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

fearfulness about making mistakes and appearing to be disrespectful by
inadvertently trampling on Māori culture has never entirely disappeared. I did not,
though, abdicate my Tiriti responsibilities at any stage.
Because there are insufficient teachers to achieve it, the reality of
overcoming challenges associated with Māori-reliant teachers are substantial.
Statistics indicate that within teacher-led services 72.8% were European/Pākehā,
and only 8.6% were Māori (Education Counts, 2008). Under such circumstances,
being a role model burdens Māori teachers, many of whom may now be
monolingual after successive generations of te reo being discouraged (Ritchie,
2002b). This means that Māori teachers may have no more knowledge about
Tiriti-based curriculum than many other teachers. Concerns about Māori teachers
being the sole repository for providing Tiriti-based curriculum advice was
discussed in chapter 6.
Irrespective of whether there are Māori itinerant teachers or whether
Māori teachers in centres assume the responsibility for growing competence,
strategies need to be introduced which work towards growing partnerships so that
non-Māori staff develop more skills and greater confidence. They need successful
transformative learning to become active partners in implementing Tiriti-based
pedagogy. This will reduce, but not entirely overcome, the numbers of teachers
who are Māori-reliant. Of course, there are some non-Māori who are te reo Māori
me ona Tikanga proficient. Clearly, therefore, ethnicity is not the important factor.
However, ensuring that help is given when it is needed remains pivotal.
The third stage of my proposed continuum is that of being Māori-friendly.
This stems from the work of Johnston (2001) who said teachers felt it was a
personal matter to include Māori language and culture in their teaching. What she
was arguing amounts to such inclusion being a personal choice made by teachers.
Including Māori language and culture she reasoned would reduce prejudice and
achieve better educational outcomes. This in turn would lead to Māori achieving
an improved self-image. Johnston (2001, p. 15) asserts that being Māori-friendly
involves “creating comfort zones for Pākehā” and that Pākehā remain in control.
However, it is not that straight-forward. Personally, I struggled to
relinquish power, because I thought I was assisting the „Māori cause‟ by trying to
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