Activating whānau (extended family) processes within a community and school literacy partnership

Abstract

"The paper describes the positive outcomes of a home and school literacy partnership in one mainstream primary school where the principal and the large majority of students, teachers, and whānau belong to one Māori hapū (sub-tribe), Ngāti Whakaue. Participating students were identified by teachers as experiencing difficulties with reading and writing. They were assigned randomly to one of two conditions: (1) participating in their school’s regular reading programme (school group) or (2) participating also in the home tutored reading and writing programme (home and school group).

Students in the home and school group improved their reading and writing outcomes over and above the outcomes achieved by students participating only in the regular school programme. There were two key reasons for the success of this partnership. The first was parents and whānau members successful implementation of both a Māori language reading tutoring programme, Tatari, Tautoko Tauawhi, and the two components of the writing programme, Tuhi Atu Tui Mai and Whakaputa Whakaaro. The second was the professional educational and cultural expertise of the home and school liaison worker, Hiro. Because of her language and cultural expertise and her mana (acknowledged authority and standing), Hiro was able to engage Māori parents and whānau actively in the home and school project. The co-constructed narrative between Hiro and Mere (the second author) provided a salient context for understanding the power of culturally preferred pedagogy in establishing effective home and school partnerships."