But the blog post guidelines refer to representation any culture group that is a minority in a school setting.
So, my post is going to be an amalgamation of the two also because of the unique nature of my school where the ethnic diversity is huge.
At present the school proudly celebrates diversity with over 44 different nationalities.
The main ethnic groups are as follows:- NZ European/Pakeha 39%, Maori 10%, Chinese 11%, Korean 7%, Other European 6%, Indian 5%, Filipino 5%, Japanese 3%, Other Asian 2%, Latin American 2%, Middle Eastern 2%, Samoan 2%, Tongan 2%, African 2%, British/Irish 2%, Australian 1% and other groups less than 1% - Cook Island Maori, Fijian, Niuean, South East Asian, Sri Lankan and Vietnamese.
So, the second most dominant ethnic group at my school is the Asian students which includes all the Asian ethnicities, including Indians.
There are about 45 indigenous or Maori students at our school from Year 0 to 6.
In that light, I am going to look at the following question
- How does the school ensure its vision, mission and core values reflect cultural responsiveness towards our Maori learners?
Our school vision states that we are
A community of connected,
life-long learners.
Proud to be different.
Proud to make a difference
So, our learners belong to a community which consists of the akonga, the kaiako and the whanau that the learners come from and they are all interconnected. Difference is celebrated and regarded as something to take pride in.
Our motto or whakatauki is: Mā te pā ka taea te whakatipu te tamaiti
It takes a village to raise a child.
This again reinforces the concept of the inclusive nature of the school culture where it is a collective responsibility of the kura and the whanau to care for and promote the learning of our tamariki.
Our school values are
- R - responsibility
- I - integrity
- I - innovation
- C- care and respect
- E - excellence
The values reinforce and uphold the vision and the motto as every akonga at our school is expected to follow them.
There is no 'exclusion through a different set of expectations ' for our indigenous learners. So, as far as the school goes, there is no scope for a deficit focussed mindset.
Now, I will look at the school Charter which recently got revised and updated in keeping with the organic nature of a school that is growing at fast pace.
Our charter has some principles that are its cornerstones of all curriculum decision making:
High expectations, Treaty of Waitangi ,Cultural Diversity, Inclusion, Learning to learn ,Community engagement ,Coherence , Future focus.
We have been working this year on unpacking these principles to see how they translate into actions that determine how teaching and learning happens at our school.
Now, I am going to look at:
- How does the school ensure that students maintain the integrity of their own cultural values and identity?
Our school has junior and senior Kapa Haka groups that are open to children of any ethnic group to join. Also, there is no compulsion for Maori students to have to join either. The importance given to individual choice here regardless of ethnic background is very empowering for the children.
The huge ethnic diversity means that there is always a multicultural buzz at our school. We have joined the Asia awareness schools and our students have started taking Mandarin lessons from a native Mandarin speaking teacher since the start of the year. The expectation is there for all teachers to include basic Mandarin alongside Te Reo in everyday interactions and learning conversations with the students.
We had an Asia awareness week last term with our Asian students and their parents running workshops and activities for the rest of us.
This brings me to my last question which probably is a deficit area that needs to be addressed:
- How do I use meaningful instructional lessons that link to the students prior experience/backgrounds?
I have always felt a strange dichotomy in my situation as far as my cultural responsiveness and competence goes. Being a migrant and a non -Pakeha myself, I have always had a first hand understanding of how challenging it can be to make one's own niche or to be comfortable in one's own identity, especially in the NZ of 20 odd years ago when I arrived and started to teach.
However, it also gave me the disadvantage of not having a basic knowledge about the indigenous people and of Te Reo.
So, I did what I could, read avidly and acquired a working knowledge of basic Te Reo through PD at my first school in NZ.
But since then, I have not had as much growth in my understanding of the culture or the language that I can be confident that my lessons are always linked to the background of my indigenous learners.
In fact, at times, it has seemed to me like I am causing more disruption by trying to remind my one Maori student in my classroom about her heritage. So, I have decided not to single her out but to wait for her to initiate any contribution or to share any unique perspective.
I have just ensured that the class culture is one where such contributions from any child of any ethnic group is welcomed and appreciated.
But, the need for long term professional development for all teachers is fundamental for the degree of responsiveness and awareness needed to make a difference over the years.
So, I will conclude by saying that I cannot fault my workplace in having all the intention and the policies in place to make a very ethnically diverse school from working as a cohesive whole while providing the scope for each child in that school to be who they culturally are.
But, we need support from the government to have sustainable, long term professional development that will empower non Maori teachers to 'better respond to diversity in the student population' (Timperly, Wilson, Barrar and Fung 2007)
Reference :
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