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

incorporated some idea of partnership in their definition of biculturalism.
Respondents saw partnership as inclusive of Māori, receiving equal/equitable
benefits:
Māori culture and European expressed equally. Māori language and
tikanga given equal status. Children and staff bilingual. Relationships
built with local tangata whenua who are consulted about centre decisions
(R. 8).
A bicultural early childhood centre reflects a true partnership between
Māori and Pākehā that is based on mutual respect and understandings
and a desire to protect the uniqueness of Aotearoa/New Zealand (R.1).
The theme of partnership is common within Aotearoa New Zealand
literature and it could be that respondents are reflecting this viewpoint because it
has been gleaned from their professional reading and/or their early childhood
studies (Jenkin, 2009). However, it is the notion of partnership that is problematic
for Māori. Concern has been expressed that partnership in the context of Aotearoa
New Zealand is not equal partnership but has Māori as the secondary or junior
partner (Bishop, 2007; Durie, 2001; Johnston, 2001; O'Sullivan, 2007; G. H. Smith,
1990). Nevertheless, for these early childhood teachers, possibly because they
were unaware of the problematic nature of the concept of partnership for Māori,
partnership was not only incorporated into their definitions of bicultural but was
also contained within their visions of this curriculum.
6.3.2 ECE Visions of Tiriti-based Pedagogy
Achieving the ideal Tiriti-based curriculum would be more likely if early
childhood teachers had shared understandings on what this could be, so
respondents to the questionnaire were invited to describe their ideal bicultural
curriculum, which returned 64 responses (84%). Additionally, each team of
participants in the case studies were asked to envision their ideal bicultural
curriculum, which was reported in chapter 5.
Fundamentally, although Te Whāriki honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi it
moves beyond Te Tiriti to address early childhood learning across a series of
dimensions which have been labelled as principles and strands. Each of the five
strands has attendant goals. The principles, strands and goals, which could be “a
starting point for defining the „ideal‟ Tiriti-based curriculum” (Jenkin, 2009, p.
100) thus direct adults in early childhood centres to address, amongst many other
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