Indigenous knowledge & cultural responsiveness
Over the past year Salford has been restructuring their Charter and within it their has been a major focus placed around Māori achievement and the evidence of biculturalism within the school. The gap in achievement isn't so apparent across the school but when the numbers are divided into genders there is a larger number of Māori boys not achieving against the National Standards. I believe we are in the early stages of meeting our intended goals.
At Salford we have the goals in place but now it is about creating these school-wide activities or initiatives that our Māori community have expressed to us via a hui. After the initial hui there was some obvious push backs by staff members who were reluctant to address the weaknesses of themselves or as the school as a whole. Many of these particular staff members were not ready and are still not ready to address the situation and allow the support to be put in place. It is now getting to the stage that changes are going to be made with or without their support. It is also becoming compulsory Professional Development for all teaching staff, especially in connections to the Registered Teacher Criteria.
The initial changes have been around the wider school rather than specific classrooms. The Board of Trustees, Principal and management staff have currently left it up to the individual teachers to distinguish what is needed in their classrooms and when. The main focuses in Charter are able to be started with steps taken around the school, mainly concentrating on communication around wider school events. With the Board of Trustees being the main drive behind these changes they have opted to stay focused and start small to gain a meaningful drive behind the idea of biculturalism in the school.
At one Staff Meeting the teaching staff were challenged around reporting and the responsibility of reporting to the Board of Trustees around Māori student achievement. Although our percent of achieving Māori students was above the national average we broke the numbers down further to note that these figures were still remarkably high within the school for non-achievement in not just one but sometimes numerous areas. It was also noted that many of these students were not considered to meet any criteria for extra support in their learning. Staff were asked to consider how they might plan and implement culturally responsive lessons in the classroom. More and more Professional Development and resources have been offered to staff but feedback from recent visitors in the school shows that evidence of biculturalism in the school is still lacking in most classrooms or teaching areas.
Salford has already come a long way from not even being interested in implementing Māori in the school to becoming daily focuses in some classrooms. There has also already been plans put in place around school-wide activities, now it is up to seeing these plans through to the end.
If we continue to challenge ourselves and one another as practitioners then it is inevitable that the big picture for Salford will need to be around cultural identity. We will need to look at our home-school partnerships and ask them to help us adapt our systems, policies and procedures to include the success of Māori achievement so that each child has the chance the succeed academically despite cultural stereotypes.
At Salford we have the goals in place but now it is about creating these school-wide activities or initiatives that our Māori community have expressed to us via a hui. After the initial hui there was some obvious push backs by staff members who were reluctant to address the weaknesses of themselves or as the school as a whole. Many of these particular staff members were not ready and are still not ready to address the situation and allow the support to be put in place. It is now getting to the stage that changes are going to be made with or without their support. It is also becoming compulsory Professional Development for all teaching staff, especially in connections to the Registered Teacher Criteria.
The initial changes have been around the wider school rather than specific classrooms. The Board of Trustees, Principal and management staff have currently left it up to the individual teachers to distinguish what is needed in their classrooms and when. The main focuses in Charter are able to be started with steps taken around the school, mainly concentrating on communication around wider school events. With the Board of Trustees being the main drive behind these changes they have opted to stay focused and start small to gain a meaningful drive behind the idea of biculturalism in the school.
At one Staff Meeting the teaching staff were challenged around reporting and the responsibility of reporting to the Board of Trustees around Māori student achievement. Although our percent of achieving Māori students was above the national average we broke the numbers down further to note that these figures were still remarkably high within the school for non-achievement in not just one but sometimes numerous areas. It was also noted that many of these students were not considered to meet any criteria for extra support in their learning. Staff were asked to consider how they might plan and implement culturally responsive lessons in the classroom. More and more Professional Development and resources have been offered to staff but feedback from recent visitors in the school shows that evidence of biculturalism in the school is still lacking in most classrooms or teaching areas.
Salford has already come a long way from not even being interested in implementing Māori in the school to becoming daily focuses in some classrooms. There has also already been plans put in place around school-wide activities, now it is up to seeing these plans through to the end.
If we continue to challenge ourselves and one another as practitioners then it is inevitable that the big picture for Salford will need to be around cultural identity. We will need to look at our home-school partnerships and ask them to help us adapt our systems, policies and procedures to include the success of Māori achievement so that each child has the chance the succeed academically despite cultural stereotypes.
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