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

Similarly to early childhood centres, in tertiary education the numbers of
Māori lecturers available are limited. In addition when they deliver only Māori
knowledge it can have the adverse effect of diminishing the value of these lecturers
when practical rather than academic content is highlighted (Ritchie, 2002b).
Ritchie additionally noted that Māori lecturers may only deliver segments of
content thus making it difficult to integrate Tiriti-based curriculum.
Unfortunately, as Colbung et al. (2007) note, “non-Māori educators, who
may be willing to a greater or lesser extent to develop the Māori content within
their teaching, nevertheless lack Māori knowledge” (p. 148). Early childhood
educators rely on what information they can glean from their studies, workshops,
texts, and possibly the most dubious, each other. Potential abounds for cultural
error. Visiting marae provides an authentic space for learning Tiriti-based
pedagogy. An even greater understanding occurs when staying overnight on
marae. Frequently, early childhood education study programmes include marae
noho in their teacher education courses.
Of the 13 teachers who participated in the case study research, 9 were still
involved in teacher education programmes, which were both a benefit and a barrier
to the research. Teachers‟ knowledge and understanding of Tiriti-based curriculum
benefitted the research they continued to up-skill themselves and brought those
skills back to their teaching teams. S from Case Study One was in a study group
that included Māori, who were willing to work with her as she sought to
understand Māori world views. For Margaret in Case Study Three, her studies
gave her the courage to continue implementing Tiriti-based pedagogy while on
practicum in another centre.
Working full time as well as studying meant little time was available for
team professional development, an issue that faces many early childhood education
staff as they seek to gain or add to their qualifications. This aligns with the
Ministry of Education statistics from July 2007-July 2008, which show an increase
of 13% of qualified staff in education and care centres, bringing the total to 55%.
Ministry statistics also stated that of 22.9% of staff were engaged in study (Data
Management Unit, 2008). Commitment to enhance their skills of Tiriti-based
curriculum make the difference to teachers finding the time to doing this (Ritchie,
2000).
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