INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURAL RESPONSIVENESS

Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness in my practice

Thinking about the the issues

In examining the 10 areas I decided to explore communication methods (an area I feel I am comfortable and reasonably competent) and learning resources (an area I think I could improve in with regards to being culturally responsive). As a teacher I focus on remaining open to the cultural background of students. I am wiling to engage with and consider each student as an individual with their own life experience and cultural understanding, traditions, beliefs and worldview. The issue with  learning resources particularly in the area of Digital Technology is that there is no real cultural context applied, hence the difficulty in developing culturally grounded resources.
Indigenous knowledge, to me, is the knowledge that has been passed down and accumulated, often over centuries, regarding the "how the world works" from a given ethnic groups perspective. This can included anything from views on hunting, fishing and cooking to myths regarding the earth's creation.
Cultural responsiveness is being open to and accepting of the worldview of other people. That being willing not to judge, but to be open minded and willing to learn about other points of view and understandings of how the world works.

Analysing / Evaluating

 I have considered my own practice in terms of the 2 areas chosen and measured them against the "The Action continuum - Eliminating White Spaces" framework.
Communication methods - For myself I would say I am operating at the 5th step. There is still work to be done but I am personally almost at a point of being fully authentic. When I examine the point at which my school operates as a whole I would say that for the most part that matches my own state of progression. This may well be as a result of the school/staff having been through the Te Kotahitanga program and its evolutionary follow on.
Learning resources - this is much more difficult and an area that I have explored in some depth on previous occasions, even with the assistance of staff who are themselves Maori and therefore have a worldview which can provide additional perspective for me. Given this situation I would place this particular area for me at about step 4. The school as a whole in this regard I would judge to be also at about 4.

Conclusions / Reflection

Given that the Te Kotahitanga Program and its follow up (Continuing Success) have now finished at the school and are no longer being further developed, it behoves the school to look for other ways in which to provided PD and support to teachers to improve their Cultural responsiveness. Further PD programs have been undertaken but nothing that has a specific focus on cultural responsiveness. This is a concern as it could lead to the ideas of cultural responsiveness falling by the wayside, so to speak. Which would be detrimental to the progress that has been made within the school for Maori achievement in particular.

In order to offer the best possible opportunities for all of the students in our school we need to be cultural responsive, and this needs to be backed up by a PD program that continues to embedded the ideologies of what it means to be that as a teacher in the classroom with students of widely varying ethnic backgrounds.

References

Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009).Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5),734–742.


CORE Education.(2017, 17 October). Dr Ann Milne, Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cTvi5qxqp4&feature=em-subs_digest