araiooi Developing cultural conpotenctos for teachers of Mod stents Ministry of Education Education Gazette ‘Tuesday 28 February 2017 Submita: Vacancy Notice PLD notice Feature In print 17 Jun 2013 Developing cultural competencies for teachers of Maori students A tool to help develop the cultural competence of teachers of Maori students was piloted during 2011— 2012. KATE BLEASDALE looks at case studies of the schools that participated in Titaiako, Aswell as developing cultural competence, Tatsiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Maori Leamers aims to help educators develop better relationships with whiinau, hap, and iwi in their school community, as well as with Maori students. The programme was developed by the Ministry of Education and the New Zealand Teachers Council (NZTC) at the request of the Associate Minister of Education, Dr Pita Sharples, ‘Tataiako is a Ka Hikitis-derived resource and a workforce development tool for use by individual teachers, TEs (initial tcacher education providers), schools, BCE services, the Ministry, NZTC, BRO (Héucation Review Office), and iwi. It cau be used by groups asa discussion tool and to support developing processes for assessing beginning teachers through to school leaders, professional development planning and strategy, strategic planning, and in the development of the school’s curriculum, Planning the pilot Given the keupapa of Tataisko is about engagement, a kenobi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) approach was chosen. Dueto the time required to deliver appropriate training, it was decided to run ‘Tataiako training in two ECE centres, two primary schools, nd one secondary school ‘The school’s ERO report was used to identify the number of Miri and Pasifika students, and it was decided that only schools with over 20 per cent of Maori students on the roll would be considered for the plot, ‘Training material was developed by the Ministry with two Student Achievement Function (SAF) practitiouers— one SAF Miori and a Kaitakawaenga (aot liaison coordinator) ~ and was tested with SAF practitioners in an all-day workshop PLD session. It was ‘then modified foruse in the pilot schools. Summary of the case studies ‘The main emphasis in the case studies was on cach school’s intent to make change in 2013. The evidence from the case studies will also inform how Tataiako can be integrated into schools, At the beginning of the programme, the schools were asked to identify their whnau and how the school engaged with them. Relationships with Mana Whenua and some Maori whanau were not as stiong as other identified whinau groups. For many schools, the issue ley with not knowing who they needed to talk to —or ifkey contacts were identified, how to encourage them to become ipubwww edgazete govtnziArticiesArite aspx PAtceld= 8788 18arenas Developing culural competencies fr teachers of Maori students ‘more involved in the school. Concems were raised on how to effectively engage with some Maori parents, given some schools were only reaching a limited number of them. Schools saw that implementing Tatsiako supported building relationships with both Mana Whenua and Miri whanan, Instead of following provided action plans to the letter, the need to personalise these plans was seen as important, Schools felt the student and whanau voices needed to be personalised and re- written foreach school. Some schools also re-wrote the behavioural indicators, Training for Titaiako was flexible — some schools held it just for their change team, white others held it with most of thei staff. It ‘was seen as concise, non-threatening, and followed a clear process, One of the key strengths ofthe training was the opportunity for schools to be selfxeflective and not defensive about what they nooded to do to suppor thei students end to develop better relationships with whinau, NZTC has developed # resource to support teachers in linking the Tataiako Cultural Competencies with the Graduating ‘Teacher Standards and Registered ‘Teacher Criteria; a fink to this can be found at the end ofthis aticle ‘The importance of continuing to receive support once training was finished was highlighted, and SAF practitioners are providing thisin the schools. Using the kanohi ki te kanohi approach was well-received by the schools schools involved Ralnbow Bears Preschool ~ Henderson ‘Staffat the preschool saw the training sessions as opportunities to learn ways to change their own practice, and the management team intended to include Tataiako in their strategic plan for 2013. They have committed to using Tataiako alongside Te Whariki when planning and documenting children’s leaming and are also using the tool to support teacher appraisals against the registered teacher criteria. Kiwicare Preschool Manulcaw ‘The Kiwicare staff found the training deepened their understanding of what steps the manageme team needed to take to develop better relationships within the centre, with parents and with the wider community Following the taining, sta felt they were confident to make the relevant changes to support not only their Maori students, but their Pasifika students too. ‘There was an air of confidence within staif that Kiwicare Preschool was making a positive commitment to theic community. Aorangi Primary School ~ Rotorua ‘The staff were given their training in term 4. They took the opportunity to collaboratively discuss-@ way forward and forma planning group to work through the recommendations. Aorangi staf wanted to make sure they ‘get it right? for their Maori students, and felt the tine invested in developing a course of action needed to reflect this. A draft action plan was developed for each of the competencies to be reviewed at the start of 2013, ‘Merivale Primary School —‘Tauranga Most staff were confident talking with whinau about Titaiako and saw it as an opportunity to form closer relationships with the ‘community. This was seen asa key goal by the team, hiplww.edgazette govtrzlAvticles/Article px? Articleld=0798, 28.root Daveloping cultural competencoe fer taachars of Mer students (On the whole, staffenjoyed being part of the training and saw it as the beginning of joumey to build better relationships. Papamoa College Staff felt the training gave thema better understanding of the competencies and how they would fit in their classroom. “Many expressed a desire for support in how to run a hui, how to have robust conversations with whanau, and how to engage with ‘elusive or difficult whanau, ‘The most important factor to come through the survey process was that 2 high percentage of staff were ready to embrace new concepts but needed good support and direction on how to do this effectively. ‘The case studies and evaluation will be made available aver the next few months, ‘Mote information on Tataiako is available through the following Ministry of Education and New Zealand Teachers Couneil links: Ministry of Education: hetp://bitly/ReAIm6 NZ1C: wwuteacherscounell govtnzlrequired/tataiako stm Copyright © New Zealand Ministry of Education Intguivew edgar govt Articles/Arile aspx Atileld=5798, ES