Indigenous knowledge & Cultural responsiveness in my practice.

Week 31- Indigenous knowledge & Cultural responsiveness in my practice.

My indigenous knowledge takes me back to my schooling days in South Africa where I was poor and not given an equal education but was none the wiser and thus just accepted things the way they were and got on with living and learning in my environment. My teachers were caring and taught with passion most of them anyway. We did not have much facilities but if you had lunch and friends that seemed to be enough. Coming to New Zealand and teaching in a country where indigenous knowledge and culture is part and parcel of your teaching practice was pretty inspiring for me.

Using Role's model of reflection I will reflect on my own teaching practice and also how indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness is reflected at my school.

What: My first introduction to cultural awareness at my school was being involved in the Powhiri and experiencing the rawness and power of the Haka being performed the Kapa Haka group. The speakers then speaking in te reo Maori and then explain in English what was being said. For me in the classroom the challenge was to pronounce students names correctly as we have a very small window to make a connection. The Maori staff at my school were very helpful in teaching me the correct pronunciation and we had lots of laughs at my South African accent trying to sound Maori. We also had Pasifika and Asian students and getting their names correct was always a challenge. Being a graphics teacher I usually tell my students to include their culture and heritage into their designs and we try and ensure that Cultural awareness is always part of the brief.

So What:

At Pakuranga College we celebrate Cultural awareness in many different ways now but it was not always that way in times gone by we ticked a lot of boxes about the Treaty as part of our appraisal. This year our school goal was to unpack the Treaty and what it means to us in the classroom and our school community. The Board approved a teacher only day and we had a whole staff right down to admin in the hall with a powerful guest speaker from Wellington and we had a group of Maori students to let the staff know what Cultural awareness means to them. Maori staff and students shared with us their journey and we did group work and at the end everybody left with a bit of a better understanding of why Cultural awareness is so important in our teaching and learning.

Now What.

 Pohatu (2011) explained the meaning of the different Mauri states as follows:) Mauri Oho is the state of being proactive, being awaken from the Mauri Moe. Mauri Ora is the state of being actively engaged. At my school I can safely say we are actively engaged in being culturally aware of our differences and we celebrate them proudly in and outside the classroom. This becomes very evident when you attend a Whanau Hui or a Pasifika Evening or our major Cultural Night where all of the Cultures come together for a showcase evening of song, dance and food. The way forward is keep doing what we do and continue trying to being inclusive of others Cultures in our day to day teaching and learning.

References.

Rolfe, G., Freshwater, D. and Jasper, M. (2001). Critical reflection in nursing and the helping professions: a user’s guide. 

Whakaatere Pohatu, Taina. (2011). Indigenous Spiritualities at Work: Transforming the Spirit of Enterprise