Creating culturally safe schools for Māori students

The article published in the AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL of INDIGENOUS EDUCATION, (volume 36, 2007), offers another framework for creating a Māori perspective on classroom practices. Angus Macfarlane, Ted Glynn, Tom Cavanagh, and Sonja Bateman identify five concepts around which teachers can think about ways to change their teaching and their classroom relationships. They also show how these concepts relate to evidence from traditional constructivist and personalised pedagogies that have helped improve students’ experiences of learning and their social and academic outcomes. They advocate for improving the capacity of teachers and students to solve problems collaboratively and non-violently. This has implications for the whole school culture and its systems as well. Teachers cannot work in isolation in their classrooms.

Questions / Things to think about

1. What does your school need to think about to ensure your Māori students feel culturally safe in your school? What do your teachers think? What do your students think?
2. What initiatives are happening in your school that will help create a culturally safe school for your Māori students? What is your data showing about what difference these initiatives are making?
3. In what ways can your school community contribute to identifying, supporting, and sustaining this environment at your school?