Today's New Zealand society have an obligation to ensure that Maori students receive an education that allows them to achieve at the same level as Pakeha. This sounds simple enough, and all the teachers I know would agree this is their absolute right. So why isn't it happening?
Russell Bishop (2012) reminds us that the Treaty of Waitangi makes provision for the Maori "to benefit from being citizens of the new society". Shamefully, colonial New Zealand failed to uphold this article and Maori have continued to perform consistently below Pakeha students. Bishop calls this a 'debt' our society owes the Maori people, and the government has launched a raft of initiatives in the last ten years to try and redress the balance. There has been an increase of almost 50% in the number of Maori students leaving with NCEA Level 2 between 2008 and 2016 according the the Education Minister (Stuff, 5/2/16), although this is 'still not enough' as these students are still not performing en par with their cohort. There is still work to be done!
'Whaia te iti kahurangi; ki te tuohu koe, me he maunga teitei.'
'Pursue the highest ideals; if you must submit, let it be to a lofty mountain.'
DOING IT WELL
At my High School Maori culture is incorporated into many aspects of school life. These are largely tangible or physical displays (Gay, 2002, p106), such as Kapa Haka performances, singing of waiata in assemblies, the Mihi Mihi ceremony at the start of the school year, and appointment of Cultural Captains for each of the six school Houses. Our Senior Leadership team also model Te Reo Maori in greetings and announcements in school-wide assemblies.
In out school we embrace the idea that it is 'not enough' and we have set school goals to raise Maori achievement using personalised learning programmes, and it is a constant item on agendas with staff. There are regular Whanau Huis where staff and parents can mix informally and build up a mutual respect, and begin to have conversations around effective strategies to raise the outcomes of their tamariki.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
As part of a recent review, classrooms have cloned a quantity of posters with numbers, dates and greetings in Maori. Carved statues have a place in our native gardens and kowhaiwhai edge many classroom display boards. But again, these are simply physical manifestations of Maori culture, 'ticking a box' for teachers PTCs.
A copy of 'Tataiako' has been shared to every teacher in my school, which encourages teachers to make links to their Maori students, and to develop their own sense of whanaungatanga to maximise Maori learner success, but in reality bringing the 'intangible' elements of Maori culture into the classroom is often challenging. Teachers know that it is important to build relationships with all their students, not just akonga, but New Zealand has a high proportion of immigrant teachers (myself included) who may struggle to identify opportunities for this. It is the job of every teacher to incorporate the knowledge of the Maori community into their classrooms, and becoming willing to postition themselves as learners (Cowie et al 2011).
In Taranaki a teacher has recently been made a Fellow of the NZEI for her work with Maori students (Stuff 27/9/16). She built up relationships with her students through the Maori history of the area. This enabled her students to share their own prior knowledge and that of their iwi to their learning. This is a lesson every teacher could learn from.
REFERENCES:
Bishop. R. (2012, September 23). Edtalks, A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994
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. Retrieved from http://www.tlri.org.nz/sites/default/files/projects/9268_cowie-summaryreport.pdf
Gay,G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2),106-116.
Ministry of Education (2011) Tataiako
Stuff (5/2/16) Retrieved 4/3/17 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/76572868/Hekia-Parata-Improved-Maori-education-shows-gap-is-closing
Stuff (27/9/16) Retrieved on 4/3/17
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/84687614/top-award-handed-out-to-teacher-who-champions-the-voice-of-maori-in-education
Hi Tracey.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's much easier for schools to bring in the 'tangible' aspects of Maori culture in as you say. It's the obvious things that people notice - the surface stuff. I agree it's much harder to have the true essence of maori tikanga and culture flowing through the veins of the school. There are so many wonderful documents that have been created such as tataiko but how have they been unpacked in schools? Do people really use them as is intended? I can imagine that as an immigrant teacher it's a step further for you in identifying some of the opportunities. Ultimately, it comes down to relationships - not just ones where you are nice to one another, - but ones like Tiri Bailey has formed with her students which are highly effective 'learning relationships.'
Hi Tracey,
ReplyDeleteYour suggestions are all very interesting. I agree with all of them but can't help but contradict myself due to what I have expereinced over the past few years in an Auckland secondary school. I'll start with a story. One morning, during my period 3 class, the runner hands me a slip to give to one of my Maori students.It was quite early in the term and I did not yet know the nationality of most of my students. Without reading it, I hand it to the student and I see their response to the slip as quite negative. I couldn't help but ask, what is wrong? She replied I don't want to go to this nor do I need it. It was a slip that said "Maori Morning Tea" in the careers room where we can talk about future options and scholarships. I guess the point is that this studuent did not want to be identified not as Maori, but as someone that needed extra help compared to others because of her nationality. She was/is one of the most independant and organised students in the class and yet she recieved a slip that did not respect the fact that she was doing well without further support. I undestand the statisttics indicate that Pasifika and Maori students generally leave school before gaining level 2 NCEA, however, is this because they are all painted with the same brush and feel that they are recieveing unwanted help even when they are not needing it?
I hear you - and this is something I also relate to. ALL our students are special to us - do we need to 'label' them Maori, ESOL, SEN, GATE etc? My school has classrooms allocated to different year groups to use during lunchtimes. Why then do they allocate different rooms for Maori and Pasifika students? A year 10 Maori student surely is better with other Y10 of the school, whether or not they share the same culture they are all students of our same school. It just seems odd to force the label,especially as we have several students who are very white skinned and less confident about being identified as Maori. By identifying these students openly are we risking alienating them from peers and making them less comfortable with their heritage?
ReplyDelete