As an educator who has taught in South Auckland, Ashburton, Ohakune and Christchurch I feel I have been exposed to many different cultural narratives. These environments have not only been rich with multicultural students but also multicultural colleagues which has enabled access to high quality professional development.
I have been privileged in my role to be invited to better understand cultural responsiveness by attending Ramadan celebrations, Diwali, Marae visits, Samoan churches along with interactions with a number of different cultures.
Maori
Durie (2006) outlines the importance of Maori advancement through educational achievement, effective whanau engagement with schools, iwi strategies for education and whanau development, and trans-sectoral government policies.
Macfarlane, Glynn, Grace, Penetito & Bateman (2008) state that Maori worldview is characterised by an abiding concern for the quality of human relationships that need to be established and maintained if learning contexts are to be effective for Maori students.
In my time as principal of Ohakune Primary School, we would visit Mt Ruapehu once a week for ten weeks as part of our snowsports programme.
As part of this I was made aware of a cultural narrative that Maori referred to the mountain as 'Koro'. For me this was hard to understand that an object which I didn't see as alive could be given human qualities. Part of this was that at the start of the winter season we would travel to the top of 'Koro' at 5.00am. We would ask him to keep our children safe and to look after us all. We also would visit at the end of winter to thank 'Koro' for doing so.
The skeptic in my head initially thought this was a waste of time but after my first visit and hearing the responses from 'Koro' in the form of the wind echoing through, feeling the chill and seeing the sun rise from behind became a spiritual feeling I was privileged to be part of for 5 years.
During this time I also was given the responsibility of speaking on behalf of the manuhiri when being welcomed onto Maungorongo Marae. As a non fluent speaker of Te Reo Maori I was incredibly nervous but was embraced through the Maori value of Whanaungatanga.
Both of these examples I see as 'ata' as described by Pohatu (2005) because these reflect not only the building and nurturing of relationships but the understanding of well being when engaging culturally.
Macfarlane, Glynn, Grace, Penetito & Bateman (2008) state that Maori worldview is characterised by an abiding concern for the quality of human relationships that need to be established and maintained if learning contexts are to be effective for Maori students.
In my time as principal of Ohakune Primary School, we would visit Mt Ruapehu once a week for ten weeks as part of our snowsports programme.
The skeptic in my head initially thought this was a waste of time but after my first visit and hearing the responses from 'Koro' in the form of the wind echoing through, feeling the chill and seeing the sun rise from behind became a spiritual feeling I was privileged to be part of for 5 years.
During this time I also was given the responsibility of speaking on behalf of the manuhiri when being welcomed onto Maungorongo Marae. As a non fluent speaker of Te Reo Maori I was incredibly nervous but was embraced through the Maori value of Whanaungatanga.
Both of these examples I see as 'ata' as described by Pohatu (2005) because these reflect not only the building and nurturing of relationships but the understanding of well being when engaging culturally.
Reference List
Durie, M. (2002). Whanau, Education and Maori Potential. Retrieved
from
Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 106-116.
Macfarlane, H., Glynn, T., Grace,W.,Penetito,W. &
Bateman, S. (2008). Indigenous
epistemology in a national curriculum framework? Ethnicities, 8, 102.
Ministry of Education. Retrieved from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/148851/National-Standards-Achievement-Results-2015.pdf
Hi Blair
ReplyDeleteSuch a relevant experience for the children to visit Mt Ruapehu- what a magnificent landmark and point of reference for the children on so many ways! You have really helped the children to embrace the culture. Perhaps the skeptic in you could further look at adapting the personification of the mountain into figurative language and craft further pieces of writing with the students and develop the culture further.
Thanks for the inspiration,
Julian
Julian, thanks for the comment. I like your idea.
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