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| A koru banner I designed for SBC to reflect their commitment to multi-cultural akonga in Te Awa Kairangi, |
St Bernard's College has been proactive with staff PD. This excerpt from the Strategic Plan covers diversity and inclusivity:
"Cultural Diversity St Bernard’s College is a multicultural city college comprising 15.7% Māori, 18.7% Pasifika, 14% Asian 4.1% other, 47.4% European....
Our Catholic character is reflected in the commitment to fostering positive cultural relationships...
The College values cultural diversity and treats all students equally and equitably. The Management Procedure on Equity Regarding Learning Programmes ensures this for students of all cultures.
The college has well established and effective whanau/parent consultation groups for Māori, Pasifika and Filipino. Tikanga Māori & Te Reo Māori The school works to support instruction in tikanga Māori and te reo Māori for full time students whose parents ask for it....
The college management procedure on Treaty Goals and Objectives ensures that the intent of the Treaty of Waitangi is fulfilled and that knowledge of and respect for Māori values are fostered."
(St Bernard's College, 2015)
My own input:
I attempt to pronounce all Maori words and names correctly. I have tried to incorporate Maori and Pasifika topics into my lessons naturally. For example, when doing a project of PC systems vocabulary I research the bi-lingual equivalent and made posters of Te Reo Maori ICT vocabulary posters which I shared to all schools in New Zealand via the NZACDITT listserve email.
I helped SBC to rebrand as multicultural and inclusive with a koru pattern (see above) which symbolises our place in the Lower Hutt valley near to the rive Te Awa Kairangi and updated the website and yearbook with the koru banner and tagline Te Kura Tuarua o Hato Perenara. In the SBC school yearbook I made sure the typography would correctly include macrons in Maori words.
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Gordon Walters' art lesson
using Adobe Illustrator |
In terms of learning activities I attempted to promote positive cultural identity by paying homage to the artwork of kiwi artist Gordon Walters, whose work combines European modern abstract art illustration and Maori koru designs, in an Gordon Walters Adobe illustrator exercise worksheet.
For a desktop publishing activity, I also encouraged them to make bi-lingual websites and posters with Maori proverbs (whakatauki) with English translations. The best of these posters would be printed and displayed throughout the school.
Maori pedagogy - I try to foster collaboration, team work, modelling a shared learning space where the ako can teach / learn with the teacher with respect and co-operation. I encouraged student peer review and encouraged the akonga to do project based learning for a client from their whanau or communtiy so their work will be authentic, and valued
Indigenous Knowledge - a balanced perspective?
My wife is currently studying a Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainability and Permaculture from Otago University. As a result of this she has become involved in The Epuni Food Forest project which is part of the Common Unity Project Aotearoa (CUPA). I have bceome aware of what they are doing by helping her with their social media marketing and graphic design.
The CUPA charity organises community gardens and up-cycling of resources. They also aim to improve diet and nutrition of the socio-economically deprived communities which have suffered from obesity and diabetes. This has involved teaching tamariki (children) and ako (students) from the local iwi (groups of people) about sustainable hortculture (or permaculture) to reconnect the school children with their parents' and grandparents' knowledge of living off the land, cooking and preparing their own food. The abundance of kai (food) created is shared through the koha (donation) kitchen. Local food businesses are encouraged to donate their short dated food which would otherwise be thtrown away. This is similar to the Garden to Table project in its aims to get students to taken an active role in the growing, preparation, cookin and most importantly eating of healthy seasonal food.
These projects are growing in popularity, however, due to economic and time pressures of the working whanau, they are not actively supported by the local parents of the Epuni school children, who are busy keeping down multiple low paid jobs. The volunteers who participate are often from outside of the community and are commonly pakeha. The aim is that the local community can get involved and gradually take control and stewardship. One of the activities is for elders in the Maori and Pasika community to teach traditional making, cooking and medicine skills. A key message of this is the herblore of indigenous plants for food and medicine.
