Week 27 - Examine Your Cultural Context (Take Action)

At this stage of my inquiry, I need to reflect upon Whanaungatanga (Building relationships) specifically my interactions and communication with parents/caregivers and whanau.

I plan to use Rolfe’s Model of Reflection along with the Culturally Responsive Practice for Maori Scale (CRPMS) (Asil, 2017) as the framework for my reflection.


Step 1 - What

New Zealand has been identified as having one of the widest spreads of student achievement within schools which has led to Maori students being identified by the Ministry of Education as a “priority learner group”. (Asil, 2017)

Russell Bishop (2012), explains that Maori student underachievement was originally thought to be some kind of deficit in Maori people themselves. However, there is ample evidence that Maori are just as capable of being educated as other populations. Agentic teachers are the key to making a difference. According to Bishop and Berryman (2009) “they believe that all of their students can achieve, no matter what.”

Respecting indigenous knowledge and practicing cultural responsiveness is vital to fully engage students and families. This means making whanau feel included in the education of their tamariki, asking for their expertise and ensuring that classroom practice respects and reflects home cultures.

Step 2 - So What

At this point in the school year, it is relationships that are important. I have been building relationships with students in the class and there are many parents whom I have already met and got to know.

As detailed in my Action Plan, I have communicated fully with parents through newsletters and emails. They were all invited to a Meet the Teacher evening however, despite the meeting being fairly well attended, there were no representatives from my Maori families. These families are often reluctant to come into our school setting. I want them to understand that their child’s classroom is a place where they can feel valued, safe and comfortable.

Every year I send home a Learner Profile to be filled in by the students family. Although it contains a few traditional questions it also has space to find out more about family life and interests of both student and whanau. This can be a useful way to get to know students and their family context. (CRPMS W1)

Step 3 - Now What

Coming up we have Parent teacher interviews. I want to ensure that Maori parents/caregivers and whanau feel comfortable to attend.

I need to reach out to these families in a different way - with an personal email, a note sent home with the child or a telephone call. I need to invite them personally into the parent-teacher interviews by finding out if they are available (many work long hours) and sending home a specific appointment time. This could be before or after school or on a different day to the school interviews.

It's important to meet up with these parents and get to know them.

Looking in depth at the CRPMS. There are other steps I can take as a teacher, and I can implement as a leader within my school.

From my Learner Profiles, I have information about skills and talents within my student families. If I can create opportunities for whanau to come in and share some of this knowledge with my class I can make them feel valued and enhance culturally responsive learning. (W5)

This year as a whole school we are to implement Whanau Groups. This is where vertical groupings of students, across all year groups, come together to develop tuakana/teina relationships. Its early days but this initiative has great potential. (W3)

 In future inquiries, it will be important to consider culturally responsive practice and Whanaungatanga at the scanning phase of the Spiral of Inquiry (Kaser, L. & J. Halbert., 2017).


References

Asil, M. (2017). A School-Based Measure of Culturally Responsive Practices. Frontiers in Education 2(17), 1-7. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2017.00017

Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009).Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5),734–742.

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

Otago Polytechnic. (n.d.). Reflective Writing. Retrieved from https://www.op.ac.nz/assets/LearningAdvice/Reflective-writing.pdf

 Kaser, L. & J. Halbert. (2017). The Spiral Playbook: Leading with an inquiring mindset in school systems and schools. C21 Canada. Retrieved from http://c21canada.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Spiral-Playbook.pdf

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