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

Tiriti-based curriculum. As well, in each case study themes emerged from which
positive strategies to enhance Tiriti-based curriculum could be built. For Case
Study One this was Tiriti-based excursions; for Case Study Two it was the
development of whanaungatanga leading to the pōwhiri at the local school; and in
Case Study Three, where the approach changed to action development, successes,
and support were highlighted.
There were also difficulties and challenges for each centre. One of the
challenges that consistently faced the teachers in Case Study One was the ethical
dilemma of speaking te reo Māori when it was not their own language and an area
that was both a challenge and a triumph was that of professional development.
Sustaining Tiriti-based curriculum over time was an issue for Case Study Two and
this will be explored further in the next chapter. Support and teamwork for Case
Study Three was both a strength and a challenge, but working through these in an
appreciative manner enabled powerful reflections for successful action plans.
The final section of this chapter presents the findings that relate to case
study selection criteria. These were the type of centre, ages of the children, socio-
economic status, and management practices.
5.5 Findings Resulting From Selection Criteria
As discussed earlier, case study centres were specifically selected to
incorporate different factors I wanted to explore in order to explore what effect
those factors had on implementing Tiriti-based curriculum. These were the age
range of the children, the type of centre, and the socio-economic status of the area
where the centre was situated. The other factor I was interested in was whether or
not management practices, in a large group of centres within one organisation
system, were likely to be hierarchical and removed from direct daily practices.
5.5.1 Child-initiated, Teacher-directed or Routine-based
The stated philosophy of teachers in Case Study One was that of child-
initiated play, which in practice meant that teachers waited for children to initiate
learning experiences. However, there were exceptions as the following snippet of
conversation demonstrates:
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