Whilst Western reductionist science perspective tends to ignore that which it has not studied. It may be tempting to dismiss herb lore as 'old wives' tales', however, the observed efficacy of certain plants leads them into being used in medicine. That being said, not all herbal remedies are real and efficacious.
I am skeptical of most things, including the claims of 'big Pharma' which has been shown to have a positive publication bias towards only publishing favourable peer reviews of drugs trials which skew the apparent efficacy of new medicines. This has been adroitly explained by Ben Goldacre in his book "Bad Science", (Goldacre, 2008) which on balance also warns the reader of being wary of bold (and unsubstantiated) claims from alternative medicine and homeopathy. Goldacre makes a clear case that Western science is not a complete body of knowledge but a process of checking and testing for repeatable evidence that can be tested and verified. He explains how robust experimental methods can test for significant effects to compare results against chance or the placebo effect. We should be wary of claims which are supported by the reputation of person wearing the white coat and should instead review the evidence.
It's all good...?
Richard Dawkins argues in The God Delusion that humans are 'pattern seeking' and by our very nature we try to make sense of the world. Part of this process of understanding is to create narratives and to infer cause and effect. The consequence of this is humans are (like many other creatures) susceptible to superstition, such as the post war John Frum movement 'Cargo Cults'. (Colishaw, 2015) Even pigeons have been shown to be superstitious. (Dawkins, 2006) So, we need to be aware of our our biases and temptations to make mental shortcuts or lazy thinking.
For example, I am aware of the popular dichotomy of Western World view vs Indigenous World view. It is clear that the free market capitalist system is a major contributing factor in climate change and environmental damage. However, we should be wary of painting a black and white image of one good / one bad. It is a popular idea to recognise Maori guardianship and conservation of the land (tangata) with a concept called Kaitiakitanga.
It is also a popular trope to think of the sins of the modern world as being new. It would be a mistake think that the grass was always greener in 'The Good Old days'. We should be wary of viewing (reconstructed) history with rose tinted spectacles. For example, whilst we can recognise the abhorent treatment of African slaves in the industrial revolution, and recognise the many abuses of colonialism, we should not consider slavery to be unique to Western 'civilisation'. Nor should we imagine that just because knowledge was indigenous that it was all better and all 'in balance' with nature. For example, it has been claimed that in Aotearoa, the indigenous moa were hunted to extinction by the Maori tribes 600 years ago. (Morell, 2014). It would also be a mistake to imagine that before colonialism all indigenous peoples lived in peace. This would be to ignore evidence inter tribal warfare. (Te Ara, 2015)
However, please do not take the observations above as a sign that I am disrespectful of Maori custom and tradition. I am aware of my responsibilities to the Treaty of Waitangi and the bi-cultural nature of New Zealand Aotearoa. I am aware of Kaupapa Maori and Te Noho Kotahitanga
"The elements of Te Noho Kotahitanga are:
Rangatiratanga : Authority and Responsibility
Wakaritenga : Legitimacy
Kaitiakitanga : Guardianship
Mahi Kotahitanga : Co-operation
Ngākau Māhaki : Respect"
(Keelan J, 2015)
References:
Colishaw, S. April 19 2015. Vanuatu Cargo Cults see cyclone aid as a sign. Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/67729752/Vanuatu-cargo-cults-see-cyclone-aid-as-a-sign Common Unity Project Aotearoa, November 2015. Retreived from http://www.commonunityproject.org.nz/
Dawkins, R. (2006). The God delusion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co..Epuni Food Forest, retreived from https://www.facebook.com/epunifoodforest/
Keelan, J. Teaching and Te Noho Kotahitanga. Unitec wiki.spaces Retrieved from
Activity 9: Evaluations of cultural responsiveness in practice
Create a blog post where you share your own views on your indigenous
knowledge and culturally responsive pedagogy and then evaluate how you
or your school addresses cultural responsiveness in practice in two of the
following areas:
● vision, mission, and core values
● policies,
● goals,
● communication methods,
● decision-making,
● planning and assessment,
● learning activities,
● school-wide activities,
● resources
