Mindlab activity 3 Te Ao Māori & Cultural Responsiveness (week 27)

Te Ao Māori & Cultural Responsiveness

Examine how indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness are informing the way you are taking action.

When I created my action plan, Whanaungatanga and Rangatiratanga were 2 important te ao Māori concepts. Rangatiratanga is addressed in this inquiry process as ākonga and their whānau are able to share their voice. Ākonga especially should feel empowered as they are able to build their autonomy over their learning. The survey was targeted at them identifying themselves as an individual but also beginning to see how what they say and do can make a difference to what others think.

Ako is the reciprocality of learning between kaiako and students. In my action plan students are also sharing their learning directly with their whānau.
When I first wrote my Action Plan I decided to deliberately analyse the group of students (in detail) aaccording to a few factors, one of these ethnicity, but because the ākonga kept changing in the first 3 week it was difficult to get a grip on the identity of all of the students in our group. During this Edtalks (2012) video Professor Russell Bishop talks about culturally responsive pedagogy and he mentions that being culturally responsive means that your teaching strategies are relationships based and value the prior experiences of the learner and their whānau. These ideas of culturally responsive practice is also reinforced in the required reading by Cowie, B., Otrel-Cass, K., Glynn, T., & Kara, H., et al. (2011).

In the early stages of the inquiry, I identified 2 potential issues of equity; ethnicity and whānau access to their students learning via their emails. Over the past 5 weeks we been able to add more whānau emails to our systems so more parents should be able to access their child's learning.  The impact of this has not been evaluated yet.

Whānau engagement is an important part of acknowledging the culture of students. As Māori students shouldn't be seen as separate from their whānau. Ways that I would like to strengthen my action plan is be more responsive to students answers, this will be my next step.  

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

Kaupapa Māori & Our Research Topic

Kaupapa Māori & Our Research Topic

To gain a deep understanding of what's happening with our ākonga our research topic will take a focus on whānau engagement. For individual ākonga their whānau is an integral part of their identity and if we are being culturally responsive then both ākonga and whānau will be involved in the school learning design.
I think it would be helpful to define what learning design means as it is a relatively new concept for me.
I plan to collect evidence of ākonga not understanding learning design or questioning what we do here. 
Judy Helbert discusses truly understanding what's going on rather than just using our opinions. These are the learning principals from the OECD: 

• What’s the experience of kids? 
• Do they get the kind of feedback on a daily basis that helps them own their own learning?
• Do they feel connected to this school? 
• Can they answer the question, “Can you name two adults who believe you’ll be a success in life?”
• Do they have the opportunities to see the links across subject areas and to the community so that they can understand the relevance of what they’re learning, or do they see it as a set of discreet tasks?
• Do they have the opportunity for tuakana/teina? 

From this article I formulated a survey for ākonga: How is your learning at school going?

Tino Rangatiratanga - the self-determination principle 

Tino rangatiratanga in this context is related to mana motuhake, this means sovereignty and self-determination. 

Tino rangatiratanga is about having meaningful control over one’s own life and cultural well-being. 

This principle is embedded in the Treaty of Waitangi and both partners to Te Tiriti o Waitangi have the rights to protection, participation and power. The Māori version guaranteed ‘tino rangatiratanga’ (full authority) over ‘taonga’ (treasures, which may be intangible). 

Taonga tuku iho - the cultural aspirations principle 

Kaupapa Māori theory asserts a position that to be Māori is normal and taken for granted. 

Te reo Māori (language), matauranga Māori (knowledge), tikanga Māori (custom) and ahuatanga Māori (characteristics) are actively legitimated and validated. 

This principle acknowledges the strong emotional and spiritual factor in Kaupapa Māori. Kaupapa Māori knowledge has its origins in a metaphysical base that is distinctly Māori. Understanding this principle helps us understand the influences on the way Māori people may think, understand, interact and interpret the world.

• What relevance does the topic of interest have to our Māori students?

Our inquiry topic means that Māori ākonga and their whānau will have the knowledge and understanding to able to participate, feel ownership and connection to the learning design at Haeata.

• Have we taken into account the ways our ākonga think, understand, interact and interpret the topic of interest? How would you know?

The main rationale for the inquiry topic is to gather information on how ākonga think, interact and interpret learning design. We know this by directly asking them and taking note of what they say and do.

References:

Kaupapa Māori Research: Retrieved from http://www.katoa.net.nz/kaupapa-maori