Exploring Pacific picturebooks to support the language, culture and identity of Pasifika children. A summer scholar’s perspective

Abstract

Populations of Pacific People in Aotearoa New Zealand are growing, and many education documents recognise the need to support the language, culture and identity of children from these communities in educational settings. In this article we explore the potental of picturebooks to support principles from Te Whāriki and Tapasā. Specifically we report on the findings of a Summer Scholarship research project at The University of Waikato where a Summer Scholar (Cushla Foe) identified 90 picturebooks featuring Pacific Peoples published since 2013. We present content analysis of one picturebook in terms of how Samoan language and identity are reflected in the text and illustration, and how this links to principles and Turu competencies in Te Whāriki (MoE, 2017) and Tapasā (MoE, 2018).