(2021). Korero Mai: Kaiako Experiences of Synchronous Online Teaching and Learning in New Zealand. Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning, v25 n2 p4-22. Online teaching and learning programmes allow akonga who live in isolated areas, or who have differing learning requirements, to study by distance. Maintaining student engagement in the online environment is an important aspect. This article explores how kaiako (teachers) can engage their akonga (students) better in online environments. The article has a particular emphasis on supporting Maori learners, who represent 25% of the New Zealand school population. Five kaiako were interviewed about their experience of teaching New Zealand secondary school students online. The study found that the kaiako had some awareness of bicultural values and practices, but lacked confidence in embedding it in their online teaching, which was limited to synchronous timetabled sessions with some communication by text and email. The time provided for online students was considerably less than for the secondary students in traditional classrooms…. [PDF]
(2021). Preservice Teachers and the Kairos Blanket Exercise: A Narrative Inquiry. LEARNing Landscapes, v14 n1 p171-187 Spr. This narrative study inquired into the experiences of preservice teachers who participated in the Kairos Blanket Exercise. During research conversations, participants shared stories that demonstrated an expansion of their knowledge and awareness. Three themes emerged: the Blanket Exercise and the research conversations were spaces where participants felt safe to ask questions; some participants began to rewrite their understanding of the history of relations; and some participants began to consider how they might contribute to decolonizing. Moreover, participants enriched by the experience were more ready and able to deliver related curricular outcomes, engage reflexively, and consider allyship…. [PDF]
(2007). Establishing a Community-Controlled Multi-Institutional Centre for Clinical Research Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v36 suppl p121-128. The Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC) lead and govern the Centre for Clinical Research Excellence (CCRE), which has a focus on circulatory and associated conditions in urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The CCRE is a partnership between QAIHC and Monash University, the Queensland University of Technology, the University of Queensland, James Cook University, the National Heart Foundation, and the University of Wollongong. The establishment of the CCRE under the community-controlled model of governance is unique and presents both opportunities and challenges for innovative partnerships between universities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community organisations. This paper outlines the processes and strategies used to establish a multi-institutional research centre that is governed by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health sector…. [Direct]
(2021). In Our Own Words: Pacific Early Career Academics (PECA) and Pacific Knowledges in Higher Education Pedagogical Praxis. Higher Education Research and Development, v40 n1 p49-62. Limited attention has been paid to the experiences of Pacific Early Career Academics (PECA) in utilising their culture-specific systems of knowledge in their pedagogical practice. As a cross-section of PECA employed in a variety of disciplines and faculties, we explore how our Pacific identities infuse our pedagogical approaches in a way that forefronts the significance and validity of Pacific knowledges. We argue that, despite academia perpetually undervaluing Pacific knowledges and even without formal Pacific pedagogical training, PECA prioritise Pacific knowledges in the way we think, teach, and communicate in the classroom. Further, PECA contribute to a reshaping and remodelling of curriculum and delivery that is culturally responsive and enhances learning and teaching spaces significantly. Thus, we believe that universities need to commit to not only hiring more Pacific academics, but also provide greater institutional and financial support for the development of PECA networks… [Direct]
(2021). The Influence of Local Worldview Presuppositions on Learners' Conceptions of Selected Mechanics Topics. South African Journal of Education, v41 n2 Article 1885 May. The study is situated within a worldview theory as espoused by socio-cultural constructivists. Science classrooms in secondary schools in Swaziland are culturally largely homogeneous where learners and their teachers have a strong grounding in traditional Swazi culture. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the conceptions held by Grade 11 learners of selected mechanics topics were influenced by the worldview presuppositions prevalent in their socio-cultural environment. The learners were exposed to a socio-culturally-based teaching/learning strategy that integrated selected indigenous knowledge presuppositions into school science. The learners were given a pre-and post-physics achievement test (PAT). At the end of the intervention, a focus group interview was conducted with some of the learners. Data on selected PAT questions were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The learners' responses to the focus group interview and the PAT's open-ended questions were… [PDF]
(2021). Culture Sustainability through Co-Curricular Learning Program: Learning Batik Cross Review. Education Sciences, v11 Article 736. As the application of colored designs on cloth using wax in certain areas in decorating items of clothing, Batik is made through several steps that come from drawing the pattern on the paper followed by imitating the pattern on fabric, which is called "ngeblat." The next phase is followed by drawing the pattern using wax, which is called "mencanting." The subsequent step is the process of coloring the pattern of Batik, called "pencoletan," and then subsequently followed by color-locking on Batik through covering the Batik with wax, namely basic color dyeing. This process is called "menembok." The final step is making the painting process through washing, called "nglorod." This process should attempt to maintain Batik with cultural sustainability, as its process contains several values, such as discipline, creativity, independence, patriotism, responsibility, cooperation, and environmental care. Based on this background, this paper… [PDF]
(2021). Engklek Game in Mathematics: How Difference and Relationship Student Attitude towards Science Process Skills?. Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences, v16 n6 p3109-3123. This study aims to integrate the local wisdom of the traditional engklek game into problem-solving-based mathematics learning at the elementary school level. The method used in this study is a mixed-method with an explanatory design. The data analysis technique used in this study was random sampling and data collection was carried out by distributing observation sheets about student process skills, student learning interest questionnaires and conducting interviews with students and teachers at the school. Based on the results obtained by the researchers, it can be found that there is interest in learning and skills of students in grades IV A and IV B in the engklek game in mathematics subjects at State Elementary Schools. In addition, there is a relationship between students' interest in learning and students' process skills in mathematics subjects at State Elementary Schools…. [PDF]
(2007). Working Productively with Indigenous Communities: Mungullah Best Start Playgroup. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v36 p32-38. In this paper, we discuss and analyse the development of a resource documenting an Indigenous early childhood playgroup programme. The resource, known as the "Best Start DVD" was developed through a partnership between community and government support agencies to support engagement of parents as educators of their children. Through analysis of the development process and the product, we provide commentary on our learning regarding working successfully in partnerships with Indigenous communities. Additionally, we discuss what we learned about influences on Indigenous parents' engagement as educators of their children…. [Direct]
(2019). Changing the Conversation (Toe fetu'una'i Manatunatuga): Exploring and Utilising the Attributes That Are Culturally Embedded in Pacific Students to Improve Their Learning Experiences in the Classroom. set: Research Information for Teachers, n3 p19-27. Pacific students' success has been under discussion by Pacific scholars for decades and, using traditional academic measures, their academic success does not compare well with other ethnic groups. Despite the identification of this problem, specific and practical actions to counter it appear not to be well understood by classroom teachers. This article explains an action-research pilot programme that was put in place to improve Pacific students' learning experiences with the hope that it would also help improve their academic results. The intervention focused on changing the conversation that happens outside the classroom, and exploring and utilising the attributes that are culturally embedded in Pacific students. Talanoa was used as a method to elicit information and guide the conversation…. [Direct]
(2019). From Critical to Decolonizing Service-Learning: Limits and Possibilities of Social Justice-Based Approaches to Community Service-Learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, v25 n1 p43-54 Win. Diverging from the traditional approach to service-learning, critical service-learning focuses on the root causes of inequality by addressing power and oppression. By incorporating critical pedagogy in the classroom, and action and reflection outside of it, critical service-learning looks to find solutions to social issues through university-community partnerships. In this article, I review relevant literature that centers social justice-based approaches to critical service-learning and argue that while these approaches are vital to student understanding of oppression, an anticolonial framework is needed to broaden notions of critical service-learning that challenge settler colonial logics. This article engages with the question "Can we decolonize critical service-learning?" and concludes by offering practices, such as solidarity to counter coloniality in higher education, that are responsible to the communities involved in the service-learning partnership…. [PDF]
