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

done well, and build on these beginnings” (p.282). Bevan-Brown (2003) similarly
stated that schools and early childhood centres are situated at a specific place on a
Tiriti-based continuum. She noted the importance of setting and devising realistic
goals and strategies in order to move along the continuum “towards a more
comprehensive level of biculturalism” (p.12). I would go further and argue that
until society has embraced te reo Māori so that potential early childhood education
students arrive at their tertiary institutions with an acceptable level of knowledge
and skills, graduating teachers from the early childhood sector will continue to be
seen as tokenistic as they attempt to implement Tiriti-based programmes.
Overseas writers (Fleer, 2003; Hayden, 2000) praised Aotearoa New
Zealand for its innovative Tiriti-based curriculum. As Fleer states, “the bicultural
focus of the whole curriculum design signals to the early childhood community,
both nationally and internationally, that the dominant Western curriculum
discourse must not be placed centre-stage, but should sit alongside other cultural
perspectives”(p. 249). Moving the western perspective off centre stage is what
makes Te Whāriki desirable, but Te Whāriki represents one perspective drawn from
one country. Because it was likely that perspectives from other countries could
offer insights into good practice, I surveyed international literature.
2.4.1 The International Scene
Aotearoa New Zealand is not the only country that has bicultural
education and struggles with it. Canada, Wales, and Ireland similarly struggle over
delivering effective bicultural education. However, according to the literature, they
are not taking a minority culture and implementing it in mainstream early
childhood centres. Instead they are mostly concerned with establishing immersion
or bilingual/bicultural teaching and learning units which are similar to Te Kōhanga
Reo. Although Smith discusses school age education, his stance is worth reporting:
Kura Kaupapa Māori are total immersion Māori language and culture
schooling options offered at the primary school level. These schools are
not to be confused with “Total Immersion” schools in the traditional
sense such as the Welsh medium school model or the French Canadian
immersion model. Kura Kaupapa Māori Schools involve much more
than total Immersion schooling within mother tongue language; they also
operate within a specific cultural framework and mediate a particular
social and economic context. Kura Kaupapa Māori Schools are uniquely
New Zealand and lead the rest of the world in many aspects related to
Immersion type education. (G. H. Smith, 1992, p. 16)
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