Activity 4: Indigenous culture and cultural responsiveness in my practice

What is culture?

Culture can be described in a number of ways. It includes our beliefs and values which Gay (2010) likens to a filter that aids our understanding of what’s around us. She goes on to explain that culture consists of tangible and intangible aspects; those that are intangible include not only values and beliefs but also one’s perspectives and assumptions, while the tangibles are the parts of a culture we perhaps associate with more readily - the art, music and crafts.

As teachers we need to take care that we treat our students as individuals with their own unique needs and perspectives, who also just happen to belong to an ethnic group. It is important to understand and utilise students’ prior experiences wherever possible in developing learning experiences that will engage them. Following this culturally responsive pedagogy of relations (CRPR) enables us to act as “translators and cultural bridge builders” by linking “what is already known and what is to be taught.” (Irvine, 2010)

The New Zealand situation, as described by Russel Bishop (Edtalks, 2012), has an achievement gap between Maori and non-Maori that is too large to ignore. This prompted him to lead a study into why this was happening, which then saw the development of the Te Kotahitanga Project and the Effective Teaching Profile (ETP).

My school context

My school (32% Maori) joined the Te Kotahitanga Project in 2009 where we were encouraged and guided to shift from a more traditional teaching model to a more agentic one with a focus on cultural responsiveness and increased Maori contexts within our teaching. This involved observations of our teaching with individual feedback/feedforward sessions afterward. While it challenged previously held misconceptions about Maori as learners for a number of us, it stressed the importance of building relationships with our students and their whanau. This is one area that I have always felt confident in; the bigger challenge for me was employing more Maori contexts in the teaching programmes in order to make their learning more relevant.

In 2015, we moved into the Kia Eke Panuku: Building on Success model (KEP). This was a school professional development reform that had been developed from Te Kotahitanga. Again it’s focus was on assisting Maori to reach their potential and the importance of relationships was at its core.

The 6 aspects of the KEP model are:

·         Manaakitanga: Belief in and care for Maori learners

·         Mana motuhake: High expectations for Maori learners and their learning

·         Whakapiringatanga: Well managed learning contexts

·         Ako: Effective teaching strategies to promote learning

·         Whakataunaki: Evidence-based learning

·         Whai pikinga: Accelerating improvement for Maori learners

                                                                                                                (Kia Eke Panaku, 2013)

Some important changes in this programme were the introduction of co-construction meetings with teachers of the same classes. These became important for the collegial sharing and collaboration of evidence-based learning. In class observations and feedback sessions also continue. Although this programme has now ended, due to its government funding being cut, we are still continuing to use this model in an ongoing effort to continue to raise the achievement of our Maori students.

In 2016, the ERO report concluded that:

“Māori students indicated that they felt acknowledged and respected as Māori, that there were opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills in te reo and tikanga Māori, and they were able to experience a strong sense of belonging.”

This is also evident in the way in which our Maori students now haka tautoko their peers who have been recognised for their achievements in school assemblies, something which only began happening when the college embarked on the Te Kotahitanga Project. We have a strong, committed kapa haka group and this year have had the ‘unveiling’ of our new school haka with an inter-house haka competition. This is set to be an annual event which will see more and more involvement from students both Maori and non-Maori as it becomes embedded into the school culture.

We still have a way to go until our Maori students are achieving their potential and the achievement gap is a thing of the past. Meanwhile we need to remain focused on creating and maintaining relationships for learning with them.

References

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

Gay, G., Teaching Tolerance (2010, June 17). Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8

Irvine, J, J., Teaching Tolerance (2010, June 17). Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8

Kia Eke Panuku (2013 – 2016) Retrieved from https://kep.org.nz/

ERO Report, (2016) Taupo-nui-a Tia College Retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/taupo-nui-a-tia-college-26-10-2016/