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

We should recognise the important place of spirituality. Once again it
comes down to us having an understanding of what‟s important for our
parents. That was sort of looking at well-being (Tr A, 27/5/04).
I‟m guessing, but I would include more spirituality (Tr: JT, 1/3/04).
This study has indicated that spirituality was consistently an area which
challenged teachers who were transforming Te Whāriki into practice. More
specifically, it was apparent that teachers in this study seemed to avoid addressing
this issue even though matters concerning spirituality were undoubtedly able to be
considered had teachers wished to do so. From an action development perspective,
suggestions made by Jane Bone in her doctoral thesis (2008) could be useful, as
shown below. However, it must be noted that her thesis only became available
after the fieldwork for this research had been completed which meant her ideas
were unable to be introduced to participating teachers from this study.
Bone (2008) discovered that “spirituality does not have to be invisible or
unarticulated in early childhood settings” (p. 235). Moreover, she said “I am
proposing that spirituality is a dynamic process that can be incorporated into all
aspects of everyday life and practice in early childhood settings” (p. 227). One of
the examples she gave was that in te reo Māori, words such as wairua and awhi
enable spirituality to be present. Early childhood teachers can encompass the
spirituality within Te Whāriki by incorporating it into everyday practices such as
connections to natural resources, imagination, music, and tranquillity. In this way
teachers become empowered to recognise spirituality within their practice. A
further issue confronting teachers was multiculturalism.
6.5.5 Multiculturalism
A barrier to implementing Tiriti-based programmes remains the
widespread belief that multiculturalism should supplant biculturalism. Heta-
Lensen (2005) was concerned about that and claimed “… there is a growing trend
towards multiculturalism as educators argue that their settings have a greater
proportion of international children in their settings, thus overlooking the fact that
this country has a commitment to Tangata Whenua” (p. 28). Evidence provided by
respondents in this research was consistent with Heta-Lensen‟s claims as the
following cluster of quotes demonstrates:
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