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

Committee. Finding a balance in working in a reciprocal and collaborative manner
challenged me. In hindsight, being more versed in Tiriti-based pedagogy would
have enabled me to contact them more often – although I cannot tell how often I
should have contacted them. Like Tiriti-based curriculum, relationships have no
recipe. I am Pākehā and just as other non-Māori teachers have limits to the ways in
which they implement Tiriti-based pedagogy, so do I. I do see the world through
Pākehā perspectives, and I am continually confronted by my monocultural gaze.
However, I recognise this as my world view. Just as the teachers in this study need
to stand up and be counted, when confronted by my responsibility for Te Tiriti
partnership, so too do I.
It may have been easier and cleaner to have recognised the problem-based
nature of action research but in this study, I do not regret having immersed myself
in this methodology for a period of time. I needed to experience the process of
action research in order to become confronted by its limitations because that
enabled me to critically review the methodology. My appraisal spurred me to
introduce methodological shifts. Importantly for this study, my search for an
alternate methodology enabled me to trial the underpinning philosophy and
methods of appreciative inquiry which eventually encouraged me to devise the
blended approach already discussed, that is, action development.
Another reason I do not regret starting with action research has to do with
issues of power. I had envisioned action research as involving power-sharing
because it is consistently described as a collaborative methodology (Cardno, 2003).
Having trialled action research, I remain doubtful that it affords true collaboration
and power-sharing. Furthermore, for doctoral research, there is an added tension at
play – the thesis candidate must have more than a modicum of control over such a
high-stakes assessment project. However, I look forward (in future research) to
having the freedom to truly surrender control to co-researchers so that the
collaborative process can guide us all.
7.8 Recommendations and Further Research
Finally, it is time to consider future directions for researching Tiriti-based
curriculum implementation in ways whereby teachers can strengthen their practice.
An important domain for exploration is that of centres where there are no Māori
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