After
completing the OP course ‘Introduction to Te Tiriti O Waitangi’1 a
few years ago, I felt I had a more confident grasp oF the Treaty of Waitangi
and what it meant for me as a New Zealander. What I took away from it was how the spirit in
which the Treaty was signed by both Māori and European, and the principles set
down in it which inform New Zealand’s culture and governing today, are ultimately
more important than the misinterpretations.
In completing
this module, It is now clearer to me how we must strive to live by the
principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and be accepting of our diversity to be
able to call ourselves, and New Zealand, truly multicultural. As educators we must
strive to provide a safe and supportive learning environment to support Māori
to achieve in education, utilising and putting into our teaching practice our
knowledge and respect of Māori identity, culture and language.
As a unique and
bicultural nation we as New Zealanders have the responsibility to uphold the 3
P’s2 of Partnership, Protection and Participation and throughout this
unit my learning has made me reflect on my behavior and any assumptions I have
previously had – both positive and negative.
My cultural identity is influenced by the pioneering history of
Europeans and an upbringing surrounded by our gold-mining history and immersed
in a rural lifestyle. Both the land and the people from my area will always be
important to me and although I have now resided in Dunedin longer than when
growing up in Central Otago, Bannockburn will always be home and my whānau will
always belong there (we even have a road named after us!). This new
understanding of the importance of being a “culturally located learner”3
has already helped me to start building deeper connections and level of
engagement and understanding of my students and to realise how deeply interwoven Culture, Identity and Te Reo
are within Māori learners, their whānau and wider communities
 | |
| Bannockburn, Central Otago. This is the view from my home in Bannockburn, looking over the goldmining area surrounding Stewart Town. It is DOC owned land of which our family had custodianship for over half a century. |
It is important
to understand the value of Tikaka, to be able to follow the philosophy and
guidelines of Māori culture respectfully in our teaching and conduct. This is
also what we should be striving for in our everyday practice towards every
culture that makes up the diverse group of learners that we have in New Zealand.
This would be the one aspect of this module that I struggled with. Although I
understand and completely agree that as educators we must strive for cultural
competence towards Māori, I have little interaction with students who identify
as Māori, so can only reflect on my interactions, assumptions and connections
with students from other cultures other than Māori, in particular Pacific
Islanders and students from Asian countries. So, although I have started along
the road of becoming a highly effective culturally competent educator, I lack
experience in putting these new understandings and skills into practice with Māori
learners.
The Tertiary
Education Strategy4 states that “Evidence shows that acknowledging
and advancing Māori language, culture and identitiy is important in providing a
basis for Māori success in all forms of education.”
Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Tikaka Māori and the use and incorporation of Te
Reo Māori is relevant in that as educators we have to be able to empower
students with confidence – in themselves, their learning and their own cultural
identity to ensure their success in education. To do this we ourselves must
have the understanding of Māori as tangata whenua of New
Zealand. We must imbed Te Reo and our knowledge of Māori customs and beliefs into
our teaching practice and become actively involved in the wider Māori community
to ensure the success of Māori in their education journey. Giving all learners
opportunities to develop their own cultural identity can enable them to
understand the uniqueness of our bicultural heritage and the special place that
Māori hold within it. They will learn
the importance and relevance of not only tikaka Māori, but the value of every
culture in New Zealand.
Otago
Polytechnic places great significance and value in Tikaka and Te Reo and some of the ways we promote these values are through the use of Te Reo in signage and
marketing materials and the powhiri at the beginning of each year for new and
returning students. I always find this powhiri to be very emotive and it gives
me a sense of pride to be involved and included.
At a school
level we share our knowledge and value of Māori customs and concepts, Tikaka,
in a number of ways: through karakia before shared meals, respecting the
different spaces we work and socialise in – by not eating in working
environments, not sitting on tables and also through incorporating Te Reo in
small ways throughout our day, every day. New knowledge I have learnt from my
research in to Tikaka is regarding bags on tables, and I will start to integrate
this into our studio culture immediately. I enjoy arriving into the students studio each
morning and greeting them in Te Reo, and their reactions are always positive,
appreciative and I feel reflect respect – often they replying to me in Teo Reo
as well!
