Activity 9: Evaluations of Cultural Responsiveness in Practice.

On my second day living in New Zealand I had been asked to speak at a meeting to share some of my experiences from working in Europe and South America. I had always perched on a table when I spoke overseas as I was very young, (just turned 20,) and it set me a little higher than those I was speaking to. It was a practice which I had been encouraged to do in England to relax people and create a friendly atmosphere. I was completely mortified when I was told very publicly that it was culturally insensitive and I must never do it in New Zealand but especially not in the presence of the lady who told me in an extremely loud voice to "get down now!"

Needless to say this was not the best way to encourage someone to learn about New Zealand indigenous culture. Like most young people, I felt embarrassed, resentful and struggled to carry on speaking when I wanted to run back to my native surroundings. How much different and receptive would my reaction have been if someone had quietly explained this and the purpose for the request. I had lived in many cultures and was receptive and excited about learning new things. 

The learning from that day has stayed with me and made me very aware about how important it is to learn about what is appropriate amongst different groups of people. To understand how important it is to accept and be sensitive to what is an acceptable mode of behaviour around the world. However most importantly to learn respect of the key practices of a culture in an atmosphere of inquiry and support, so that an attitude of love rather than resentment ensues.

 "Students do better in education when what and how they learn reflects and positively reinforces where they come from, what they value and what they already know."

(Ka Hikitia 2013-2017)

I strongly agree with the above that every child in a classroom deserves to have their culture honoured, in a deep and meaningful way. A classroom which honours a child's culture will always be a better place for them to be themselves, feel accepted, to develop and to learn, as proposed by Bishop (2012). Too often I have experienced in schools that the knowledge doesn't go deeper than a grudging acceptance of different practices. Our differences should be celebrated with more than lip service. This is only possible by creating close relationships with parents and the wider whanau.

"He aha te mea nui?

He tangata.

He tangata.

He tangata.

What is the most important thing?  It is people, it is people, it is people."

(Maori Proverb)

As the proverb says, the most important thing is people and our school excels with it's communication with parents and in trying to create relationships between school and home. 

Beliefs

• Opportunities to learn English are best fostered in an environment that acknowledges and cares about all students’ culture and heritage while developing skills in academic and social communication in New Zealand.

(Fendalton Open-air School - ESOL Students

(NAG 2 - Our Community)

Regular sessions are held for the entire school community which engage the parents in different aspects of what is happening in the school and explains both what the children are doing in class and it's purpose and also what the parents can do themselves to help their child's learning. Specific sessions are held under the ESOL umbrella for the parents of the children who are currently part of the program. Speakers of the languages of the parents attending are present to help translate. We have very few Maori and Pacific Island pupils, in 2015 we had only one in Year 3 and although we have five in Year 3 this year, I have none in my class. However if we did have children, they and their families would be catered for in the same way. 

This provision would come under Russell Bishop's 'Cycles of Engagement' where he clearly identifies how important the child's whanau is in their education.
     

Professor Russell Bishop:  Impact of staff and community connections on student learning

An area which we are constantly working on and refining is our monitoring of progress for all of the children in the school. This is an example of our online system which records across the school, the progress being made by the different sectors of students. We have identified that we need to make better use of the information, so our focus for the year is looking at how we can raise the achievement of our ESOL students who make up a very large percentage of our school community.

                       

(Fendalton Open-air School whole school monitoring)

Mike Hogan of Prebbleton School (2012) identified that his school's delivery of Maori education was tokenism until they undertook a full and intense review. We have an excellent Kapa Haka team who welcomes people to the school and performs on all important occasions. However, like many schools, often the uneven delivery of both Te Reo and Tikanga to the akonga reflects the still developing knowledge of teachers and the school communities of the true value of our indigenous culture.

References

Bishop, R. (2012) Impact of staff and community connections on student learning. Retrieved from

  https://www.youtube.com/watchv=wNdfSr4BMzU 03.03.2016

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

Edtalks.(2012, May 30). Mike Hogan: Culturally responsive practice in a mainstream school. 
   [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/43097812

Ministry of Education. (2013) Ka Hikitia - Accelerating Success 2013-2017    http://www.education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/overall-strategies-and-policies/the-maori-education-strategy-ka-hikitia-accelerating-success-20132017/  Retrieved 02.03.2016