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

achieving Tiriti-based curriculum in early childhood will require committed early
childhood teachers like D, whose words opened this chapter:
I‟m allowed to make mistakes…That is my responsibility” (FG: D,
15/12/08).
As her words show, she believed she had to be the one in the team to take
responsibility and that she was allowed to make mistakes whilst she was learning
and developing. Until Aotearoa New Zealand becomes truly bicultural, it is
unlikely early childhood education services will achieve the levels of
understanding and professional practice proposed in Te Whāriki. It is heartening to
note that the long-term effort to stabilise the Māori language is succeeding:
Surveys show … the language has been stabilised. About 24 percent of
the Māori population (approximately 130 000 people) are now able to
speak with some proficiency in te reo Māori, and there are 30 000 Pākehā
who speak te reo Māori with varying degrees of proficiency. (Ministry of
Education, 2009b, para 4)
Indeed, although the older generation of speakers of te reo Māori is
dwindling in numbers, the ranks of younger speakers of te reo Māori are increasing
(Ministry of Social Development, 2009). Given that Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our
national founding document, endeavours to honour this through Te Whāriki are
crucial. Hence, it is essential that early childhood education professionals
implement as much Tiriti-based curriculum as possible, because the evidence
strongly supports the contention that one way of accomplishing biculturalism is to
start in the early years. That is the gift of Te Whāriki.
When Tiriti-based pedagogy is implemented there are two dimensions.
The first is to ensure that Te Tiriti obligations and responsibilities are achieved for
all Māori children attending early childhood education services, and this means
they should have opportunities for “educational experiences that validate their
identity as Māori” (Ritchie & Rau, 2006b, p. 1). According to Ministry of
Education figures (Education Counts, 2008), 18.7% of children attending early
childhood education as at July 1 st 2008 identified as Māori. Increasing numbers
were attending mainstream early childhood education services. The implications of
this are that mainstream education teachers need to be skilled, knowledgeable,
confident, and importantly, they need to be passionate in their endeavours to
implement effective Tiriti-based pedagogy and practices.
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