Building, maintaining, and using responsive and respectful partnerships

Suggested questions for an inquiry about the Māori students in our school

• What does the term ‘partnership’ mean to us?
• What do we think a culturally responsive and mutually respectful partnership between our school and its families/whānau and iwi would look like?
• What is the nature of our current partnership with our families/whānau and iwi? What does it look like? Do we take into consideration the fact that many families/whānau and iwi come from a cultural context that differs significantly from that of many of our teachers? Do we acknowledge this difference in our relationships?
• Do we believe that families/whānau and iwi feel welcome and comfortable coming into our school? Do we think that they feel comfortable working with teachers and students at our school? How do we know? What do we do to make them feel welcome and comfortable?
• Do our families/whānau and iwi have a real voice in our school decision-making? Do we consult with them sufficiently on processes that affect their tamariki?
• Do we know what our families/whānau and iwi are really thinking about our school and the schooling of their tamariki?
• Do we do enough to encourage families/whānau and iwi to come into our school and work with their tamariki? Do we ensure that they interact with their tamariki on learning matters outside school? Could we do more?
• Who do we believe represents community expertise in our community? Who are the people who could contribute to learning in our school, in any way? What expertise do we believe that these people could bring to learning at our school?
• Do we look for opportunities to work closely with these people? Do they come into in our school? How do we encourage them to work with our students? How do we ensure their ongoing participation in teaching and learning at our school?
• Do we believe that how we form and maintain a school-family-whānau-iwi partnership contributes to enhanced student engagement and achievement levels? In what ways?

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