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

The importance of understanding the tikanga attached to these actions
needs to be stressed (Ritchie & Rau, 2008) because without this, the way Tiriti-
based curriculum is implemented could be seen as tokenism; imitation, rather than
commitment to Tiriti o Waitangi and social justice. Whilst they were at the festival
Case Study One teachers had access to a knowledgeable Māori colleague.
Unfortunately, as this teacher worked in another centre, there was limited contact
after the festival. Ideally, these experiences could have been an opportunity to
develop relationships with whānau Māori, but this did not happen, I suspect
because the teachers did not have sufficient confidence in their skills and
knowledge of Tiriti-based curriculum. What they were able to do was to advance
their knowledge through resources and opportunities offered in the community.
Thus a trip was organised to the museum to see the Māori exhibits and the centre
was able to visit to the local library where Mātāriki featured:
Mātāriki was celebrated at the library, two guest speakers came to read
the story, one in Māori and the other in English (Jl: Y. July 1 st week/04).
This example shows the types of opportunities in Aotearoa within the
community for interacting with Māori knowledge. The teachers in Case Study One
took advantage of these to develop their knowledge and skills. Additionally, these
excursions provided openings for children to be informed and engaged. Despite
these opportunities, there were difficulties for the teachers, an important one being
coming to terms with speaking te reo Māori with the children, which is discussed
in the next section.
5.2.2 Role Modelling Te Reo Māori
A recurring issue for the teachers in Case Study One was their concern
with staff attempting to role model te reo Māori when none of them were tangata
whenua. The principle of having first language speakers model te reo Māori was
important:
I think they found it quite difficult because they don‟t have any Māori
staff. But, however, we have tried telling them if they had a Māori staff
member you can‟t lay that on the Māori staff member, but they feel
coming from their own multicultural perspectives they don‟t want
someone teaching their children Hindi who can‟t speak Hindi correctly
so they don‟t feel that they should be trying to teach Māori children
Māori if they can‟t speak it correctly. (Tr: J, 30/3/06).
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