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

positive or an appreciative manner (rather than in a critical or negative fashion)
how they felt. This stage is often facilitated in the form of a paired interview in
which each person narrates their story of the time when they were operating at an
optimal level.
However, Bushe (1999) warns this stage can “easily degenerate into social
banter and cliché-ridden interaction” (p.64). He says the key to gaining successful
narratives “seems to be suspending one's own assumptions and not being content
with superficial explanations given by others; to question the obvious” (p.65). One
of the ways I sought to circumvent participants moving into socialising rather than
being focused on personal Tiriti-based pedagogy was to have the teachers work
together as a team, rather than as is more usual in pairs. Additionally, with the
teachers in Case Study Three numbering five, sharing narratives of best practice in
pairs was clearly not achievable.
To dream is the second stage of appreciative inquiry. Typically,
participants share their often very vivid details, and the related values that emerge
from their narratives. These stories are charted on the wall to enable the whole
team to look for common themes as well as ideals which are perceived to be most
relevant to the group as a whole. They consider the dreams they have for the topic
under discussion (English et al., 2003; Hammond, 1998; Reed et al., 2002; Yoder,
2005). Bushe (1999) regards this stage as data analysis, as narratives are treated in
much the same way as any qualitative data. Through content analysis, people look
for what is valued and what conditions led to superior performance to enable the
development of “provocative propositions” (Bushe, 1999, p. 63). These statements
of team aspirations and intent are based on the analysis of what the team consider
to be the very best and how such statements capture team values. They are
affirmative statements which describe visions that are provocatively stretching,
challenging, or innovative (Bushe, 1999). By coming to agreement on a set of
provocative propositions, people formulate a shared vision of the group at its best.
The idea is to generate new positive theories about outcomes that will have high
value to the team. In Case Study Three rather than working with participants to
analyse data, as a team we used a brainstorming technique to discover collective
values from which to create a vision. These were recorded on a wall chart.
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