Gloria Stafford, teacher
The awareness of the needs of Māori learners in our school has been steadily increasing this year as we put some of the ideas from our workshops into action in our classrooms. I was able to reflect on how the tuakana-teina initiatives are working for my students, and how planning together for work-experience, community involvement, and volunteering in the community, has helped to build relationships between ourselves as educators, and the students' whānau.
We now write the date in both languages every day in my classroom, and notices are headed in both languages. Now we (the teaching staff of our unit) are beginning to look at ways we can incorporate Māori culture as well as language into our class environment. We have identified a couple of incidental learning opportunities, which have arisen such as learning about cultural norms surrounding the cutting and use of harekeke. There are a number of flax in our garden which have become too big for the space. This is a good opportunity to seek and use the knowledge of the students' whānau members. Another matter arose when a visitor who had recently arrived from overseas, sat on a table during a discussion. It provided a good discussion starting point for students to express their cultural norms of behaviour. Our school has settled on three karakia we will build into our school community gatherings. One will be said before we eat together. I have printed it and displayed it in the classroom. In the next few weeks students and staff will learn what it means and how to say it. These are small steps but each one is building higher expectations of respect for Māoritanga.
Roxy Hickman, teacher
I am keen to embed a few ideas that we talked about into our daily programme. One of these is Wā whakangā – time to relax. This will be a relaxation period at the beginning of the day to welcome the new school day and blow away any negative thoughts. Also I have changed my signature on my email to "ngā mihi nui".
This work has brought me to reflect constantly on how I can go deeper. I come back to Whare Hauora and the need to use this model within my whole classroom programme, rather than leaving it to be a one-off event. It would fit nicely when working one-on-one with students reflecting on their goals.
We met with a Māori colleague to gain a better insight, utilise her "expertise" in Tikanga Māori and explore ways to incorporate this within the theme. She opened my mind to how she sees the world – as she put it “a Māori perspective always considers the four walls of Whare Hauora (the walls of wellbeing)”. She related how she works, and how she sees learning – always from this perspective.
It made me consider the importance of incorporating Whare Hauora into the Te Reo Kori mahi (work) as well as other areas of my teaching. We have observed the engagement and pride of some students, who may normally sit back, a sense of connection that I believe is part of this.
“Success as Maōri is about achieving in all areas in your own way – being valued for who you are and what each child sees as being of value. Multiple voices and worldviews are valued and honoured within an authentically collaborative process. We tautoko each other’s learning”.
Group statement, Fairhaven staff
Merv McNatty, teacher
My inquiry focus this year began with a desire to learn a range of marae protocols but my reflections from my reading took me on a much deeper journey.
I think that with a better understanding of some of the darker side of our history, I will be a better teacher. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a living document, which has an effect on what I do each day, so I’m part of the building of a bicultural Aotearoa. I am part of history.
I want to research deeper into the history of the separation of Maori from the land – the whenua.
This has become important to me.
Currently kaitiakitanga has been a focus of my work because the school has been gifted some farmland. I explained kaitiakitanga, taking guardianship, to students and received a positive response. As kaitiaki we are helping return land to what it was … small increments to learning.
It’s always about thinking of the two worldviews … being bicultural.
"As I have been writing, investigating and reflecting I’ve asked myself many times what relevance has this to do with my teaching practice. I currently don’t have a full answer. One thing I feel, is that just as young men need role models to learn their role or place in society regarding gender, young people also need role models who are confident of their place, most importantly in a bicultural context, then in a multicultural context in Aotearoa New Zealand.”
Merv McNatty
Read more about Merv’s inquiry and the Pathway Project that Merv and his students are involved in to create an outdoor classroom on farmland gifted to Fairhaven.