(2007). Taking Ownership: The Implementation of a Non-Aboriginal Early Education Programme for on-Reserve Children. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v36 p77-87. In this qualitative study, over the period of one year, we assessed the appropriateness of a mainstream early childhood education intervention, the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) programme, in five on-reserve First Nations communities, by focusing on the experiences of the Aboriginal women who delivered the programme. Findings revealed a process of "taking ownership" of HIPPY. "Taking ownership" included three subprocesses: changes in the women's views regarding (1) the strengths of the programme; (2) self-identity; and (3) the identification of the programme as Aboriginal. Through taking ownership, the women were no longer content to deliver HIPPY strictly as it was described in the programme manuals. Although the women continued to maintain that HIPPY was valuable for their communities, their actions and words clearly demonstrated that sharing cultural knowledge in the context of the programme was important to them and, they… [Direct]
(2007). Creating Culturally-Safe Schools for Maori Students. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, v36 p65-76. In order to better understand the present trends in New Zealand's schooling contexts, there is a clarion call for educators to develop sensitivity and sensibility towards the cultural backgrounds and experiences of Maori students. This paper reports on the work of four scholars who share research that has been undertaken in educational settings with high numbers of Maori students, and discusses the importance of creating culturally-safe schools–places that allow and enable students to be who and what they are. The theoretical frameworks drawn on are based on both a life partnership analogy as well as on a socio-cultural perspective on human development and learning. The Maori worldview presented in this paper is connected to the Treaty of Waitangi, The Educultural Wheel and the Hikairo Rationale. Data were collected from two ethnographic case studies and analysed through these frameworks. Practical suggestions are then made for using restorative practices and creating reciprocal… [Direct]
(2004). From Mangos to Manufacturing: Uneven Development and Its Impact on Social Well-Being in the Dominican Republic. Social Indicators Research, v65 n1 p73 Jan. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have been trying to help developing countries speed up economic growth in order to help eradicate poverty. In the last two decades these policies in the Dominican Republic have caused rapid and severe changes. Over the last two centuries Dominican culture has faced numerous challenges including a shift from an indigenous subsistence society in balance with nature to an agrarian-based economy. Now a third wave is impacting the Dominican Republic, based on a rapid shift to a manufacturing and service economy. This current shift has led to reprioritizing limited national funds for economic infrastructure, at the expense of cuts in public services in such key areas such as education, health, and water. The literature suggests such structural adjustments do not benefit all persons equally. Of specific interest are those left behind who reside in rural places and work in traditional economic sectors especially agriculture. The goal…
(2020). "Maestras": Exploring Dialectical Relationships in an Aboriginal Literacy Campaign. Australian Journal of Adult Learning, v60 n2 p149-169 Jul. Previous studies have documented the personal transformation that many low literate adults undergo when they engage in literacy campaigns. In particular, research has captured how improved literacy leads to a greater willingness and capacity to speak out, or what is often referred to as voice. This paper focusses on the impact of an adult Aboriginal literacy campaign on those responsible for implementing it. Through the words of these 'maestras', we reveal how the teachers and trainers of the campaign, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, experience a similar trajectory of transformation to the literacy students. This transformation, we argue, is the result of the pedagogic relationship between students, local campaign staff and national trainers. This dialectical relationship in which teacher is learner and learner teacher is at the heart of the literacy campaign model and is part of what Giroux (1988) characterises as a radical theory of literacy and voice. We further argue that the… [PDF]
(2019). Identity Policies of Education: Struggles for Inclusion "and" Exclusion in Peru and Colombia. Journal of Education Policy, v34 n3 p351-373. Policy initiatives that seek to account for ethno-cultural differences in education and schooling have become increasingly popular over the past few decades. These include affirmative action measures and bilingual education models. The rationale for the implementation of these policies focuses on their potential to rectify historical discrimination by both levelling horizontal inequalities and granting equal value to different cultures and languages in the schooling process. In this framework, however, ethnic communities are often treated as discrete and static social aggregates, and social heterogeneity and spillover effects between groups are disregarded. This paper draws on empirical case studies from Colombia and Peru to show how identity policies of education can increase inter-ethnic competition, leading to protracted social conflicts. These outcomes, beyond negatively impacting local communities, raise important dilemmas surrounding the theoretical and operational foundations… [Direct]