Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness in my Practice (Week 28)

Cultural responsiveness is an expectation at Glenbrook School within our ethos, pedagogy and ethical activeness as New Zealand teachers. At our school, low level activities such as Kapa Haka, tikanga and te reo Māori lessons are compulsory for all. Te Aō Māori and reo is planned for from the Marautanga. Each day every class starts with a non-denominal karakia and waiata. Every child is expected to write, say and display their mihi. This is the front page of their Passport to Success. The belief of knowing where you come in order to know where you are going to is built into the cultural foundations of our school.

Tikanga of Te Aō Māori is linked to both Tainui and Ngati Te Ata kawa within our school, this gives respect to the whenua of where Glenbrook School lies. Small taonga such as the Glenbrook School manaia and blessing which take place for leavers and staff each year are treasured. The board is active using Haautu as a measurement to ensure strategic initiatives are in place. Our kaupapa is what is good for Māori as tangata whenua is good for all, it is part of our inclusive expectation as leaders and communities of practice. This can be described at Mauri oho.

Mauri ora is what we do as everyday practitioners. We lead learning as an action and this is driven by our Values, Vision, and Qualities of Learning. Evidence is gathered through our appraisal as teachers but more importantly, it is on display through our students both Maori and non-Maori. Our 2015 ERO Report identified that at Glenbrook School, non-Maori students were proud to be Maori, just as Maori were. Data indicates that our Maori students are above both the local and national averages. Macfarlane, Glynn, Grace, Penitito and Bateman (2008) highlighted through the Indigenous Epistemology that New Zealand Schools should adopt the Maori key competencies. These being taaritanga (thinking and making meaning), manaakitanga (caring relationships), whakawhanaungatanga (building and maintaining relationships), rangatiratanga (taking responsibility and control over one’s own learning) and whaiwaahitanga (inclusion- participating and contributing). These are similar to our own values of mana, ako, manaakitanga and whakawhanaungatanga.

Our whānau are fully engaged with our school by assisting, their manaakitanga, their trust and their beliefs in the school. Hui is a regular occurrence through both formal and informal korero. However, we have identified that our next strategic initiative is to accelerate the learning engagement with our whānau and especially our diverse whānau. Many of our parents want to assist more at home and assist at school but in depth, consultation has informed us that they do not understand how the modern learning works and what learning is actually taking place. We have in place open mornings, families involved in programmes such as Reading Together and Friends of the School but whānau want more formal assistance. In 2018 we aim to engage whānau learning through student-led workshops, which can be videos and referred to at a later date if whānau are working and cannot attend. The Senior Leadership Team and Lead Curriculum Teams are working on a variety of learning workshops to showcase where learning is visible and in action, ideas from core curriculum are transferred and where learning is multi-curriculum and focused on Qualities of Learning and Values. Each of these opportunities is expected to also role model our cultural practices as everyday expectations. Students get whānau points (house points) for correct pronunciation, correct tikanga and display of values, and they encourage their whānau to do so as well.

Due to a focussed approach within our structures and Spiral of Inquiry, students with cultural backgrounds are clearly identified. Their data is regularly analysed and through Student Progress Plans these students are tracked and supported to accelerate. More importantly, we know these students. We know who they trust most at school, what is important to them, what makes them sad and why they don’t like an area of learning. Our school is accountable and responsible to the second half our NZ curriculum but we are focused on the front half our curriculum where knowing our students, all that makes up our students, from where they mihi from, what they feel they can do to where we know we can take them, we realise their potential as learners.

References:
Macfarlane, A. H., Glynn, T., Grace, W., Penetito, W., & Bateman, S. (2008). Indigenous epistemology in a national curriculum framework? Ethnicities, 8(1),