In the Design
school we encourage students to bring members of their whānau or support network
to internal presentations of their work. One of the most positive and affirming
presentations I have been involved in was when a large number of a student’s whānau
all came along to give her support. The student had been struggling to embrace
her identity and this had until recently, been reflecting in her attitude and
education outputs. But this presentation felt like her metamorphosis - into a confident
and successful learner and one who now achieves a high level of success in her
learning. Coming from a blended Māori and Pacific Islander family she has the
fantastic support of a large group of aunts who have become very active in her
education. The incorporation of input from her whānau into her learning has
been invaluable, for her, her whānau and for us as her educators.
Due to
reflecting on my practice, in my relationships with learners I am gaining a
greater understanding and connection with them. This increased trust in me has
in one form materialized through my gaining of quite a few new Facebook friends
- which I’m still not sure if this is a good idea…I may get to know them a
little too well!
I have met many
members of my students’ whānau over the last month and because of my newly
gained knowledge from this paper, I have been proactive in forming a connection
with them, however small. By explaining my role and relationship with their child
I have gained further insights into many of my students. I have recently supported a student after the tragic
death of a close family member. I could see this was impacting on her and her
work and was able to support her as she works through this and help her develop
a plan of action – for her work and her wellbeing. During discussions during
our staff meeting I discovered that I was the only staff member who was aware
of her circumstances and realised that I play an important role in creating a
protective environment to nurture the success of our students in their study.
Currently working
with a small group (16), we only have one student in this cohort that would
identify with another culture than NZ European. She is a very quiet student, but
very open when you are talking with her 1-on-1. I am not sure where her
quietness comes from and now plan to investigate this and engage with her more
often and in more depth.
I don’t feel in
the recent past, that I have specifically employed intercultural communication
skills in my interactions with Māori students but this is something that I work
towards increasing throughout my journey towards cultural competence. I am
encouraged by this module to seek out new opportunities to incorporate Te Reo Māori
into my teaching and planned next step is to use the Kura
app on my tablet and phone to help facilitate this. I will also investigate to
see if Otago Polytechnic has a subscription to the Hika Explorer app.
I strive to be compassionate
show respect towards every student and their culture, and providing a positive
learning environment and equal opportunity for all is always in the forefront
of my practice. I am always open and
willing to learn, from both colleagues and my students and active listening5
is something that I practice every day. Most of my interactions with students
are this type of communication and have found active listening to especially
work well with the International students I have taught in previous years - they
have often been the quieter more reserved members of the class. Working mainly
1-on-1 with my group of students provides me opportunity to help accommodate
their individual needs and I will develop this further by building stronger
relationships, especially with the students showing less participation and openness.
I always strive to achieve
individualized methods and ways of teaching and learning and think the idea of ranking values within a group would be beneficial
for both me and the students’ learning from each other and would definitely
help for us all to have more meaningful conversations about our beliefs and assumptions.
REFERENCES:
1
Scan of Record of Achievement certificate from Otago Polytechnic,
‘Introduction To Te Tiriti O Waitangi Course’, 2009
2
Ministry of Education ‘The New Zealand Curriculum Update’, 2012
3
New Zealand Teachers Council, Ministry of Education
‘Tataiako Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Maori
Learners’, 2011, Page 4
4
Ministry of Education ‘Tertiary Education Strategy 2010 – 15, Page 7
5
Magna Publications, Faculty Focus ‘Five Competencies for Culturally
Competent Teaching and Learning’, 2013
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
6
Treaty2U Website, ‘Cd-Rom’, 2013
7
Treaty2U Website, ‘Cartoons’, 2013
8
Ministry for Culture and
Heritage, New Zealand
History Online, ‘FAQ’, 2013
9
Ministry for Culture and
Heritage, New Zealand
History Online, ‘The Treaty in Brief’, 2013
10
Wikipedia, ‘Tangata Whenua’ 2013
11 Korero Maori ‘Tikanga Māori - Protocols overview’, 2013
12
Otago Polytechnic Memorandum of Understanding, 2004
13
Maori.org.nz, ‘Language – Dialects’, 2013
14
Ako Aotearoa, Te Tauākī Ako: Our Ako Framework
http://akoaotearoa.ac.nz/ako-hub/our-work-m%C4%81ori-educators-and-learners/resources/pages/te-tau%C4%81k%C4%AB-ako-our-ako-framework
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteI will also email you my notes on the five cultural competencies for further evidence of my learning.
No stress about getting feedback, I'm leaving for Shanghai on Wednesday and not back until the 25th. I will post my work on the final module on my return.
Regards,
Pip