For this week's blog I am going to look
at indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice. I will be
using Rolfe’s model of reflection to help me and also Milnes (2017) action
continuum to evaluate where I am and need to do.
What is my understanding of
indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness?
Prior to moving to New Zealand I had
done a fair bit of research on Maori and Pasifika cultures and practices and
arrived feeling semi confident in my knowledge. Well that confidence soon left
me, I was confused and mesmerized at the same time by the language and customs.
I loved the way that Māori words where used in everyday language by the
majority of people I met. The bilingual road signs reminded me of holidays to
Wales where they had both English and Welsh on them, and similar to those
holidays, I would be several kilometres down the road before I had mastered how
to say it correctly. So I decided that I wanted to be able to pronounce people
and place names correctly without causing offence, this led me to enrol on a
NCEA Level 1 & 2 Te Reo Māori course which I completed a few months prior
to starting Mind Lab. Paris
(2012) stated that ‘Such richness includes all of the languages, literacies,
and cultural ways of being that our students and communities embody—both those
marginalized and dominant.’ (p. 96). Using
my kaiako for support, I looked at some
of my school resources and tried to incorporate that bilingual approach into
handouts for the students. This leads me onto the two areas I would like to
focus on, learning activities and school-wide activities.
So What?
Regarding my own practice, I feel
I have moved up from the brown that I was at when I first landed in Aotearoa,
to the purple even possibly sneaking into the green and I understand that there
is still lots of scope for improvement. Over the last few years I have been
bringing more Māori culture into Technology Hard Materials and checking with
the local Rūnanga about protocols and procedures. For example, to allow the
Year 9 students to become familiar with the workshop and the health and safety
rules, I know get them to design a patu that incorporates their mihi. This
community communication and involvement resulted in me being invited to Mataura
Marae to witness the wood carving.
An aspect of where I feel the whole
school needs to improve is in school-wide activities. I feel we do not do
enough cultural activities within the school. As Milne said in her video it is
not enough to just have ‘cultural activities’ dotted around the timetable and
then a whole school blitz during Māori language week. For the school as a whole
to move along the continuum we need to ensure that cultural pedagogy is
everywhere. The vast majority of our students come from an Intermediate school
which prides itself on its Kapa-Haka group, when they come to High School we
don’t have one so those students feel at a loss. We have not had a permanent
Māori teacher for several years so those students who wish to study can, but
every year we have to wait on the current teacher saying that they will
continue. Speaking to SMT, I have since found out that down South it is hard to
find Māori teachers. The
Coolangatta Statement (1999) whilst even though its referring to Hawaiian
students, can easily apply to Māori and
Pasifika students when it stated ‘Historically,
Indigenous peoples have insisted upon the right of access to education.
Invariably the nature, and consequently the outcome, of this education has been
constructed through and measured by non-Indigenous standards, values and
philosophies. Ultimately the purpose of this education has been to assimilate
Indigenous peoples into non-Indigenous cultures and societies’. (p. 3).
What Now?
Regarding my own practices I have a few
things I want to work on. I want to ensure that the Māori and Pasifika culture
I bring into my classroom doesn’t feel like a ‘bolt on’, I want it to feel
natural not forced. Milne (2017) correctly stated that to be able to move along
her continuum you must be involved in ‘a movement that requires you to be in the struggle, in solidarity
with your community. You can't drive away from it at night’. This is something
I need to improve on further as, ironically , I live 30kms away from school so
literally speaking I do drive away at night but i want to work on the
metaphorical meaning to ensure the students know I am in it with them and have
their best interests at heart. This will help with the ‘debt’ that Bishop
(2012) talks about in his Edtalks video. He said that ‘Its vital as a society we understand the need to
address these education disparities’. As for the school-wide activities, some
questions need to be asked. Should there be a team in place to ensure that
Māori and Pasifika culture and needs are being met? Should there be more PD on
what is cultural responsiveness? Should all the official languages of New
Zealand be evident more in classrooms and around school? Just some food for
thought and a few things to think about.
References:
CORE Education.(2017, 17 October). Dr
Ann Milne, Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in
whitestream schools.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cTvi5qxqp4&feature=em-subs_digest
Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A
culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994
Milne, B.A. (2013). Colouring in the
white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools. (Doctoral
Thesis, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10289/7868
Paris, D. (2012). Culturally
sustaining pedagogy: A needed change in stance, terminology, and practice. Educational
Researcher, 41(3), 93-97.
Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D., Jasper, M.
(2001) Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s
guide. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
THE COOLANGATTA STATEMENT (1999)
On Indigenous Peoples' Rights in Education World Indigenous Peoples'
Conference on Education Hilo, Hawai'i. Retrieved from http://www.tebtebba.org/.../21-indigenous-peoples-declaration-statements-and-interventions…
Thanks for your blog Ian. I agree with you the local Intermediate have a strong sense of cultural responsiveness in their school and it can get lost moving on to the next school. I think it is the same moving between primary schools as well. It usually takes one person or a team to develop programmes or classes for students and then to embed them into the "school way". It is hard to staff these roles though and I know at my school we have had many Kapa Haka teachers to support us... unfortunately they all move on. We have now developed a more sustainable approach by having a teacher on staff lead this area with support from the wider staff. We also try to use our parents where we can (fitting in around their work commitments) to support this. We usually find great parents in our community who want to support the students.
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ReplyDeleteI don't think your blog is boring Ian. Well done. For me personally, I am from a Pacific Island so I do understand the cultural aspects around pedagogy. So coming and teaching in New Zealand was sort of a good transition for me. Our school is really big on the cultural approach and we often blend it in our teaching also. Future focused at the same time keeping the cultures alive. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your blog. I think you are probably further into the green than you think. You have made the effort to learn Te Reo Maori and are implementing into you daily conversation. You embrace Te Ao Maori and your Mana is evident in how you are treated by your Marae and community. I like your questions and my answer is yes to both, especially the PD. I really think that the govt needs to provide a lot more funding so the BOT can offer PD as there is always a fight (well in my smaller rural school) to prioritize PD spending.
ReplyDeleteKia ora Ian,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experience as a migrant. As a fellow migrant, I can really relate to how wonderful it was to see just how much Maori culture is integrated into New Zealand society, from the moment that I arrived at Auckland airport. Having taught both in South Auckland and on the North Shore, I have been surprised at just how little integration of Ti Kanga Maori and Te Reo Maori there is in my little patch of Southland's colleges. My daughter's local pre-school was huge on integration of Te Reo Maori in everything they did, and it's the same now she's at primary school. I admire your commitment to your personal upskilling and am inspired to follow suit. While my colleagues are certainly doing a great job of taking up all and any PD offered on being culturally responsive, I think one of the obstacles that we need to overcome is the fact that Maori and Pasifika students make up a tiny percentage of the roll, which makes people think, "well if I have no Maori in my class, why bother?' I suppose it's about making the switch to "When I have more Maori students in my class I'll be pedagogically ready to be culturally responsive."
Congratulations Ian on your commitment to improving your understanding of Te Reo and Tikanga, that is a huge achievement. I agree with you that maori students are coming to high school with a strong sense of self, however this is sometimes lost for some students are they progress through the year levels as there is not that strong sense of maori community or it is as you say 'a bolt on' to the current school culture, instead of being embedded in our everyday communications and connections with these students. I know that the argument in Southland is that there are very low percentages of maori that make up our roles but to me its good practice to be inclusive of all cultures within your school, not just maori. I would like to further up skill myself in the language - I have a relatively good understanding and use maori words regularly in my interactions with others however, there is always room from improvement.
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