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

esearch cycles, both as method and theory. In reality it subsumes both the four
stages of appreciative inquiry and utilises the processes embedded within the action
research cycles. After completing their appreciative inquiry through the four stages
of discovery, dream, design, and deliver, Case Study Three teachers worked with
their Tiriti-based plan for a month and then returned as a group to consider and
appreciate what had worked. By continuing in the appreciative inquiry framework
for continuation of Tiriti-based curriculum, at the research meetings teachers were
able to see where they could build on their progress and continue to develop their
practice. This research process in Case Study Three is illustrated next.
3.3.5 Action Development with Case Study Three
With a variation of methodology in Case Study Three the research process
was different to the other two cases. There were five research meetings which took
place over a time span of 5 months. Of the five staff members in this case study,
two (Nilmini and Peggy) attended all of the meetings and the other three missed
one meeting each, although there was never more than one person absent from a
meeting at any one time. The first research session was a workshop on the process
of appreciative inquiry, which was held at 9.30am when a staff member from
another area of the centre, came to be with the children). This was followed at
12.30 that same day by the teachers systematically working through the four stages
of appreciative inquiry. As participants in this study first identified what was good
about their Tiriti-based practice they were able to see what could be strengthened.
Collectively they identified areas to be built up which became the basis of their
action plans.
After the initial appreciative inquiry research there were two follow-up
action research meetings held a month apart, at which teachers shared Tiriti-based
actions they had taken since the previous meeting. These meetings started at
approximately 12.30, during the 2-hour period most of the infants were sleeping.
In reality there were usually one and occasionally two children awake who were
with us during the research meetings.
At the follow up meetings (action research cycles) reflection on the action
focused firstly on individual narratives of what worked and then collectively
analysed how these fitted within the ideal plan. Alterations and additions were
made and the research continued with a slight variation on the typical action
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