Reflection 4: Cultural Responsiveness

Reflection 4 : Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

To be culturally responsive means more than just the integration of Maori legends and activities. A culturally responsive classroom involves whanau, a co-construction of learning between teachers and learners, as well as emphasis on the fact that every learner has their own voice where it is shared within a collaborative environment (Education Council, 2017). A culturally responsive classroom allows learners to challenge not only their own, but others beliefs. All learners are involved with the learning process as they are constantly creating their own goals as to what they know and where they going to next.

Teachers are encouraged to learn alongside students instead of upholding an ‘authoritative figure’. Learners learn in an environment where they are respected for their own prior experiences. A key emphasis is placed on the relationship between not only teacher and student, but whanau (Edtalks, 2012). Every learner has their own story and prior-knowledge of different contexts, so a culturally responsive classroom places great care on each learner and how their individual strengths and weaknesses can be catered for (Edtalks, 2012; Hindleb, Hyndsa, Meyerc, Penetitob, Savage & Sleeterd, 2011).

We had ERO visit our school last year and this was an excellent opportunity for us to reflect on Maori learners and their achievement within our school.

Planning and assessment is a strength of our school. We are constantly implementing strategies to support targeted Maori learners and how their learning can be raised. A weakness is that families are often not involved and we currently only supporting Maori learners with limited support in place for other cultures.

In 2014, a whanau group was created within our school that provided an opportunity for Maori leaders in our school and community to come together to create shared goals of how Maori leadership and learning can be successfully integrated into our school environment. In one of the meetings at the beginning of the year, it was decided that all teachers are expected to teach half an hour of Te Reo each week. Resources were given to support us with this integration into our classroom and how we could find the relevant lesson plans and materials to support us with this change. ‘He Reo Tupu, He Reo Ora’ was shown to us and from this resource site, we were expected to implement activities from this source. Our whanau group are incredibly involved with the successful integration of Te Reo in our classrooms. Our staff are very fortunate as we do have a leader who is fluent in Te Reo and he is viewed as an expert in our school context. In recent BOT meetings, concrete discussions have been occurring where staff and BOT are involved in reflecting on key questions that involve reflections of Ka Hikitia and how aspects of this document can be used more specifically in our classroom environment.

However, the integration of the Maori language and activities to support Maori in our classrooms is only in the early stages. Many staff members have struggled to uphold their one lesson a week of directed Te Reo and I do believe this is due to a lack of professional understanding and awareness of how to be confident with integrating the language into the classroom.  Although resources are given, time must be spent on how these resources can be used in an engaging and worthwhile manner for our learners.

References:

Education Council. (2017). Tātaiako - Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners:. [online] Available at: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Tataiako%20Cultural%20Competencies%20for%20Teachers%20of%20Maori%20Learners%20A%20resource%20for%20use%20with%20the%20Graduating%20Teacher%20Standards%20and%20Practising%20Teacher%20Criteria.pdf [Accessed 17 Jun. 2017].

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

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).

Te Toi Tupu. (n.d.). Pasifika: Participation, Engagement, Achievement tool. Retrieved from http://www.tetoitupu.org/pasifika-participation-engagement-achievement-tool