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

However, what is occurring in early childhood here in Aotearoa New
Zealand is different again. Here we are attempting to incorporate minority
bicultural practices into mainstream education. In a way, just as Aotearoa New
Zealand leads the rest of the world by providing Kura Kaupapa Māori schools, so
too is it a leader in incorporating indigenous culture within mainstream early
childhood education.
Many overseas studies were affirming of indigenous ethnicity and sought
ways through which cultural knowledge and skills of participants could be
enhanced (Ball & Pence, 2001; Moore & Hennessy, 2006; O'Laoire, 1996;
Reynolds, 1998). These programmes thus offered strategies which could be useful
for developing Tiriti-based curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand. One successful
Canadian bicultural/bilingual programme was established by Ball and Pence (2001).
This involved seven collaborative partnership programmes between rural
indigenous communities and the University of Victoria. The early childhood
teacher education programmes involved a “constructivist model of curriculum
design and teaching by Elders” (Ball & Pence, 2001, p. 2). The important dimension
of this programme was not so much the curriculum design and teaching, but was
instead the fact that Elders were involved in sharing their prior experience and
knowledge in a collaborative manner. Furthermore, their teaching was driven by
and honoured traditional approaches to pedagogy. What emerges is an
understanding of the importance of involving whānau Māori in implementing Te
Whāriki.
What was notable about the Canadian First Nations Partnership Programs
with Ball and Pence (2001) was that completion rates almost doubled. The
researchers attributed these improved completion rates to the involvement of Elders
in “community-based delivery that enabled community inclusion in all phases of
program planning, delivery, and refinement” (Ball & Pence, 2001, p. 26). As well,
they noted that reciprocal partnership, cultural and community input into the
curriculum and the students‟ involvement in professional development enabled
success.
Similarities can be drawn with the early childhood teacher education
programme offered at Waiariki Institute of Technology, Rotorua, Aotearoa New
Zealand. There staffing is mainly provided by tangata whenua which means that
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