Activity Four: Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

Even from my days of teacher training I have understood and envied the cultural links that are so rich within this country.  Knowing that it is so important to the success of students to valued and respected.  This is often I have found linked to one cultural identity.   I still remember getting into a heated disagreement with a lecturer who told me that programmes like Te Kotahitanga were vital to the success of Maori and I said why do we need programmes to teach us how to teach effectively, when that would naturally be the approach to teaching.  I did not think myself so naive until I started teaching a realised just how traditional and unresponsive some teachers in the profession were.  This one size fits all approach seemed to me such a disappointing aspect of the profession and I began to wonder why people were in the profession to start with if they were not about advocating for the best education for every individual student.

In the both the schools I have taught at their has been a high percentage of Maori students and maybe that is why I found it easier to teach in a way that would allow them to flourish and develop as learners.  The culturally responsive approach was were I felt comfortable and as I have climbed the ladder so to speak in relation to my career I have found it easier to implement this as my philosophy and culturally responsive link closely.  The implementation of ILP’s has meant that you need to look at each individual student and look at their interests, strengths and weakness and design a programme specifically for them.  To do this effectively you must have some indigenous knowledge, such as te reo Maori, local myths and legends, iwi and hapu information so that connections can be made.  To help myself in this I undertook two course through the Wananga, Te Ara Reo Maori and Mauri Ora which looked at tikanga and local and national differences.  These courses have enriched my teaching practice and guide how I operate as a leader, wanting to implement Culturally Responsive practices and programmes in my Faculty.