocol for these events.
7. Personally, I begin every year with a mini mihi whakatau, where past students welcome the new ones into our learning space, talk about the exciting things that happen there and share kai on the very first day.
8. Having a student buddy system throughout the whole school that reflects the reflecting tuakana teina relationship where the older students mentor, support and and help run ‘starting school parties’ for the little ones.
9. Senior students are given responsibility and can develop leadership skills in the areas of hospitality, build-teams, bus monitors, librarians and other areas.
10. Student voice and action is harnessed through our newly established student council.
11. Our local marae is beginning to be use more frequently as a learning resource with visits to Lake Ellesmere to unpack the importance of the tuna (Longfin eel) and unpacking protocol by spending time on ‘our’ marae.
12. Being an enviroschool and playing an active role in student involvement as ‘tamarkik tiaki’ - guardians of our environment. They work in our school garden, are planning to get chickens and have been planting native trees down at our local Chamberlains Ford.
13. Visual evidence of the Maori culture is becoming more evident around our school with the wind garden being created by ECO Team students to represent Tāwhirimātea (god of the wind) and pou (wooden posts) with our Key Competencies engraved on them.

For a school with a very small Māori community, I know we are doing lots of things to make connections with our environment but also, when you list them like this, the list of culturally responsive actions is quite long.The questions is…. are these making a deep and meaningful impact on helping our Māori students and whanau feel like the school is theirs and values Māori knowledge and world-view, or are these actions just superficial?

The only way to progress is to keep engaging in korereo with our Māori community and taking action to incorporate their wishes and advice as we continue this journey together.



References:

Bishop, R. Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

Bishop, R, Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009). Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5)734–742.

Education Review Office, (2012) Evaluation at a Glance: Priority Learners in New Zealand Schools. Downloaded from http://www.ero.govt.nz/publications/evaluation-at-a-glance-priority-learners-in-new-zealand-schools/ 

Feuerstein, R., Feuerstein, R. S., & Falik, L. H. (2010). Beyond smarter: Mediated
learning and the brain's capacity for change. New York: Teachers College Press.

Freire, Paulo. (2000) Pedagogy of the oppressed /New York : Continuum

Gutschlag, A.(2007). Some implications of the Te Kotahitanga model of teacher positioning. New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work, 4(1), 3-10. Retrieved from http://www.teacherswork.ac.nz/journal/volume4_issue1/gutschlag.pdf.

Szeman, I., Kaposy, T. (2010) 2010, Cultural Theory: An Anthology. Wiley-Blackwell