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

environment itself I found no evidence of bicultural practice to record. This led to
some reflection about action research and contributed to the modification of
methodology from action research to action development, which was discussed
earlier. However, I also reflected on the values of observation and the place of this
in empowering teachers.
When I found no signs of bicultural development, the issue of observation
in action research became problematic for me particularly in my thinking about
relationships of power between the researcher and participants. My journal notes
the difficulties I was experiencing with action research and observation:
Who should observe the action – especially at the end of the research; or
at the beginning of the research? Is it about the teacher and what they
decide is observable “power and voice” or about the researcher, or
both? What is my difficulty with this? Showing up the teachers?
Nothing to see so I have not been an effective researcher and/or
facilitator or ??!!(Jl: CJ, 28/3/05)
I was struggling with issues of observation, power, and ownership of the
research. If teachers were authentic co-researchers then surely the final evaluation
would be for them to do and own. Discussion, text reading, and reflection enabled
my thinking about this dilemma. Firstly, I was able to clarify that the purpose of
initial observations was to support teachers‟ own Tiriti-based audit. Secondly, I
had never seen it clearly as a baseline for assessing improvement in Tiriti-based
practice. This was because I was interested in the process of Tiriti-based journeys
and what helped and/or hindered Tiriti-based implementation. The final outcome
of the cycles of research was for the teachers either collectively or individually to
measure. I began to see that a purpose of final observations would be to evaluate
the product of Tiriti-based journeys and did not necessarily have the same aims of
this research, which was about how Tiriti-based curriculum was achieved.
Reflection on this was enhanced when I went to the 2007 NZARE Conference
presentation on observation by Terry Locke and subsequently read his paper: What
Happened to Educational Criticism? Engaging with a Paradigm for Observation.
As Locke discussed issues of observation, what resonated with me was the
power issues with which I had been grappling in my unease about final assessment
observation, as “it is a first-person narrative that privileges the university-based
researcher” (Locke, 2009, p. 498). I could now put my unease into words that
Tiriti-based journeys belonged to the teachers. What interested me were the joys
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