Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

The course work that resonated most with me this week is the work by Professor Geneva Gay. In the video, Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy , Professor Gay identifies two different kinds of culture; the visible, or tangible and the invisible or intangible. She describes tangible culture as the art, music or language of that culture, whereas the intangible is the values, beliefs and assumptions of that culture.

 She highlights a dilemma we have in culturally responsive teaching. She states there is an incompatibility between the cultural filters that we use as teachers to send messages through the school’s frame of reference, and the cultural filters that children from different ethnic backgrounds are using when they are trying to receive those messages so they can learn.
 The part of her work that I find myself reflecting on the most, is where she says it’s time for schools to adapt the way we are planning and presenting messages, to make them more culturally inclusive, rather than expecting students to try and make sense of it, as has been the way traditionally. Our school is multicultural. We have 40% Maori students. The other ethnicities represented in our school are Tokelauan, Chinese, Korean, South African, Samoan, Fijian, Japanese Philipino, Irish, English, Polish, Scottish and Australian. If we are to follow Professor Gay’s directive, a wide range of strategies will need to be employed to meet the needs of this diverse group of students.
 Our 2016 ERO report states “The school wairua honours the past and aims for all children to be motivated and confident learners, respectful of others, and empowered to achieve their potential and take ownership of their accomplishments.”
 There is a commitment within our school to ensure all cultures are honoured, especially our Maori learners. As ERO states: School leaders and teachers are increasingly responsive to accelerating the learning and achievement of Māori children. Some of the policies and procedures we have out in place are:

·       The establishment in 2016 of an 'Action Plan for Raising Achievement for Māori Males'.

·       Programmes to build learning partnerships with parents and whānau in reading and writing.

·       A 'Kawenata' memorandum of agreement between Ngāti Tuwharetoa and the school.

·       Accelerating Learning in Mathematics (ALiM), the Mahi Tahi initiative, and digital mathematics challenge.

·       Using Hautu review – A Maori Responsiveness Self review designed to ensure we are working as well as we can for our Māori students as expressed in Ka Hikitia.

Using Pohatu’s (2011) Mauri model, I would place our school as mainly Mauri Oho – in a state of being proactive – while moving purposefully into Mauri Ora – actively engaged, commited and motivated. Most of us also incorporate meaningful culturally inclusive learning activities into our programmes through reo, art, tikanga, pepeha and waiata. We honour our commitment to the Kawanata through professional development and meaningful learning opportunities. We honour the Tataiako Competencies as we provide these meaningful experiences. 

Schoolwide, our principal leads a cultural focus every week at assembly where we fly the flag of one of the different nationalities within our school and find out facts about them. When possible the students from those countries are involved. We use an itranslate app on the ipad for our esol students. We welcome all new students and their whanau each term with a powhiri. We have a Matariki Week throughout our school, which culminates in a whanau hangi, prepared and celebrated by students, whanau and the school. We visit local marae  and learn about our local stories and culture. We have senior and junior kapa haka groups, involving hundreds of students, staff, tutors and whanau. Our school is well signposted in both languages.
 We are a future focussed school committed to success for all.

 

ERO review. Retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/taupo-school-22-11-2016/

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

Education Council. Tataiako. Retrieved from: https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Tataiako.pdf