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Understand Me: Storied-Conversations as Afa for Strengthening Relationships, Curriculum and Pedagogies

Mā ngā korero tuku iho tātou me ō tātou ao e kitea ai, e rongongia ai, e whaiora ai.[1] E tatou te fauina i tatou ma a tatou si’osi’omaga, e ala iā tatou tala.[2] We craft ourselves and our worlds in stories. Understand Me was born out of an aspirational exploration of ways for teachers to deepen relationships with young children and families to open space for their knowledges to be valued in the everyday educational curriculum. The origin was a desire to facilitate a shift from awareness of cultural competencies to action that values family pedagogies in the learning life of the classroom. Family pedagogies are everyday ways of knowing,

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Pathways to the Past: Effective Pedagogies for Māori and Pasifika Students in the Historical Disciplines

Summary Current research into, and definitions of, historical literacy do not adequately acknowledge the cultural backgrounds of indigenous learners across the historical disciplines and levels. Nor do they recognise the vital role of historical literacy in empowering indigenous students. In talanoa (conversations) with Māori and Pasifika students and teachers of a range of ethnicities from across the historical disciplines, we asked: How can we inspire indigenous students to feel at home in the historical disciplines, do well in them, and make them their own? The students and teachers saw historical literacy as predominantly textual in nature, and critical historical literacy as often culturally alien to Māori and Pasifika students. They revealed

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The impact of children’s everyday learning on teaching and learning in classrooms and across schools

Tū mātātoa, kei kiriora tō tū[1] Stand strong lest you become complacent A child in this study told us that he had learned he was brave by travelling on a Halloween train journey that engendered fear and trepidation. Months later, this child asked a researcher that his teacher be told he was ‘the brave one’. When asked why, he explained that his teachers would feel comfortable giving him more difficult tasks: “I am brave to give it a go … I’m not scared so it would help me because I wouldn’t be scared, I’d be brave. She would know that I’m not scared of anything so she doesn’t have to be

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Children’s working theories about identity, language, and culture –
O faugamanatu a fanau e sa’ili ai o latou fa’asinomaga, gagana ma aganu’u

Introduction Ma’au i lou ofaga, maua’a i lou faasinomaga. Keep your identity alive to thrive. This 2-year collaborative research project focused on young children’s working theories about identity, language, and culture, how early childhood teachers can nurture and encourage this learning, and how this in turn impacts on children’s participation in early childhood education (ECE) communities. The project builds on a previous Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) project that explored children’s working theories in action in five Playcentres in Canterbury (Davis & Peters, 2011). That project showed ways children express and develop working theories, how practitioners understand these, and how best to respond to this learning (Davis & Peters, 2011).

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