Cultural Responsiveness

At the heart of a culturally responsive pedagogy lies culture itself; the filters that help us make sense of everyday things. These can be visible such as art & technology, or invisible such as values, beliefs & perspectives. It’s important to understand that culture is a trait of an individual rather than a “one size fits all” perspective of a group or race e.g. NZ Maori. (Gay, 2002)

One analogy used in Teaching Tolerance (2010) is that teachers are “cultural translators”. Our students aren’t blank slates - they come with prior content and cultural perspective. Teachers as cultural translators need to help them build on this to make connections and meaning in an education setting. The way I see it, teachers are like electrical adapters plugs for international sockets; we are the link between similar actions in different settings, separated by different perspectives. This supports Gay (2002) definition of culturally responsive pedagogy as “using the cultural characteristics, experiences & perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more effectively” (p.106).

My school is primarily bi-cultural, comprised of 56% NZ European and 32% Maori students. There’s been significant research to suggest that since the colonisation of New Zealand and the introduction of Maori people into the “European way”, there has been a growing achievement gap between Maori and non-Maori. Russell Bishop likens this to the accumulation of large scale fiscal debt, whereby Maori are accumulating large scale achievement “debt” to society. We also see this at a smaller scale in the classroom daily; the accumulation of lack of achievement by individual students (or a cohort) over their journey through primary to secondary school, leading to an eventual “I can’t do this” mentality. Do we really blame them? It’s a massive hurdle to leap. (EDtalks, 2012)

So, how do we address the fact that secondary school is so hard for Maori students? Having a culturally responsive pedagogy is a great catch phrase, but making this our practice is so much harder. In my mind, cultural responsiveness is a cornerstone of future focused education. Before reading and reflecting for this post, I considered myself to be culturally responsive in the classroom. Indeed, building relationships with my students is a strength. But, how often have I invited students to bring their own experience of science into the classroom? My perception of their “interests” and subsequent integration of this into teaching & learning may be a result of my students wanting to please (or appease?) me!

To be culturally responsive is to be a “learner among learners” (EDtalks, 2012). To truly share the power is to be visible in a community, invite expertise and perspective. It means to be transparent with students when constructing learning programmes; allowing co-construction, contextual feedback & feedforward in an evidence-based practice. Being part of the Te Kotahitanga programme, my school encouraged their staff to do and be all of these things.

The findings from Te Kotahitanga were combined with other programmes to form Kia Eke Panuku: Building on Success. Although provided with some funding by the Ministry of Education, that ceased after 2016. One third of New Zealand secondary schools are involved in this programme, with an aim of developing a culturally responsive and relational pedagogy (CRRP) across all school levels, based on evidence. Regular hui are held to analyse Maori student data to help implement and enforce actions - leading to further critical questioning and reflecting about what’s working and what’s not. Facilitators conduct a general analysis once per year to establish teacher positioning of CRRP as “basic”, “developing” and “integrating” (co-constructed with staff). (Heaslip, M. Personal communication, 2016)

What analysis of this data has shown is that over time, the proportion of classrooms that display an “integrating” pedagogy have lessened – we’ve essentially gone backwards. This data is only a snapshot and needs to be better evaluated over time. However many questions arise: is this a result of lack of commitment from teachers to the programme? A lack of expert facilitation and professional development? Introduction of new initiatives? A general lack of funding? All of the above? One thing is clear; the achievement gap is not closing. When will we make a culturally responsive pedagogy a future focused education imperative? In my opinion, it is a no-brainer.

References

EDtalks. (2012). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. Retrieved October 10, 2017, from https://vimeo.com/49992994

Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487102053002003

Teaching Tolerance. (2010). Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Retrieved October 10, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGTVjJuRaZ8