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

Inuktitut language. Thus, the curriculum was delivered in both Inuktitut and
English.
If there were sufficient mainstream early childhood teachers in Aotearoa
New Zealand who were fluent in te reo Māori, this could be a strategy to explore.
That notwithstanding, this study investigated how early childhood educators were
implementing an indigenous programme in mainstream centres for all children
regardless of their ethnicity.
Indeed, overseas investigators, like their Aotearoa New Zealand
counterparts, have noted that achieving success is challenging for indigenous
groups, especially within mainstream settings. Witt investigated achievement rates
for indigenous peoples in Canada. He suggested “that bicultural education,
interpreted as such merely on the basis that contents of both cultures are taught,
will still fail First Nation students as long as structures and methodologies are
based on mainstream educational concepts” (2003, pp. 1610-1611). Witt further
believed that without their own cultural structures the bicultural education of First
Nations may not be successful. Education based upon majority cultural practices,
therefore, is not conducive to fostering bicultural curriculum. He states that it is
necessary to adjust:
…the cultural basis of education to the culture of the learner if bicultural
education is to be successful. Methodology of teaching and the structure
of the educational institution will have as much impact on what is learned
as the contents taught in this institution. As long as bicultural education
for First Nation children is based on mainstream concepts this will be a
problem. (Witt, 2003, p. 1611)
Similarly in Aotearoa New Zealand, Bishop (2008) asserts that
educational programmes which focus on the majority will not make much
difference for Māori. Moreover, approaches based on Māori ways of learning
could make a difference for all students. It is, therefore, extremely important for
teacher educators that when preparing students that not only is content knowledge
provided, but the ways in which the content is delivered is also in keeping with
Māori tikanga. The implication is that teacher educators also need to be taught and
to understand the same tikanga.
In summary, this chapter argues that criteria for implementing an effective
bicultural programme can be proposed and moreover, these can and should inform
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