WEEK 28 Activity 4 : Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

Week 28th Activity 4   5 June 2017   
 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS IN MY PRACTICE

Just so happens I called my blogger name Mauri Ora......my strong belief that the whole well being of the learner is paramount to my philosophy as a teacher and learner. That holistic learning  is my understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness.  Not just the individual learner but everything, everyone past and present, embracing that individual as a life long learner. This is what makes that akonga who he or she is.....a village/community makes a person. More about Pohatu's Mauri process...... later.....firstly

I still have lots to learn as a teacher my critical understanding of indigenous knowledge is knowing and understanding about a peoples way of life from their traditional times of when they first started, to what that looks like in the modern world today. What their community, society, cultural practices, beliefs, language and way of living is and what place it has in the immediate environment locally, nationally and internationally.

According to the article Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future, indigneous knowledge is defined as:

"Indigenous knowledge is the local knowledge that is unique to a culture or society. Other names for it include: ‘local knowledge’, ‘folk knowledge’, ‘people’s knowledge’, ‘traditional wisdom’ or ‘traditional science’. This knowledge is passed from generation to generation, usually by word of mouth and cultural rituals, and has been the basis for agriculture, food preparation, health care, education, conservation and the wide range of other activities that sustain societies in many parts of the world."(Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future page 1)

Cultural responsiveness is in an educational context, the practice,or  ways in which I or we as educators or teachers respond to cultural differences and needs of the learners, in the classroom, school or environment in which we find ourselves, so as to help akonga learn to the best of their ability.

Cultural responsiveness is how I respond to different cultures, in the situations in which I am teaching or experiencing. When applied to my teaching practice and experience it raises questions like:

What do I know about the learners in my setting? Where do they come from, what is their cultural background, what languages can they speak, what are their religious beliefs, cultural traditions e.g with important festivals and times of the year, when do they fast and what foods do they eliminate from their diet etc at various times of the year.
How can I really help and teach my learners? 

This can be achieved by really getting to know my learners and acquiring knowledge and understanding of their culture and identity.

Practicing Teacher Criteria states that:

"In an increasingly multi-cultural Aotearoa New Zealand, teachers need to be aware of and respect the languages, heritages and cultures of all ākonga. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Code of Ethics / Ngā Tikanga Matatika commits certificated teachers to the highest standards of professional service in promoting the learning of those they teach." (Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, 2015, numbers 3/4)

What do I do in my class to cater for, acknowledge, appreciate these cultural differences in my teaching.  How this applies to where I work.?
I teach in an organisation as the playgroup facilitator. I have had many years of teaching experience in Early Childhood Education,ECE (mainly in London) even though I am primary school teacher. Where I teach currently , it is not a school , but we cater for families mainly in rural settings and provide specific programmes to suit their learning needs. Predominately of Maori and Polynesian background. These families are from mainly the Eastern Bay area of the Bay of Plenty and therefore from the iwi and hapu from this region. It is important to understand the tikanga, history, waiata, chiefs, waka, rivers, mountains and stories from this area. What these connections have to the people, their tipuna, whakapapa and identity. It means really getting to know our learners and families in this community. It is important that we know about those who we service.
The playgroup(started March this year 2017) where I teach and facilitate, is part of the organisation where I work. I have observed different expectations and ambitions from carers towards their children, a range of parenting skills, cultural and religious differences amongest those that attend. The parents/carers are from different cultural backgrounds and countries. And bring many cultural differences to our place of learning.
This makes my job interesting. For example some children due to where they live or how they are brought up, prefer to play outdoors more than indoors. Depending on the child's abilities also has shown how much they can stay focused on an activity, interact, engage and or play with others or not. From what I have also observed, ethnicity or gender has not made any difference to whom they choose to play with or not ( ages 2-4 years) however in some cultures expectations and roles of boys and girls are very different. e.g. the types of activities expected from the girls and not the boys or vice versa.
The parents and carers also show similar values with regard to sharing, taking turns and respect for others and teaching their children these and maintaining clear boundaries.
Therefore I try to be culturally responsive in my teaching and current working situation. Many of my colleagues are from different cultural backgrounds and because of the organisation I work with it is part of our mission and vision and core values. I would like to think that on a daily basis I practice what I preach and aim to be a culturally responsive person and practioner.

What is culturally responsive pedagogy?Culturally responsive pedagogy is defined by Gay (2001, p.106) as

 “using the cultural characteristics, experiences and perspectives as conduits for effective teaching” suggests that I am achieving this goal.

When I compare myself against her five elements including knowledge about cultural diversity, the culturally integrated content in the curriculum, the development of the learning community, the ability to communicate with culturally diverse students and culturally responsive delivery of instruction, I believe that while I have aspects of completion within my practice, I feel that in this new teaching situation of the playgroup, there is so much more for me to achieve and in particular with respect to the development of the learning community and awareness of the playgroup facility, the benefits it provides for our diverse family backgrounds and early childhood education.

We are attending to this by starting a new mobile playgroup/classroom.  Very encouraging resource. To reach out to the larger community to those people who have difficulty accessing the playgroup we have a trailer to take the playgroup out to those areas which is greatly needed.  This is our plan and cultural response to the indigenous people and community. So our goal vision is to make connections and help build bridges in our own country and communities. To continue to bring people together and learn to together.

This brings me to Pohatu's Mauri stages of Mauri Moe, Mauri Oho and Mauri Ora.Our playgroup started off in the Mauri Moe stage....sleeping, planning and dreaming of what this would be to have to respond to cultural needs in the community, to Mauri Oho where we have now awaken and taking action, engaging with the community and people are coming to the playgroup.  Mauri Ora is taking that extra step and reaching out and going into the community with our mobile playgroup-trailer to set up in local halls to encourage Polynesian families and people from certain areas who cannot access the playgroup in town to come along, share and learn together.(Pohatu 2011)

Bishop in Edtalks (2012) suggests that a teacher whose pedagogy is culturally responsive challenges the “deficit thinking” of student educability and have agentic thinking, believing that they have skills and knowledge that can help all of their students to achieve, no matter what, in this “A culturally responsive pedagogy” 

Again this reinforces the code of ethics and I agree that it is my responsibility as a teacher to help all students to achieve and learn no matter what a leaner's heritage,language, culture, enthicity or indigenousness background is. Or where they live and their socio-economic background.  That  it is not based on a deficit but relationships and developing these in our community. Our playgroup is working towards this.

The reading entitled "Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigenous student experiences across the curriculum" from Savage et al made a really interesting point. In their paper they quote Valenzuela (1999) distinguished between aesthetic caring, which involved effective expression only, and authentic caring, which entails deep reciprocity and, in the case of teachers,taking responsibility for providing an education environment in which their students thrive. I therefore aim to be an authentic and responsible teacher that provides an inclusive environment where all my akonga can thrive.  If that means our playgroup going on the road, in a trailer.....as the mobile playgroup...... then watch this space.

REFERENCES

Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994

Gay,G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2),106-116

https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/practising-teacher-criteria-0
 Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, 2015, Practicing Criteria numbers 3/4

http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/mod11.html-Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future Article-definition  for indigenous knowledge

Potahu, T. W. (2011). Mauri - Rethinking Human Wellbeing. MAI Review, 3, 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.review.mai.ac.nz/index.php/MR/article/v.

Savage,C, Hindleb, R., Meyerc,L., Hyndsa,A., Penetitob, W. & Sleeterd, C.(2011) Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigenous student experiences across the curriculum .Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 39(3), 183–198: