Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness

What is indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness and how should it be incorporated into our professional practice?

My understanding of indigenous knowledge and cultural responsiveness is that every student is unique, and they bring with them their own special indigenous knowledge - i.e. the unique ideas, beliefs, values, and customs they are acquiring as they grow up within the culture of their own whānau (family). We cannot assume that just because a child is of a particular ethnicity, that they will all have a particular set of ideas, customs, values, and beliefs. Every whānau is unique, with their own unique cultural knowledge.

To be culturally responsive as a school, we need to learn from, and be respectful of, the indigenous knowledge of all our tamariki and their whānau. The National Centre for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems defines cultural responsiveness as “the ability to learn from and relate respectfully with people of your own culture as well as those from other cultures.” (P. 13)1

Our kura has students from a range of ethnicities - 49% of our students identify as Māori, 30% as NZ European, 18.9% as Pasifika (13% Sāmoan), and 10% as other, including African, Indian, Filipino, etc.
This does not add to 100%! Why? Because many of our students identify as more than one primary ethnicity. Our ākonga bring their own unique blend of ideas, values, beliefs and customs,  their own unique culture, to our kura.

We must value each of our learners for who they are and be culturally responsive to all our students. Our staff need to learn from, and be respectful of, the indigenous knowledge of all our tamariki and their whānau, ensuring that our students have equal opportunities to reach their full potential and also learn to be culturally responsive towards others, to help prepare them for their futures in our increasingly multi-cultural society.

Our school's vision "to empower our students to prepare for positive futures through exploration, innovation, and collaboration" inspires our staff to be culturally responsive by empowering our students. But does this go far enough? Have we ensured that  all our staff know how to empower our students and do they truly understand what it means to be culturally responsive? Is there evidence of staff acknowledging the indigenous knowledge of our tamariki and their families? Is this indigenous knowledge built into our school curriculum and learning programmes?  We must, therefore, examine how our staff use their own cultural knowledge when interacting with our students and their families who are from a diverse range of ethnic cultural backgrounds to their own. Our staff also, are from a blend of unique and diverse ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. We must examine further how our school ensures our vision, mission, and core values reflect our cultural responsiveness.

There is certainly evidence of cultural responsiveness in our day to day learning programmes and in our school structure, which includes both Māori and English medium classes, and a Sāmoan enrichment programme.  We have Board of Trustee members representing a range of cultures, including Māori and Ngāi Tahu.
I believe the foundations for our kura to be culturally responsive are well laid, but we must now look at ways to regularly reflect upon and self-review our cultural responsiveness as individuals and as a school.

References:
1. National Centre for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems NCCRES, (n.d.) Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Practice. Dimensions of Culturally Responsive Education. 
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, 734–742.
Bishop, R., & Glynn, T. (1999). Culture counts. Changing power relations in education. Palmerston North, NZ: Dunmore Press.
Castagno, A.E., & Brayboy, B.M.J. (2008). Culturally responsive schooling for Indigenous youth: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 78, 941–993.
Macfarlane, A.H. (2007). Discipline, democracy and diversity: Working with students with behaviour difficulties. Wellington: NZCER Press. 
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.

A Global Trend - The Shift from Students as Consumers to Creators

Pearson. (2013, April 26). Global trends: The world is changing faster than at any time in human history.[video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZiTQy3g1g

A trend that is relevant to my practice, and which captivates my attention, is the shift from students as consumers, simply learning a prescribed knowledge set to prepare them for gaining qualifications to enter tertiary study or the traditional workforce, to being innovative creators who are encouraged to question and explore and collaborate with others. It is a trend that is infiltrating schooling systems across the globe, in both the primary and secondary context.1

This trend enables our students to be empowered as individuals, and with the shift to learning with digital technologies (LWDT) being introduced into many of our New Zealand schools, our students have the opportunities, and are in fact, encouraged, to explore, ask lots of questions, and think outside the square. In the school I teach in, our vision is "to empower our learners to prepare for positive futures through exploration, innovation and collaboration." Teachers across the globe are now encouraged to use digital tools that foster creativity and production skills. NMC Horizon Report (2015, P.14) 2

Traditional teaching methods (single cell classrooms, with one kaiako delivering a prescribed curriculum to a class of students, expecting them to sit attentively and listen to the delivery of set information so they can attempt to give the right answers) will no longer prepare today's students for their futures. Instead, we must change the way we teach and how we allow our students to learn. 

Learning with Digital Technology empowers our students to be globally connected to a wealth of information sources and allows them to pursue and explore the questions and issues that interest them and which they can relate to. Learning extends beyond the classroom walls and outside regular school hours on a daily basis. The digital technology, then also provides the opportunity for students to create, whether it be via blogs, video presentations, gaming or through one of the plethora of apps now available.

How can I, as a school leader, support, educate and empower the kaiako in our kura to make a shift in the way they deliver our school curriculum? In its 2012 report, ERO stated, "considerable work needs to happen before primary and secondary teachers and leaders understand the permissive nature and intent of The New Zealand Curriculum, and implement responsive curricula in their schools"3. 

I believe the school I work in, does endeavour to implement a responsive curriculum, however, I see the need to further develop a growth mindset of inquiry in both our students and our staff. It is not easy for kaiako to let go of the teaching methods they were trained to use and have successfully developed over their years as experienced teachers.

Through support, PLD and school policy, we need to help our staff to understand that we are increasingly connected across a variety of platforms, especially digital, and in a variety of settings that extend beyond the boundaries of our school. We need to support both teachers and students, all learners, to engage in the interconnected digital learning platform. As 21st-century learners our staff and our students need to actively seek knowledge and respond to the changes and opportunities that new technology provides. By encouraging this growth mindset, we are helping to create a framework for preparing our students for their futures. The impact of technologies is what will make the biggest impact on solving future problems, especially those caused by the world's expanding population, rapid urbanization, and climate change.4 

In order for our students to have a chance to be part of the trend towards being creators, rather than consumers, and to be future problem-solvers, I believe we have a responsibility to change our paradigm of how we teach and allow our learners to learn. Despite there being a number of challenges, such as the cost of the digital technology and our student's ability to access the technology outside the school environment; the need to upskill staff in both pedagogy and IT skills, I believe, is achievable in the school I work in and other New Zealand Schools. It is a journey we need to be prepared to take if we are to equip our learners with the 21st-century skills they need for the future.

References:

1. Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., and Freeman, A. (2015) NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf

2. New Media Consortium. (2015). NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12 Edition. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf 

3. Education Review Office. (2012). Retrieved 5 May 2015, from http://www.ero.govt.nz/About-Us/News-Media-Releases2/The-three-most-pressing-issues-for-N

4. US National Intelligence Council’s (2012) “Global trends: Alternative Worlds”

KPMG Australia. (2014, May 22). Future State 2030 - Global Megatrends.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im5SwtapHl8

Current Issues in My Professional Context

Every school has its own unique culture and climate. The school I work in is no exception.
It is a Year 1 - 8 Primary School, which opened in 2015 after a very difficult merge process, following the Christchurch earthquakes. Two very different school communities, with longstanding traditions and history, were forced to become a new, future-focused school with a vision to empower students to explore, collaborate and be innovative life-long learners. This was a shift in thinking for many of the students, staff and whānau in the pre-merge school communities.

Establishing a positive, welcoming and future-focused school culture has been no mean feat during the turmoil of merging the two communities, with one of these communities fighting against the merge right to the end. "Thrupp (1997) argues that the social mix of the school plays a major role in how it functions, largely because of the cumulative effect of how the pupils relate to each other as a group." Stoll and Fink (cited in Stoll, 1998) p. 9-10 1

From these shaky beginnings, we have aimed to build a positive school culture and climate where every student, staff member, and whānau feel they are an integral part of the school, with an important contribution to make. We aimed to build a culture of success and belonging.

School culture is dependent on the beliefs and actions of the people in our school community, and for this to be positive the leadership team needed to have a clear and purposeful vision about why we do what we do and how we do it. We needed to ensure that our school vision was a shared vision, developed through consultation, empowering the school community to have a voice in shaping it.
The school now has a welcoming and warm 'feel' (climate), a comment often made by visitors to the school, and I believe for this to develop, the establishment Board and leadership team needed to create and foster a sense of belonging and worth.

The socioeconomic status of our school community reflects the collective background of the students and their whānau. We have a large percentage of our families living in poverty and uncertainty, exacerbated by the effects of the 2011 earthquake, with housing at a premium.

Canterbury University school of health sciences associate professor Dr Kathleen Liberty2  says "a study of 5-year-olds starting primary school in east and south Christchurch is finding that as many as one in five now exhibit the classic symptoms of post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)". We have certainly found this to be true at our school, not only for our students, but also for many of the parents.

These factors have contributed to both the climate and culture of our school and has had a significant impact on why we do what we do and how we do it.  Gargiulo (2014, p.7-8)3, considered six strategies to reduce the impact of poverty in his school, a South Auckland secondary school.
Our school community has also undertaken similar strategies, such as providing lunches and breakfasts, engaging students and whānau in 3-Way Conferences to look at student achievement, shared goal-setting and next steps with well over 90% engagement and participation in this aspect of student learning, staff PLD in the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) programme, providing authentic learning opportunities that are future-focused and encourage a growth mindset for all stakeholders (students, staff, and whānau), providing mentoring programmes and support for students, staff and whānau in terms of their pastoral care and personal well-being.

In essence, our developing school culture continues be an interpretation of what people bring to the educational initiatives we undertake, and how we work to develop shared meanings about the norms, or culture, that will provide sustainable and future-focused school improvement for our kura.
This must be led by the Senior Leadership Team, yet be owned by all stakeholders. We endeavour to empower students, staff and whānau within each of our unique teams, while trying to ensure that the growth in the size of our kura does not lead to Balkanisation. We need to ensure there is frequent opportunity to reflect on our practices and our values, and that we have a shared understanding of what our kura really stands for.

References:
1. Stoll, L. (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network's Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London.
2. Liberty, Dr. K. (2014) www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch.../Quake-stress-hurting-our-young 
3. Gargiulo, S. (2014). Principal sabbatical report. 
4. Video - Building a Culture of Success - Mark Wilson - TEdEd. (2013, Jun 21). 

Reflective Practice

How well do we reflect on our own practice? What do we understand by reflective practice and how does it inform our future practice?
There has been some consensus about how reflective practice can be defined. "In general, reflective practice is understood as the process of learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self and/or practice" (Boud et al 1985; Boyd and Fales, 1983; Mezirow, 1981, Jarvis, 1992).
Our response to our own reflective practice should surely show our awareness of new understandings and how we will use those reflections to improve our future practice.

My personal learning journey involves a number of Communities of Practice (CoP), defined by Wenger, McDermott & Snyder (2002) as "groups of people who share a concern or passion ... whom deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interaction on an ongoing basis" (p.4). Wenger professes that participation in these communities is essential to learning; so essential to my personal learning journey is my primary CoP, our Senior Leadership Team.

Working collaboratively in a shared office space enables me to have professional learning conversations on a daily basis with my Senior Leadership Team (SLT) colleagues - discussing, theorising, debating, considering, exploring, reflecting, reviewing and analysing the learning and teaching taking place in our school, and in other learning institutions around the globe.

Sometimes the issues are very specific to our kura (school), and at other times our conversations revolve around learning and teaching on a more global perspective, e.g. learning systems in Finland, High Tech High in the United States, or the Manaiakalani cluster of schools in South Auckland and how we can relate that to our own practice. Our daily interactions are focused on how well we are doing things and can we do it better; how does what we are doing compare with other schools doing well, and most importantly, are we doing what will benefit our students most?

In order for these conversations and reflections to have purpose, we need to share our thoughts, ideas and findings with other Communities of Practice within our kura. We have five learning teams, each being a CoP focusing on their own unique group of students. Four of the teams are English medium divided into Year level focus groups - Year 1 & 2, Year 3 & 4, Year 5 & 6 and Year 7 & 8. The fifth team is Māori medium, Year 1 - 8.  Integrated within each of the five teams is a strong Sāmoan representation and a Sāmoan Enrichment.

My role in the Senior Leadership Team allows me to be involved in all these teams and to be a part of this network of learning communities and their CoP. Not only am I able to contribute ideas and reflections to these other Communities of Practice, I am further enlightened and exposed to ideas from the participants in these groups, often through their involvement in CoP outside our own school, e.g. our Principal regularly attends workshops for our local CoL (Community of Learning) being established with a group of local schools; other colleagues are engaging in Professional Learning outside our kura and regularly participate in other learning organisations, such as the Canterbury Literacy Association, or the Canterbury Primary Mathematics Symposium. This year, through our participation in the Mindlab Postgrad studies, a group of us from across different teams in the kura, have formed our own CoP and regularly have conversations reflecting on our day to day practice in relation to the content of this paper. We have helped and supported each other to try new things, reflect on our successes and mistakes and identify issues we need to investigate further.

Being an active member of these Communities of Practice helps to ensure that we embody the vision of our school - 'Empowering our students to prepare for positive futures through exploration, collaboration, and innovation'.

References:
Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on reflective practice. The Open University. Retrieved fromhttp://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/files/opencetl/file/ecms/web-content/Finlay-%282008%29-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf
Wenger,E. (2000). Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems. Organization, 7(2), 225-246.
Wenger, E., McDermott, R., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.