As I have pondered on this topic I have found it both interesting and difficult. I find it interesting that whenever indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness policies, vision, mission, and core values are discussed within the New Zealand education system it is limited to the Maori ethnic group. I find this difficult because whenever I listen or read comments around cultural responsiveness religious culture is never considered, yet this is the culture of myself and my children. I often do not comment just in case I offend or am interpreted as being culturally insensitive to ethnic cultures (such as Maori, Pacific Islander). I believe ethnic cultures are important; however religious and other cultures are just as important for many students that sit in my classroom.
My understanding of indigenous knowledge is the knowledge that is unique to a culture or society, that is passed to the next generation (Gaye 2002). For myself to have a culturally responsive pedagogy means having the ability to respect and learn from people from my own culture as well as from those of other cultures. In my case I need to be given the opportunity to learn from people from the same religion as myself as well as from other religions, ethnic groups and other cultures. This is also true for my students if they are to be culturally responsive. It is important to note that cultural responsiveness and indigenous knowledge isn’t restricted to New Zealand schools and it is also possible to teach all students to be culturally responsive without that idea devolving into simply meaning what a child's or teacher’s response is to the Maori culture.
Once again I am asked to comment and assess my practice against frameworks I find offensive and not holistically culturally responsive, only responsive to Maori.
I believe the New Zealand government and educational authorities have limited their definition of having culturally responsive pedagogy to teachers only being aware of the needs of Maori and the embedding of Mātauranga Māori in their classroom. Being culturally responsive would require teachers and educational leaders to recognise all students have their own culture as well as share a culture that comes from all being residents of New Zealand and engaging in the communities in which they reside. Looking at the cultural needs of all students would mean the school environment would foster a pedagogy that looks to the individual needs of each student within their own culture and works to create an environment of learning and personal success that bridges the gap between social life, home, and school. MANAAKITANGA: creating a welcoming, caring and creative learning environment that treats everyone with respect and dignity.
The above Action Continuum assumes Cultural recognition is only for those whose heritage is Maori. It is important to recognise the needs of Maori, and for the culture of Maori to be taught in all New Zealand schools because it is interwoven into the identity of our country and the identity of all New Zealanders, however, it is also important to bridge the cultural recognition gap of all students which would empower them as learners and help them to thrive.
Underachievement is not limited to Maori students. The idea that “white methodology” teaches in a way that is only fully understandable and beneficial to “white students” is warped and erroneous. This means schools need to create learning environments that accept and include the cultures of all students as valid and necessary for their self-worth and bridging the educational gaps that come from a lack of recognition. It is not so much that “challeng[ing] white definitions and structures” needs to happen as it is discarding traditional methods which are generally based around assessing how well a child can read, write, and do maths at a certain age. As an educator, I need to explore how fostering cultural recognition and assessing to identified individual cultural values and norms can progress the individual learning of each student. When we start to validate and assess based on what is culturally important to each individual I believe you will not only see Maori achievement rise, but that of all students.
CORE Education.(2017, 17 October). Dr Ann Milne, Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools.[video file].
Gay,G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2),106-116.
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