Activity 7: Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice.

“If we look at a child’s colouring book, before it has any colour added to it, we think of the page as blank. It’s actually not blank, it’s white. That white background is just “there” and we don’t think much about it... When we talk about multiculturalism and diversity what we are really referring to is the colour of the children, or their difference from the norm, and how they don’t fit perfectly.” Milne (2013).

New Zealand teachers work in multi cultural environments generally speaking. Wallis (2017) spoke of making one small effort to say one Maori word a day such as Morena rather than Good Morning can show respect to the indigenous culture of New Zealand. Also pronouncing children's names the correct way is an important message that you value and respect them and are prepared to take the time to get it right.

In a study undertaken in 2010 researchers found that most teachers cared for secondary students in a culturally responsive way  as "culturally located individuals" (Savage et al, 2011). In our school there is an expectation that teachers will be culturally responsive and there is a close relationship between our local marae and the school.

 In our Reading Together Programme we include other cultures by holding the workshops at local Marae which is the first time in New Zealand as well as at the local Sikh Temple. We have a large number of cultures at our school and each year we either take the whole school to one of the local marae or have a whole school hangi. 

Each year our Maori immersion unit has a school wide event to celebrate Matariki where they come and perform or teach the children games, waiata or invite them to join them in sharing kai. We have  whole school Kapa Haka and Indian Dance groups which children from all cultures are invited to participate in. Every term there is a Whakatau to welcome all new people incuding staff and students to the school and every Assembly begins with Karakia and Waiata.

Culturally responsive pedagogy is defined by Gay (2001, p.106) as “using the cultural characteristics, experiences and perspectives as conduits for effective teaching”. It is reflected in five elements including knowledge about cultural diversity, the culturally integrated content in the curriculum, the development of the learning community, the ability to communicate with culturally diverse students and culturally responsive delivery of instruction (Gay, 2001).

 In all of our meetings and most classrooms Karakia is said to begin and end the day as well as before eating kai. We know and teach the local legends about our mountains and one of our local kaumatua brings in his carvings to show progress and explain what they mean. Other kaumatua bless new buildings when they are built and are invited to speak at prizegivings, Anzac Day ceremonies or other school celebrations. 

While there is always room for improvement, we have come a long way towards becoming more culturally responsive to the point where staff who are not making an effort are in the minority. There is now an after school Te Reo programme for parents who are finding that their children know more of the language than they do. Staff are also invited to participate in this and there has been some take up of the offer. 

Although Maori were guaranteed under Article 3 of the Treaty of Waitangi that they would be able to achieve educationally it was not until the early 2000's that the 500th Maori person gained their PhD. Bishop (2009) attributes the increase in Maori achievement at secondary school to agentic teachers which I believe we have at our school also. These teachers are repaying the accumulated debt owed by New Zealand society to Maori who are just as highly educable as anyone else, by making a difference to their students. They care, have high expectations and school wide goals, they engage their students, they acknowledge their culture, background and they create a learning context where all students can access an education to a high level. Students are attending school more regularly, their needs are addressed and they and their families feel connected to their teachers and their school. 

References:

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.

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

Gay,G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2),106-116.

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

Milne, A.(2017).Coloring in the white spaces: reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.

Pohatu, T. W. (2011). Mauri - Rethinking human wellbeing. MAI Review, 3, 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.review.mai.ac.nz/index.php/MR/article/v...

Savage,C, Hindleb, R., Meyerc,L., Hyndsa,A., Penetitob, W. & Sleeterd, C.(2011) Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigenous student experiences across the curriculum .Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 39(3), 183–198: (Available to download from Unitec Library)

Unitec. (n.d). Learning and Teaching at Unitec Institute of Technology. Retrieved from Booklet.http://www.unitec.ac.nz/ahimura/publications/U008817%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20Booklet.pdf

Wallis, N. 2017). https://www.radionz.co.nz/.../what-3-to-7-year-olds-need-to-learn-nathan-mikaere-wal...