Week 28 - Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

I found delving into cultural responsiveness a very reflective process this week as I work in a school with an increasingly growing multi-cultural make up, quite extreme to my own schooling. Currently we have around 10 different cultures in our school and about 17% Māori students. As a school we are always looking for ways to become more culturally responsive, to involve and include our parent community where everyone feels they are welcome and valued.   

We try hard to communicate with our community and provide opportunities for them to engage with their children's learning and with each other.  Our goal setting interviews have become more of a conversation with whanaū about their children rather than a sharing of teacher preset goals to help build stronger relationships.  Bishop (2012) talks about "relationship centred education" where relationships are absolutely paramount to build a culturally inclusive environment and that caring for people is at the heart of it.  He says that we need to have "learning relationships" with both our students and our parents. 

Our goal setting interviews are a special time together where everyone has a voice (students, parents and teachers), so we can develop valuable insight and really get to know our students.   We co-construct the students learning and social goals so that everyone has a say and a responsibility for supporting the student. Personally I find that this time is so valuable for relationship building and we have had positive feedback about how parents found these interviews compared to previous years. 

This year our school learning focus is Tūrangiawaewae (standing place).  This resonates well with all cultures.  Everyone has something that they can link to and everyone has a story to tell.  Storytelling is such a powerful way for students to be able to express themselves in the classroom and to have their voice heard.  We have the challenge of making sure that the culture in our classrooms allows for all children to learn, have their voice heard, to feel included and valued, and to experience success in their learning.

Bishop (2012) talks about Agentic teachers being those that are supportive of their learners.  He says that "Agentic teachers are the key to making a difference for Māori learners". For this to happen learning needs to occur in a real life, culturally sensitive context that the students can relate to and bring their own prior experiences to.  When this is operating in a classroom, learners are more engaged and there is often increased attendance.  

For me, I believe my classroom culture needs to be one where I place high priority on developing strong relationships with all my students and really knowing who they are as people as well as learners and where to help move them to in their learning journey.  We are on a learning journey together as I work on ways to improve my practice. 

References

Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009). Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Maori 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