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

and Case Study Three respectively were moving toward being in the fourth stage of
the continuum: Māori-co-construction.
In this thesis, deficit approaches have been described as having limited
relevance. In particular, action research appeared flawed so I shifted to
appreciative inquiry methodology (see chapter 3). But, and this is important,
appreciative inquiry does not have to be solely a methodology. As this thesis has
shown, it can also be a relevant theoretical framework that enables heightened
analyses which better inform explanations. My assertion, therefore, is that the
overall focus should not be problem-based, but rather, should zero in on what
works. This means aspects of action research become more useful when blended
with the ethos and methods of appreciative inquiry. That is what I have done in
this study and the result is I have developed a model of action development (see
chapter 3).
Typically action research and appreciative inquiry are thought of as
separate or even opposite approaches. Nevertheless, in this thesis, they have been
fused. The blend of these methodological approaches became action development.
It is possible, therefore, as this thesis has demonstrated, to fuse elements of action
research procedures with the ethos that underpins appreciative inquiry. In Tiriti-
based pedagogy, when action development is applied it becomes possible for
teachers to shift their thinking and therefore their practices along the continuum
from Māori-reliant and Māori-friendly towards Māori-co-construction. A model
such as the one in Figure 7.1 is intended to assist with developing broadly based
explanations of social phenomena.
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