Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness

What does the Treaty have to do with my classroom practice?

Aotearoa New Zealand was the first country in which the colonising party set out to to negotiate a treaty with the indigenous peoples, outlining how the two parties would respectfully share the land and resources of the country.  

The Treaty of Waitangi promises three things; 

1. the Crown's right to govern the land,  
2. the right of Maori to the exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties, 
3. and to protect all the ordinary people of New Zealand, giving them the same rights and duties of citizenship as the people of England.

Our history shows that these principles have not been applied fairly or consistently.  Maori are over-represented in all the negative statistics that we collect in our country; poverty, poor mental and physical health, academic under achievement, crime and incarceration, suicide.   Our education system has contributed to the problem for decades, promoting deficit theories for under achievement and actively promoting curricula that marginalises our Maori students.  The third article promises to protect the rights of citizenship of Maori, and that includes the right to an equitable education system.

What does that mean for those of us working in schools?   

We must refuse to accept excuses for under achievement, and we must believe that every child is capable of learning. We must deliver a relevant and challenging curriculum that connects with the cultural experiences of our students.  We must value each student and their family, as partners in this process.  In short, we need to be culturally responsive.

My understanding of a 'culturally responsive teacher' is one who uses the students own knowledge and experiences to connect with new learning, building connections that value their cultural capital while giving them clear guidelines for how to achieve, while working in a school that explicitly values and plans for partnership and success. 

In 2012 the Education Review Office presented a report that  described how the cultural diversity principle in the NZC could be enacted in school and classroom curriculum. They included six criteria that they considered showed embedded practice of cultural respect;

• teachers were aware of students’ different cultural identities
• students’ cultural contexts were incorporated into teaching and learning programmes and into the classroom environment
• teachers provided practical opportunities for all students to be proud and share their languages and cultures through cultural groups, special events, and school festivals that celebrated cultural difference
• all students experienced learning contexts from multiple cultures 
• there were clear expectations in schools’ charters for celebration of diversity, stating the right of all children to feel culturally safe
• boards that had developed such charters sought representation from all the cultures of their school community, and staff were representative of many cultures.

This means that the school must plan for and deliver equitable practices that begin with the charter and end with the student achievement data.

Our Story

Our school has made commitment to providing an equitable education for all students that is inclusive and reflective of the diverse community we draw from, giving priority to our Maori students as our commitment to the principles of the Treaty.


What I bring to the process is a personal commitment.  I am the mother of two Maori children, living in a bi-cultural family.  I believe  that their education should celebrate both of their cultural heritages, and provide them with the skills they need to be successful in whatever they choose to do. They need to be comfortable with and able to function in both their worlds. This commitment is fundamental to the way I approach my own classroom teaching and has shaped my leadership practices also.

What do we do well?

We have a strong culture that exists in the school, evidenced by annual events, regular practices and shared language.  Many of these are traditional, western-education practices that celebrate success and build community. In wanting to be more representative of our culturally diverse community, we have made conscious decisions to include other cultural practices in  the culture of our school, and to publicly value to the cultural capital of our students, Maori and non-Maori.
As a teaching staff we have participated in professional learning sessions to improve our own use of Te Reo, and deliver a weekly programme of te reo in our classrooms with the support of a fluent Maori speaker (Te Reo Tuatahi). We use te reo incidentally in our everyday classroom instructions, and encourage the use of te reo by our students. 
We start every term with a student-led powhiri to welcome our new families to the school, we use tuakeina/teina relationships (buddy classes) to promote positive attitudes to learning and show respect, we focus strongly on our school values to guide our response to restoring damaged relationships (restorative justice), we include Maori concepts and knowledge in our learning plans (Matariki celebrations,kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, ako).   Alongside this we run the more traditional responses such as kapa haka, te reo lessons in class, etc.  We have support groups for non-English speaking families, and through this we are starting to plan for events that also reflect their specific cultural heritage in our school. 

This year my personal inquiry has been investigating the extent that cultural confidence has on student achievement, using the research of Angus Macfarlane in his Ka Awatea project.  It outlines factors that promote academic and cultural success for Maori students, rather than just identifying the limiting factors.  This inquiry has seen me working with 25 Maori students, years 2-6,  on cultural activities that they indicated an interest in pursuing.  We have met with whanau twice already this year and presented student learning to them. It has been humbling to see the growth in some of our less confident children, those whose connection with their Maori side is less practised.  They are all able to present their pepeha, and explain what it means and why it is important. Informally I have sen an improvement in the engagement of these students in their classrooms, and anticipate seeing a corresponding acceleration in their achievement data from last year. 

What can we do better?

Documentation - review to ensure that our commitment to culturally responsive practice is reflected in the annual budget and strategic goals.  It is clear in the vision and priorities but needs to be followed through in the annual priorities for PLD, resourcing and staffing.  this requires a commitment from the Board of Trustees, which may require some professional learning as they are a new Board.  There are great resources for this, including Best Evidence Synthesis reports (MoE), EdTalks (some favourites listed in the references) and Hautu, the review tool provided by NZSTA.


Symbolic representation of culture - we need to complete the existing plan for signage and symbols for our school values and PB4L framework. Our intent has been to work with local iwi to sign a symbol or icon that represents each of our four values and use these consistently around the school. 

Community involvement - we need to mobilise the various cultural and ethnic groups in our school to support us in sharing their culture with our students.  This starts with our Maori community, and we have already discussed a larger Matariki festival as part of our Ka Awatea project outcomes.  This event will demonstrate a respect for cultural knowledge and celebrations that we can then use to encourage other ethnic groups to join us in planning other events and opportunities. A priority for us is Pasifika, as we have had a significant increase in Pasifika families to our school this year. 

Conclusion:

Russel Bishop's work in the Kotahitanga project has changed the way NZ schools look at Maori academic  outcomes.   His belief that 'caring and learning relationships are paramount to educational performance' has changed the way good teachers interact with their students and families.  And as we know from the Ka Hikitia document, what works for Maori works for everyone. It is simply good practice. 

REFERENCES:

Alton-Lee, A. (2003) Quality teaching for diverse students in schooling: Best evidence synthesis. Wellington Ministry of Education

Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al.(2011).Culturally responsive pedagogy and assessment in primary science classrooms: Whakamana tamariki. Wellington: Teaching Learning Research Initiative.

Davis, P. Critical elements for raising Maori achievement. EdTalk  Retrieved from  http://edtalks.org/video/phoebe-davis-critical-elements-raising-m%C4%81ori-achievement

Education Review Office (2012):  The New Zealand Curriculum Principles: Foundations for Curriculum Decision-Making  Retrived from http://www.ero.govt.nz/publications/the-new-zealand-curriculum-principles-foundations-for-curriculum-decision-making/  

Hautu - Māori cultural responsiveness self review tool for boards of trustees
Retrrived from http://www.nzsta.org.nz/professional-development/hautu-maori-cultural-responsiveness-self-review-tool-for-boards-of-trustees

Hotere-Barns, A. Addressing Pakeha paralysis with non-stupid optimism . EdTalk Retrieved from  http://edtalks.org/video/addressing-p%C4%81keh%C4%81-paralysis-non-stupid-optimism 

Macfarlane, A (2016). Ka Hiwa Ra! - Listen to Culture.  NZCER

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: