Ki te hoe : journeying towards indigenising the early childhood curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Abstract

This thesis explores the potentiality of the first bicultural curriculum for the early childhood education (ECE) sector in Aotearoa New Zealand and the world to bring about curriulum change. Known colloquially as Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education (1996a), the document gained national and international attention for its focus on honouring indigeneity within a mandated curriculum. The curriculum was introduced first in draft form in 1993, followed by the final version in 1996. While there was widespread acceptance of Te Whāriki, including its bicultural intent, within the ECE sector, this did not translate into the professional practice of many teachers. Twelve years after the launch of Te Whāriki, the Education Review Office published a highly concerning research report titled Māori Children in Early Childhood: Pilot Study (Education Review Office (ERO), 2008). The research found that many ECE teachers were not confident in te reo me ngā tikanga Māori (the Māori language and cultural protocols) and were struggling to integrate them into their daily practice. Thus, teachers’ ability to practise biculturally was significantly compromised. Five years on from their 2008 report, ERO published Working with Te Whāriki’ (ERO, 2013). This report put the ECE sector on notice because it showed that Te Whāriki was not well understood and implemented as a bicultural curriculum. In addition, ERO stated that further research was needed in this area – hence the impetus for the study outlined in this thesis.

In designing this study, I questionned how it was, that after 17 years since the publication of Te Whāriki, a significant proportion of teachers did not have the necessary professional knowledge and skills that allowed them to use te reo Māori and articulate tikanga Māori within their daily teaching roles and responsibilities and therefore implement a bicultural curriculum. When conducting this study, I adopted a view of methodology as a plan of action that includes the cultural lens of the researcher, her views of the world, and the nature of knowledge. I consequently used Kaupapa Māori research principles together with mixed method research approaches and in so doing captured the strengths of two distinct worldviews within my collected data and the findings emerging from it. My research articipants were second-year initial teacher education kaiako, qualified kaiako upgrading their teacher qualification, teacher education lecturers, and tangata whenua involved across the early childhood profession. I sought to ascertain (among other matters) if the kaiako participants’ understanding of bicultural curriculum gained from their teacher education qualification sufficiently prepared them to carry forward the bicultual imperative of Te Whāriki in their ECE settings.

This thesis argues that the bicultural intent of Te Whāriki has been compromised in four ways. First, the term ‘bicultural curriculum’ is not well understood by prospective and practising teachers because the curriculum document lacks sufficient guidance in this area. Second is the confusion over which version of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (te reo Māori-language version and the Treaty of Waitangi (the English-language version) forms the basis of bicultual curriculum in this country. Third, the demographic nature of the ECE workforce, which is predominantly Pākehā and monolingual, is significantly challenged in learning te ao Māori. Fourth, because the majority of tamariki Māori participate in mainstream ECE services that offer weak interpretations of bicultural curriculum, they are not given opportunties to learn as Māori.

This thesis highlights the difficulty of structural change, that is, the shift from a monolingual, monocultural to a bilingual, bicultural early childhood sector. Te Whāriki as a guiding document is not sufficiently robust to support change. However, as the collected data makes clear, teacher education is also complicit in the slow pace of change. Recent policy change by the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand in relation to approval requirements for teacher education programmes means that all teachers, including newly qualified teachers, must now meet firmer te reo Māori competency levels, a development that may lead to a stronger articulation of bicultural curriculum. Whether this advance does occur will be the province of ongoing research.