supporting tiriti-based curriculum delivery in mainstream early ...

Case Study Two
Eight action research meetings took place at the kindergarten, either after
a session or in non-contact time on Wednesdays or Friday afternoons. There were
two teachers at this centre and both were involved in the research and each of them
attended all the meetings. The format of each meeting was similar, with me
arriving to informally observe the last 30-40 minutes of the session and to help
clean up. We then shared food I had brought and started our action research
discussions.
The data collection took place over 9 months. At the first meeting we
shared our personal bicultural journeys. After discussing our bicultural journeys
the two teachers brainstormed what constituted their ideal Tiriti-based curriculum,
which I recorded and afterwards typed into a chart for them. Additionally, an
evaluation was planned and carried out by the teachers in which observations were
a major method to which I contributed. Subsequently, there were five action
research cycle meetings. These followed the typical action research cycles of plan,
act, observe, and reflect. The final research session occurred after the kindergarten
had attended a pōwhiri at the local school and also included an evaluation of the
research process.
Later, after the full draft report of the research with Case Study Two, I had
a face-to-face informal discussion with the head teacher, Alison, after she left the
centre for another type of early childhood employment. This discussion with
Alison was followed up with further email and phone interviews. A phone
interview was also conducted with Brodie who continued to teach at the
kindergarten. A discussion of interviews as a method of research and specifically
how they took place with the participants of this project is reported in the next
chapter.
3.3.2 My Issues with Action Research
As I contemplated the first two case studies I realised I had some
reservations about the effectiveness of the action research process, particularly in
Case Study One where my perception at times was that the progress of
implementing Tiriti-based curriculum seemed slow. Research with this centre had
spanned over a year, rather than the 3 months originally envisaged. I considered
possible reasons, such as whether it was to do with the number of people involved
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