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Māori and education


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Journal articles about Māori and education

The latest ten articles from our journals on this subject.

"What can I do about Māori underachievement?" Critical reflections from a non-Māori participant in Te Kotahitanga
Dawn Lawrence
set 2011: no. 3
32

In January 2005, during my induction into Te Kotahitanga, I was challenged to consider my role, as a non-Māori teacher, in addressing the disparities that exist for Māori within our education system. Thus began my learning about, and through, a culturally responsive pedagogy of relations.

Culturally responsive pedagogies in the visual and performing arts: Exemplars, missed opportunities and challenges
Rawiri Hindle, Catherine Savage, Luanna H. Meyer, Christine E. Sleeter, Anne Hynds and Wally Penetito
Curriculum Matters 7: 2011
26

In New Zealand the majority of students attend schools that reflect the dominant mainstream context, yet these schools include indigenous Māori and learners from diverse cultural and language backgrounds. By building on contemporary cultural knowledge and students’ own experiences, the arts have the potential to enhance educational outcomes for a diverse student population. This research examines the effects of an intensive programme of teacher professional development in culturally responsive pedagogies on classroom activities and learning experiences in the arts.

Engaging whānau with children's science learning
Asri Parkinson, Jude Doyle, Bronwen Cowie, Kathrin Otrel-Cass and Ted Glynn
set 2011: no. 1
3

When their funds of knowledge and experiences from home and the community are connected to their school learning, students' learning is supported. In this study teachers used "home learning books" to invite contributions from home into science teaching and learning in the classroom. The flow of knowledge between home and school engaged students and whānau and enriched the science learning.

Issues of culture and assessment in New Zealand education pertaining to Māori students
Rangimarie Mahuika, Mere Berryman and Russell Bishop
Assessment Matters 3: 2011
183

Assessment, much like learning, is interactive, social and contextual. New information and experience is understood and assimilated in relation to prior knowledge and experiences. While it is increasingly accepted that Māori learners have their own ways of understanding the world which are different from those of their non-Māori peers, teachers need to be careful not to promote a homogeneous approach to Māori learners. This article advocates the use of culturally responsive pedagogies that include assessment practices to meet the specific needs of the students.

Te tuangi (the clam): A metaphor for teaching, learning and the key competencies
Mary Simpson and Tina Williams
Early Childhood Folio Vol. 15 No. 2 (2011)
4

This article explores the shift from “essential skills” to “key competencies” in the school curriculum. Drawing on information gathered from teacher interviews and observations at a New Zealand primary school, this article suggests that culture and context strongly shape and influence the interpretation of key competencies. The authors develop a metaphor—te tuangi—to theorise the relationship between a learner (akonga) and a teacher (kaiako) in a cultural and social context.

The co-opting of hauora into curricula
Sharyn Heaton
Curriculum Matters 7: 2011
99

Currently, the Māori word hauora is translated in New Zealand curricula as health and wellbeing or as health and physical education for Māori-medium education. “Hauora, wellbeing” is also an underlying concept within Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum, where it is claimed that it offers a “Māori philosophy of health unique to New Zealand”. The use of Māori words and concepts in English-medium curricula is a source of tension, in as much as this usage involves a claim to represent a shared Māori perspective.

The development and trial of Māori language tools for assessing oral language from Years 1 to 3
Mere Berryman and Paul Woller
Assessment Matters 3: 2011
28

Māori language education settings have resulted in teachers requiring efficient ways to identify the oral Māori language proficiency of students at the beginning of Māori-immersion schooling and throughout their participation as the basis for students’ ongoing learning. Accordingly, three assessment tools were developed using understandings from sociocultural perspectives on human learning that emphasise the importance of the responsive social and cultural contexts in which learning takes place.

Understanding the lines in the sand: Diversity, its discourses and building a responsive education system
Tanya Wendt Samu
Curriculum Matters 7: 2011
175

The Ministry of Education is endeavouring to build an education system that is responsive to the challenges of the 21st century. This includes revising the school curriculum and a major investment in programmes of research and development. This paper examines the discourses relating to diversity and education that have become embedded in the very foundations of national education policy and subsequent practice.

Using focus groups to support conceptual development in social studies
Jody Plummer
set 2011: no. 1
16

What supports students to develop their conceptual understanding? Taking part in focus groups helped the Years 9 and 10 Māori and Pasifika students in this study to focus on understanding the concepts underpinning social studies units, rather than the content. Discussions between students in the focus groups resulted in the students clarifying their understandings and gave formative information to the teacher to help plan next steps.

Collaborating with children and whānau in assessment for learning
Marjolein Whyte
Early Childhood Folio Vol 14 no.2 (2010)
21

Currently early childhood teachers often ask parents or whānau to write comments in response to their child’s Learning Story. However, it can be difficult to obtain a contribution that leads to parents/whānau participating in their child’s learning and in planning for further learning experiences. This article reports on the development of a new way of involving parents/whānau in assessment—through shared dialogue between the child, parents/whānau and teachers.

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Books and CDs about Māori and education

Te Aotūroa Tātaki—Inclusive Early Childhood Education
TE AOTUROA TATAKI
$39.95

 How do early childhood education settings become places where everyone involved is able to say they feel they belong? What kinds of questions about inclusion, social justice and equity might it be pertinent and productive to ask of contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand early childhood teachers and their practice? When, how and why might teachers intervene to address issues of injustice and exclusion that arise in the context of early childhood work? These are the kinds of questions explored in this book.

18 April 2012
Kia Tangi Te Tītī - Permission to Speak
KIA TANGI TE TITI - PERMISSION TO SPEAK
$39.95

This book explores what constitutes successful schooling for Māori students in the 21st century.

12 May 2011
Walking the Space Between: Identity and Māori/Pākehā
WALKING THE SPACE BETWEEN
$30.36

What does being a New Zealander mean in contemporary times? And what does it mean to be a person of mixed Māori/Pākehā descent? How do people identify within this dual heritage? How can they establish a sense of belonging in both ethnic groups?

New Zealand today is a hybrid nation, and becoming more so. At least one in ten of us now identifies with more than one ethnic group. This book aims to provide insights and understandings about the challenges, issues, and benefits associated with being of mixed descent.

13 June 2008
Discipline, Democracy, and Diversity: Working with Students with Behaviour Difficulties
DISCIPLINE, DEMOCRACY, and DIVERSITY
$40.48

Completely eliminating behaviour difficulties in schools is probably not possible but reducing them is a realistic aim. This book provides a useful range of practical approaches, responses, practices, and procedures that teachers can use in their everyday work. The main focus is to illustrate the links between behavioural theory and competent teaching practice. The combination of research scholarship and on-the-job experience will support teachers to be more skilful managers of students with challenging behaviours.

1 June 2007
Kia Hiwa Ra! Listen to Culture—Māori Students’ Plea to Educators
KIA HIWA RA! LISTEN TO CULTURE
$30.36

'Kia hiwa rä ra ' literally means 'to be alert.' This book is intended to alert teachers to models of good teaching in diverse classrooms and to encourage them to be alert to the various cultures that are represented. If we want to extend academic achievement for Mäori Maori students, we need to create a strong foundation for their learning. This foundation includes building upon students’ cultural and experiential strengths to help them acquire new skills and knowledge.

8 June 2004
Transition from Māori to English: A Community Approach
TRANSITION FROM MAORI TO ENGLISH: A COMMUNITY APPROACH
$23.00

This book describes the outcomes of effective whānau (immediate and extended family), kura (school), student, and researcher collaboration used to help highly competent Māori immersion students, in their transition to a bilingual secondary school. A collaborative story gathered from participants at the end of the programme, together with the process and outcome data, strongly support the successful outcomes of this "participant-driven" programme.

13 June 2003
Cultural Self-Review: Providing Culturally Effective, Inclusive Education for Māori Learners
CULTURAL SELF-REVIEW
$30.36

The Cultural Self-Review provides a structure and process that teachers from early childhood centres through to secondary schools can use to explore how well they cater for Mäori Maori learners, including those with special needs.

1 June 2003
Māori Pedagogies: A View from the Literature
MAORI PEDAGOGIES
$23.00

This publication reviews literature related to Māori teaching and learning styles.

Manuscripts, archives, government reports, research reports, literature reviews, journal and newspaper articles, and publications and monographs were accessed to piece together a record of traditional and contemporary practices.

The written record shows that Māori used mixed curricula and varieties of media to transmit information, knowledge, and socio-cultural perspectives within, between, and among generations as well as across locations.

8 June 2000
Māori Action Song
THE MAORI ACTION SONG
$23.00

This book is a discussion of Māori songs, the dance form which, from modest beginnings in the early decades of the twentieth century, has developed into what is effectively the national dance of New Zealand.

Through many hundreds of compositions, the action song has become an important medium of communication for many Māori people. A number of the earliest action songs are remembered and performed as classics up to 60 years later. They include simple love ditties and notably the songs of proud farewell and the joyous sad welcomes to soldiers returning from both World Wars.

8 June 1984