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

able to initiate this so that knowing even basic te reo Māori is crucial. There may
be some merit, therefore, in teachers being intentional in doing this until such time
as it becomes an absorbed and then a routine part of their repertoire of Tiriti-based
behaviours. In this way children can learn te reo Māori seamlessly.
In summary, teachers in both Case Study Two and Case Study Three
introduced, directed, and managed Tiriti-based activities and experiences.
However, in Case Study One teachers preferred to respond to children‟s initiatives
based on providing Tiriti-based environments. Nevertheless, while it appeared
easier to implement Tiriti-based curriculum when the teachers were driving the
programme, because the integrity of centre philosophy is important to be
maintained, because this is what underpins their programme and decisions about
pedagogy, teachers need to work out the process of doing this, and also
implementing Tiriti-based curriculum.
The age range of the children was another variable that influenced centre
selection. Consistently, research (Holmes, 1991; Stiles, 1997; Western Canadian
Protocol for Collaboration in Basic Education, 1999) has indicated that in order to
become bilingual children needed to be introduced to new languages in preschool
years. As already demonstrated, infants in this study were becoming familiar with
and responsive to te reo Māori.
5.5.2 Age Range of the Children
Before beginning the research I had wondered if teachers would have
different ways of approaching Tiriti-based curriculum that depend on the age of the
children. Previously, during informal discussions with early childhood students
and teachers, the view had been expressed that babies should not be exposed to
languages other than English. The rationale for this, it was explained, was to avoid
confusing children as they acquired language skills. Heta-Lensen (2010) reports
that it is commonly believed that speaking home languages will prevent effective
learning of English, however, she contests that claim in her paper on kete-based
learning. I was interested, therefore, to discover whether teachers may have
avoided using te reo Māori with younger children. In Case Study Two I observed
less te reo Māori being spoken by the teachers in the afternoon sessions with the
younger children, as the following exchange illustrates:
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