My research questions at present are:

“Will implementing Google tools and an on time reporting tool increase teacher effectiveness and whanau engagement?”

They have been developed in the past two weeks since I have started a new job in a 1-day school catering for gifted and talented students. As I stated in an earlier post the current administrative organisation is spread over a number of different not compatible digital storage areas. The student reporting systems are paper and pen based, very time consuming and allows no feedback from whanau, students or classroom teachers.

Kaupapa Māori is a philosophy and foundation that:

• is related to ‘being Māori;

• is connected to Māori philosophy and principles;

• takes for granted the validity and legitimacy of Māori, the importance and Māori language and culture;

• is concerned with the struggle for autonomy over our own cultural wellbeing. (Smith, 1990).

While I can relate to and understand the concept of Kaupapa Māori research I am not Māori therefore have no cultural or historic link with the principles.

The key elements of Kaupapa Māori research are as follows:

• Tino Rangatiratanga - The Principle of Self-determination

• Taonga Tuku Iho - The Principle of Cultural Aspiration

• Ako - The Principle of Culturally Preferred Pedagogy

• Kia piki ake i ngā raruraru o te kāinga - The Principle of Socio-Economic Mediation

• Whānau - The Principle of the Family Structure

• Kaupapa - The Principle of Collective Philosophy

• Te Tiriti o Waitangi - The Principle of the Treaty of Waitangi

• Ata - The Principle of Growing Respectful Relationships

In the context of my project I see “Ata” as the most important in terms of building and maintaining relationships with the whanau and students at my “school”. Unfortunately in my present situation I have only been her for two weeks so have no prior connection with any of the students or whanau at the centre. Ata highlights the process of slowly engaging with and respecting other cultural differences and protocols.

 This includes setting boundaries and procedures for engagement, behaviour and goal setting. The present staff have already developed the relationships and I will use their prior knowledge to assist me when setting up a particular on-line collaborative tool for students and parents. Fortunately I have a good relationship with the staff and know that they are looking forward to me developing consistent effective collaborative administrative tools.

Our centre has severed ties with NZCGE effective 20201. In developing our own gifted curriculum, we have found aspects of Ako Maoti and Taonga Tuku and Te Tiriti o Waitangi are missing from any of the reference material we have looked at, this also includes the educational experts we have engaged with. In fact, it almost embarrassing that the area of Maori giftedness has not been explored further by the gifted education community. We have halted development of the curriculum to allow is to engage with local iwi and Maori educationalists in an attempt to add a Maori context to our new programme. While this will have to be in a shorter time frame than Kaupapa Maori research would normally take we look forward to the opportunity we are being provided with and will share any outcomes with our whānau groups and contributing schools. It is interesting that some of the national and international experts we have been working with have little or no knowledge of indigenous communities and the relevance of giftedness in those communities. Our aim is to put a unique New Zealand context into what could be seen as a culturally neutral programme.

 Another relevant part of Kaupapa Maori is the concept of Whanau which includes the unique relationships Mori have to themselves and the world around them. An important part of Kaupapa Maori research involves the researchers acknowledging the responsibility they have to nurture and care for the relationship they have with the communities they interact with. In our situation this is why we have invited two leading Maori educationalists to critique our current processes and advise us on the next steps in developing our curriculum and ongoing programme of work. They will also bring aspects of Kaupapa to the process introducing the collective vision and aspirations of the Maori communities we engage with. In this way an incremental process will be able to be set up to provide rigour and authenticity to the curriculum development process.

In order to be able to demonstrate an awareness of Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness it is necessary to unpack what these terms mean and how they could be relevant to my research project

According to UNESCO local and indigenous knowledge refers to the understandings, skills and philosophies developed by societies with long histories of interaction with their natural surroundings. For rural and indigenous peoples, local knowledge informs decision-making about fundamental aspects of day-to-day life.

This knowledge is integral to a cultural complex that also encompasses language, systems of classification, resource use practices, social interactions, ritual and spirituality.

These unique ways of knowing are important facets of the world’s cultural diversity, and provide a foundation for locally-appropriate sustainable development.

The Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. in their blog “What Does Indigenous Knowledge Mean? A Compilation of Attributes.” April 06, 2018, broke this down further, some of which are below:

Adaptive. It is based on historical experiences but adapts to social, economic, environmental, spiritual and political changes. Adaptation is the key to survival.

Holistic.  Indigenous knowledge incorporates all aspects of life - spirituality, history, cultural practices, social interactions, language, healing.

Intergenerational. The collective memory is passed, within a community, from one generation to the next orally through language, stories, songs, ceremonies, legends, and proverbs.

Irreplaceable.  An aspect of Indigenous knowledge that is sometimes overlooked by scientists, and others, is the critical connection between Indigenous knowledge and language. Indigenous languages are in decline and as languages die, so goes the Indigenous knowledge that is part of that language and the collective memory of the speakers of that language.

Responsible. Indigenous peoples generally believe they are responsible for the well-being of the natural environment around them.

