Relational Responsive Pedagogy, Teachers and Māori students Listening and Learning from each other

Abstract

This thesis examines the culturally responsive and relational pedagogical practices of a group of teachers in one Phase four Te Kotahitanga school. It then considers the influences of these pedagogies on four Māori students. The thesis begins by seeking to understand the two different worldviews in Aotearoa/New Zealand (a Western worldview and a Māori worldview) and some of the discourses that have emerged in the shared Māori and colonial history of this country. It examines kaupapa Māori as both a movement of resistance to the dominant Western worldview that came with colonisation; and a movement of revitalisation to Māori ways of knowing and understanding the world that began to be lost at the same time. It focuses on Te Kotahitanga as a kaupapa Māori response in secondary schools. The collaborative storying of teachers and Māori students in a Te Kotahitanga school alongside their data of practice and achievement are discussed and examined. Shifts across three levels of the school are identified and understood alongside the Te Kotahitanga professional development cycle. These understandings are discussed in relation to Māori metaphors. The overall implications of Māori metaphors in relation to the research questions are then considered. This thesis concludes with considerations and implications for others in addressing the on-going educational disparities of Māori students in mainstream educational settings in New Zealand.