The video “Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy” (2010) suggests that cultural responsiveness is not a one size fits all approach It is more than just understanding the tangible, visible aspects of a culture, the language, music and arts, it also about the intangible, invisible aspects, the values and belief systems of that culture. This explanation resonates well with my own thoughts. For me cultural responsiveness is not tokenism, it should be embedded in who we are, as well as in our teaching practice. Teachers are the bridge builders, making connections and building on the children's prior cultural knowledge.
In my own schools’ charter, alongside the vision, mission and core values of the school there is a section that focuses on Māori dimensions and Cultural Diversity.
(School Charter - Strategic and Annual Plan 2015 -18)
The Aberdeen School Māori Education Strategy informs programmes in Te Reo me Tikanga Māori at Aberdeen School. All students at Aberdeen have the opportunity to participate in and celebrate the unique cultural heritage of Māori through the Māori Mentorship programme and school-wide Kapahaka. All reasonable steps are taken to ensure that provision of instruction in Te Reo Māori me Tikanga Māori is available for all full-time students. Our provision for ngā mea Māori (things Māori ) is acknowledged by the wider community and the Education Review Office report, 2014. Aberdeen’s Pasifika Education Plan provides for regular parent hui and we have implemented weekly Pasifika cultural opportunity.
Aberdeen School acknowledges and values the cultural diversity of Aotearoa with provision of a wide variety of programmes and celebrations which acknowledge Aberdeen’s multi-cultural community. Aberdeen School ESOL teacher/programme provides quality support for students who are from non-English Speaking backgrounds. All Aberdeen students participate in the many special multi-cultural celebrations that occur throughout the year.
We use all available human resources at the school to implement the strategy. We have a Māori mentor programme set up that allows the students in the Year 5 and 6 bilingual unit to become leaders and share their knowledge with the school. We honour the diverse peoples that make up our community through our regular assemblies recognising celebrations from around the world. The families and students of each culture participate to help create authentic events.
So what does mine and the schools cultural responsiveness look like in terms of the Mauri Model (Pohatu, 2011)? Pohatu (2011) considers three states of being Mauri; Mauri Moe, the inactive state, Mauri Oho, the state of being proactive, awakened and Mauri Ora, the state of being actively engaged.
I think we have teachers at our school across all three states, some may be unsure, shy, not experienced in other cultures, some are making an effort to consider and respond to cultural needs and some are proficient in building those relationships in authentic ways. We have three bilingual classes, junior, middle and senior school, and our our new Principal leads by example with a masters degree in education that specifically focussed on Māori education..
Myself, I believe I fall into the Mauri Ora state, my own background and experiences have informed my practice and I do not buy into deficit thinking for the Māori children in my class., or any other culture.
So where to next for my school? I think we are definitely heading in the right direction. One of the four strategic aims of our Kahui Ako is Cultural Responsiveness and the role of one of our Within School teachers is to unpack this to share with the staff. And with our current Principal at the helm, the goal of embedding cultural diversity into everyone's practice should follow.
References
Teaching Tolerance. ( 2010, Jun 17). Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8
Pohatu, T. W. (2011). Mauri - Rethinking human wellbeing. MAI Review, 3, 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.review.mai.ac.nz/index.php/MR/article/v...
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