Spiritual. Indigenous knowledge is rooted in a social context that sees the world in terms of social and spiritual relations among all life forms. All parts of the natural world are infused with spirit. 

In terms of Cultural Responsiveness, a recent article in relation to the Australian rugby team taking a knee during the national anthem to highlight the Black Lives Matter movement at an upcoming game highlights the unconscious bias still prevalent today. 

Nick Farr-Jones a past player and commentator said the majority of Australians would agree "all lives matter" and does not believe the country has a problem with racism. 

The feedback has been scathing and summed up by an  anonymous player who stated  

"He's dreaming. That's a stupid comment. How would he know? He wouldn't know, he's not Aboriginal. I'm not fussed on the one knee thing but to say we haven't got an issue in Australia is ridiculous."

This probably sums up my thoughts about Cultural Responsiveness in New Zealand. We are a country colonised by refugees escaping poverty or oppression initially from  the UK. The issues of land ownership was one of the first cracks in the Treaty agreement and one still not resolved to all Iwi’s satisfaction today.

This tied in with Māori urbanisation, native schools, non-recognition of te reo and tikanga Māori had almost lead to the forced assimilation of Māori into  ‘white’ life.”

The link to the article below https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/28/google-disney-maori-new-zealand 

highlights some of these changes but there is still a long way to go. To be culturally responsive you have to have meaningful relationship with Māori where you accept and respect your similarities and differences. As teacher  we are fortunate to be able to do this but a large number of New Zealanders have little or no exposure to te reo and tikanga Māori and have no desire to do so. Despite the best efforts being made we will always fall back on our own cultural bias when confronted with something new or challenging. 

For upcoming generations a greater cultural diversity in their schools, sports fields, social groups and ultimately in their bedrooms will have some effect long-term in the creation of a true multi-cultural society. Our hope for the future is more attention through assimilation to the Deep Culture rather than the Surface Culture in the Cultural Iceberg from our class notes. This is a very powerful example of our current position.

Anne Milne (2017) argues that cultural identity is not a thing that needs to be celebrated on certain occasions such as cultural weeks, rather teachers and schools should embrace student cultural identity at every opportunity throughout curriculum and learning activities, school policies and events... schools have a role in sustaining culture instead of negating it. 

This I agree with and is why we have her daughter Dr Keri Milne as one of our educational experts in integrating aspects of Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Responsiveness into our gifted curriculum.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/28/google-disney-maori-new-zealand

https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/what-does-indigenous-knowledge-mean

CORE Education. (2017, 17 October). Dr Ann Milne, Colouring in the white spaces: Reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cTvi5qxqp4&feature=em-subs_digest

https://medium.com/@parkersimon/the-architecture-of-meaning-aesop-6dab269000dc

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/just-don-t-do-it-guys-farr-jones-s-warning-for-wallabies-20201022-p567gt.html

In this post I will look at how different audiences perspectives are affected by my research topic which is around introducing digital and collaborative tools into a work place and setting up an in time reporting system for students and whanau.

To start with it is worth considering what an audience is in a digital and collaborative world. The research in the class notes highlight audiences as being local, national and international (global)

A Google education article outlines eight emerging trends in education. New Zealand has chosen to focus on three.

Digital Responsibility

There has been an explosion in digital devices and application use in our society whether for business, education or socially. While this has been of great benefit to each area in terms of productivity, access and instant gratification there has also been a dark side to digital use with an increase in cyber bullying and victimization in all areas of society. In the educational sector parents are increasingly seeking (or demanding) that schools deal with the effects of cyber bullying. Unfortunately most of the issues in primary schools arise due to parents allowing underage children to sign into these sites with incorrect ages exposing them to age inappropriate advertising and strangers then complaining that they need schools to fix any issues that arise. 

Life Skills & Workforce Preparation

In a global perspective there is an increasing need in the workforce of tomorrow for students to have a school curriculum that has more focus on vocational and social skills. In the digital and collaborative worlds our children are entering a job for life will probably not be the norm. Rather new work force members will need a variety of social skills such as empathy, collaboration, initiative and the ability to relate and communicate effectively with a wide range of people in a variety of settings. While the core subjects are still very important the current delivery model in our schools is not keeping up with the needs of our community. While any change would require a massive mind shift in a number of ways there are a number of school and educational institutions around the country that are innovative, allowing children to develop independent work skills at the same time as achieving academic expectations. The majority of these schools use high levels of digital and collaborative tools such as flexible timetables, google classrooms, flipped classrooms, e-portfolios, Microsoft 365, individual goal setting and teachers as facilitators amongst others. In my discussions with colleagues most aspire to a vision such as this, unfortunately most  schools physical designs and financial and staffing constraints make it unlikely to ever be achieved.

