Week 31: Indigenous Knowledge And Cultural Responsivenes In My Practice.

This week I will consider and reflect on indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice. 

Step one (what)

Culturally responsive pedagogy is a student-centered approach to teaching in which the students’ unique cultural beliefs and strengths are identified and nurtured to promote a sense of self worth. While ensuring the learner identifies with their cultural 'place' in the world, this has a two fold effect by not only raising the child's 'mana' but also raising student achievement. I resonate with the research by  Gay (2001, p.106) who states that culturally responsive pedagogy is defined by  “using the cultural characteristics, experiences and perspectives as conduits for effective teaching”.  When an educator is able to harness what the student relates to through their own cultural identity and connect it to what is being taught the learner feels valued and the learning is more meaningful to them. 

I believe quality teaching and learning for ALL hinges on relationships. Bishop (2009) discusses the importance of whakawhanaungatanga and whanaungatanga; that is, the process of establishing relationships and the quality of the relationships that are established. Hattie (2003) also concluded that it is not socio-economic differences that have the greatest impact on Maori students achievement. He suggests that "the evidence is pointing more to the relationships between teachers and Maori students as the major issue" (p.7) 

I will consider how my schools practice has been informed by indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy in two areas: Vision, mission and core values and School-wide Activities.

Step 2: (now what)

Our school's vision encapsulates a 'Know me before you teach me' philosophy and our core values reflect the commitment to ensure Maori students reach their full potential.  I fully believe that "the culture of the child can not enter the classroom until it enters the consciousness of the teacher".  Every learner regardless of ethnicity is taught to speak Te Reo from the day they start school.

Using Milne’s presentation (CORE Education, 2017) and action continuum as a reflective tool I would place our school between the purple and green stages by which “indigenous and culturally centred structures and practises are embedded but still colonial” and “where some language and cultural content and might consult with community groups, very few critical aspects” and where Maori achieving as Maori is becoming normalised. I believe our leadership, policy and pedagogy sits strongly embedded in the green stage but in reality several teachers are held back by their fluency of Te Reo and their understandings of Tikanga, where it is often easier to slip back into the “Pakeha comfort zone”.

Step 3 (What next)

We currently have a couple of people on staff who are committed to completing further study in Te Reo so this is a beginning to helping our staff to ensure Te Reo is normalised across the school. I would like to see more staff undertake further study in this area.

I do feel though that while focussing on our Maori students we may be doing other ethnicities a disservice, we still need to challenge our "white definitions and structures" in terms of how we teach and acknowledge other ethnicities   In past years we have had a 'cultural week' where we acknowledge Pacifica or our Chinese community but I feel this is tokenism, we need to ensure we cater for these students to the same level as our Pakeha and Maori students.  

References

Bishop, R., et al., Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Maori students in New Zealand, Teaching and Teacher Education (2009), doi:10.1016/j.tate.2009.01.009 

Hattie, J. (2003). New Zealand education snapshot. Paper presented at the Knowledge Wave 2003: The leadership forum, Auckland.

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