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

inquiry is that something works within every organisation and given that it was
clearly apparent that this approach should be explored for this study.
Since the 1980s in Aotearoa New Zealand, the mainstream early
childhood community has been interested in incorporating Māori world views,
language and customs into their curriculum. They formalised this with the
introduction of Te Whāriki in 1996. However, teachers have struggled with
implementation of this curriculum. This may be attributable to unrealistic
expectations, blame, and fear of being seen as being tokenistic. In this thesis,
therefore, I propose that appreciative inquiry both as a methodology and as a
theoretical framework can be used to enhance the implementation of Tiriti-based
curriculum as promulgated in Te Whāriki.
Much of the previous research considered Tiriti-based curriculum from a
problematic perspective (J. Burgess, 2005; Cubey, 1992; Ritchie, 2002b). Their
emphasis appeared to be focussed upon why early childhood teachers were not
becoming bicultural. They were, according to the literature, lacking the elements
of biculturalism such as commitment, confidence and competence (Ritchie, 2000)
that was the promise of Te Whāriki.
Indeed, I would say, teachers were considered to be empty vessels in
terms of their bicultural knowledge, and it appeared to be believed Te Whāriki
could deposit missing knowledge into them (as in Freire‟s (1972) banking model of
education). Unfortunately, even this was not effective as Te Whāriki only contains
the “what” to bank not the “how” to implement Tiriti-based curriculum as will be
explained in later chapters.
What this thesis proposes is that early childhood teachers do have
strengths around bicultural practices and these can best be unleashed by using a
framework that recognises positives. In recognising positives it is worth noting
that prior to Te Whāriki some of the Māori world views that are incorporated
within principles and strands were already important in early childhood philosophy,
beliefs and practices. This can be seen in Whānau Tangata which is an overarching
concept whereby early childhood teachers believe and respect children‟s families
and communities as being important – the most important aspect of children‟s
lives. A basic underpinning of early childhood teachers‟ beliefs is that they are
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