Emerging Technologies

One area where new Zealand has an advantage over other countries is in the use of digital technologies in our classrooms. We have the freedom in deciding what we use and how they teach which is not the case in most countries with prescribed curriculums. With this in mind our students need to create mental relationships for their existence in a global inter connected world rather than just focussing on a local prospective as in the past. The task for educators is how to link their students out of school global online life with curricular issues in an interesting, creative and worthwhile manner. 

The seventeen sustainable development goals for a better world by 2030 (United nations) and an increasing awareness of issues such as climate change and young people’s  ability to protest / challenge / lead in these areas is also a sign of how actions can move from local to national to international very quickly with the help of digital and collaborative tools. Without these tools the recent students protests and marches would have been very localised and underwhelming but the power of inter connectivity means the like of Greta Thunberg and  Malala Yousafzai have become world leaders and influencers for a new generation.

The audience in my situation consist of the following:

Students: they want to be able to easily and quickly upload work for their whanau and home classes to view and comment upon.

Whanau: Theis would be an opportunity to give whanau an easier way to view their children’s work and communicate with the teachers in a more controlled manner than at present.

Colleagues: their current reporting and organisation structures are very paper based and involve a lot of double handling. The current mode of sharing work is via Facebook which is useful but as with most social media not used by all people. Files are currently spread across a number of different non collaborative or compatible platforms 

Home schools: Currently receive written progress indicator sheets which often have little or no relevance to them. The use of an application such as class dojo or seesaw would enable them to easily see what their students have done while at Enrich@ILT. It would also enhance two way communication.

‘New possibilities for diversifying collection and judgement of evidence. Smart technologies allow online, anytime, anywhere and on demand assessment’ (Murgatroyd 2018) This quote from a School News article by CORE Education in June 24, 2019 “how Reliable is a 6-monthly report by the time it gets home” highlights an ongoing issue in schools today In 2007 or thereabouts the New Zealand Curriculum was updated after a lot of consultation with relevant stakeholders giving schools more freedom in relation as to how curriculum was to be delivered and reported upon. Before this could gai traction National standards were introduces and school were forced to confirm to the rules even though there was a lot of confusion and concern about the relevance of the data being collected. About the only useful aspect of National Standards was the Data was collected and school shad to develop systems for the collection and analysis of the data. Unfortunately, there was little consistency across the system therefore not much was achieved. Fear of reprisal in the form of ERP revies and LSM interventions kept most schools on track and a lot of time and effort and expense went into the creation of reporting systems. It created an extra level of have and have not schools especially when the media and the ministry produce league tables and schools advertised their results as being better than their neighbouring schools. During the later years of national l standards technological advances and the fact that the ‘one size doesn’t fit all needs’ meant a number of different applications were produced that enabled school to communicate in an online environment with their students and whanau. Applications such as Google Classroom. Microsoft 365, Blogger, Seesaw, Class dojo and a number of school management systems have developed sufficiently in order to be able to be easily used to allow real time reporting. The issues with the current system of twice a year reports are as follows: 1. It is a historic practise coming from a pen and paper regime and in a digital world outdated though still favoured by an influential section of the community who still see education through the lens of their own experience many years past. 2. It has a narrow focus mainly on the there cire curricular subjects with a passing mention of the key competences which though useful are not consistent across the education network so not relevant as a meaningful assessment tool. 3. They provided limited feedback as they are normally sent out at the end of a term and at the end of the year which is often too late for any meaningful dialogue 4. Added to this is the ability to cut and paste comments across a number of ‘similar ‘student in school management systems which makes their more generic that individualised. 5. Often interventions or Individual Education plans are not mentioned in these types of reports. Under national standards schools were forced to rank children as above at below and well below which was not useful for any child self-esteem or desire to learn. 6. The use of age reporting and three-way interviews was tried and while reasonably successful was still in a pen or paper format and focussed on achievement against benchmarks. This was only used for children in Year 1-3 and the issue of children whose birthdays fell in Dec-Feb made it a bit problematic. My new place of employment has a similar issue. It is a one-day school for gifted and talented children from 25 local schools. At present we use the New Zealand Centre of Gifted education (NZCGE) programme https://nzcge.co.nz/about%20us/nzcge%20curriculum?src=nav Which highlights the contents strands of personal, conceptual and talent development. The staff have designed rubrics to track progress but have found reporting to host schools and whanau a difficult proposition due to the following: • Report nor really understood or relevant to host school teachers or whanau • Only asked for originally in response to an ERO review at a contributing school – more a tick box compliance task. • Enrich@ILT staff currently post work on Facebook which is useful but hit and miss in regards who sees it and who doesn’t. • with children only here one day a week there is also the issue of over reporting or how much is relevant or useful. My aim is to introduce a real time reporting system such as seesaw or class dojo this term as a way to provide • up to date digital reporting including multimedia evidence to schools and whanau • a system enabling children to upload their own work to their portal • the ability for call teachers or whanau to provide instant feedback on children work. This has the potential to strengthen the link between classroom and Enrich@ILT which can be seen as an inconvenience for some class teachers. Also, the children who produce outstanding work now have a platform to share their work with their peers and whanau.