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Cultural Responsiveness - Mindlab Week 28


A few years ago my best friend got married. She is  NZ European, born and raised in Christchurch. He is Maori, raised in Kawarau. He was in the midst of medical studies and is now a practicing GP, so already a ‘success’ in the eyes of educational and social statistics. Newly married and living in Christchurch, they were happy of course - but found themselves discovering new aspects of their worldviews that they hadn’t realised were actually very different. These differences manifested in unexpected ways, for example, an offer by her father to her new husband to have the honour of carving the Christmas ham - an act of submission by her father to welcome him into the family - was deeply offensive to her new husband as he interpreted the request as a denial of the offer of hospitality in his in-law’s home. His cultural belief was that guests (manuhiri) should be generously hosted, and the way that was done was for the family (tangata whenua) to serve without asking for anything in return. Being asked to ‘carve the ham’ was seen to him as being not valued as a guest.

This was a watershed moment for our friendship group, as we came to understand how our friend - who we loved and valued so deeply - existed in a world that was dominated by a culture that was not his own. It became an ‘awakening’ point for me in beginning to take more time to see that many of my assumptions could be hurtful to others. I have carried this personal experience into my teaching practice, seeking to be careful to manage my assumptions and to learn from others.

Gay (2002, p. 106) defines cultural responsiveness as “using the cultural characteristics, experiences and perspectives as conduits for effective teaching”. The school I teach in is making significant, purposeful decisions regarding inclusiveness and being culturally responsive. Based on the recommendations of our latest ERO report (2016), we are continuing to embed Maori language, culture and identity for success as Maori. We realise the significance of relationships, and have made “Relationships Matter” one of two themes in our Strategic Plan. We have consulted with our community via an inclusiveness survey and a committee has been formed to monitor progress. We also offer Mandarin lessons, and have a vibrant Languages and ESOL programme for international (fee-paying)and domestic students.

We have undergone a cultural narrative process with our local marae, which has helped us to develop a symbolic framework and understanding of the cultural significance of our school in our community. This process has included being gifted new names for our school, buildings and teaching teams to reflect our cultural narrative.

Russell Bishop (2012) discussed ‘agentic’ teachers as those who believe that our skills and knowledge can help all learners to achieve, no matter what. I believe that we are a community of agentic teachers. We believe that all students can learn, and plan accordingly. In terms of addressing educational equity, we identify and have specific goals for Maori students as priority learners in our planning and assessment. We know that what works well for Maori works well for other learners - for example greater teacher-time to accelerate progress, collaborative learning experiences, having opportunities to share their knowledge and perspectives, and celebrating their success - and these elements are embedded.

Now that our framework has been developed, I believe our next steps as a school - and for me personally - would be to continue seeking meaningful, culturally integrated content in our classroom experiences, rather than having culture as a tag-on to the ‘main learning’ as has been our practice.

**This post was prepared as part of the requirements for CISC8100 Applied Practice in Context, for the fulfillment of requirements of a Post-Graduate Diploma in Applied Practice (Digital and Collaborative Learning) via Mindlab for UNITEC.

References

Gay,G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2),106-116.

Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994
Education Review Office (2016) Review Report: Cashmere Primary School - 21/09/2016, Retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/review-reports/cashmere-primary-school-21-09-2016/

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