Incorporating indigenous values into teacher professional learning and development for culturally responsive classroom management.

Abstract

This thesis sought to investigate and explore shifts in teacher practice when culturally diverse teachers (Māori and non-Māori) work towards becoming culturally responsive classroom managers. It is an inquiry into the impact of the Professional Learning and Development (PLD) on teachers‘ beliefs, values and classroom practices through the implementation of the pedagogical framework; Mana ki te Mana. This framework proposes that mana (authority with integrity) has the potential to be a significant motivational factor in the learning and teaching context. A fundamental principle of Mana ki te Mana is supporting teacher practice to become more inclusive, moving away from a functional/deficit view of behaviour to a sociocultural/agentic lens.

The study occurs in the context of a unique whole-school behaviour intervention and intensive professional learning and development. From 2014 to 2016, the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) funded Huakina Mai (‗opening doorways‘), an Indigenous whole-school behaviour intervention pilot, in three primary schools in Aotearoa NZ. This initiative aims to improve teachers‘ culturally responsive classroom management (CRCM) and ultimately shift achievement outcomes for Māori students through targeted professional learning and systemic school change. This doctoral research presents the findings from the study of one particular element of the Huakina Mai pilot project: the impact of the PLD on teachers‘ classroom practices over the period of one year (2014–2015) of intensive PLD at three unique school settings.

This thesis reports the findings of three sets of data collection intervals from three schools in the South Island of Aotearoa NZ (Mānuka, Willow and Nikau) that participated in the study. Data was collected at three intervals over one year (Fullan, 2001). Case study and grounded theory methodologies were utilised in conjunction with kaupapa Māori Theory. Interviews and observations were carried out in 2014-2015. The interview questions prompted the participants to reflect on their personal and professional beliefs, values and classroom practices in relation to the pedagogical framework Mana ki te Mana. The findings make particular reference to self-reported changes in teacher practice demonstrated in teacher classroom management approaches and the use of language evidenced in qualitative teacher interviews and observation data.

Overall, the findings indicate that all of the participants experienced some improvements in their CRCM practices and gained new knowledge through Mana ki te Mana. Some participants reported transformational shifts in their practice, and these were linked to contextual differences between the case study sites. Rapid changes occurred when teachers‘ practice was deprivatised and when communities of learning emerged and acted as platforms for teachers to try out new practices in a supported context. Supported settings allowed for critical conversations and dialogues within culturally safe environments and mutually caring relationships to form and grow. Relationships between staff members emerged as being integral to managing the change process, reducing stress, increasing mentoring and leadership and in building confidence as teachers addressed unconscious and often confronting practices. The organisation leadership of the school context was vital in supporting practitioners to participate in continuous learning throughout the professional learning and development. These contexts created strong leadership direction through the Māori strategic priorities, shared vision, goals and organisational practices that embodied a collective responsibility for te ao Māori worldview learning and whole school change.

This study highlighted that shifts in teachers CRCM practices occur when there are close links between the theory and practice. That is, when teachers have strategies, resources, mentoring/coaching, and access to literature to support them to implement new approaches while becoming critically reflective and aware of their own changes in their thinking, theorising and practice. In particular, the findings indicate that four key constructs emerge as part of the change process. These constructs provide the foundation for the emerging practice based framework that proposes that changes in classroom management (moving from Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and other Behaviour Management (BM) approaches to Māori relationship- based approaches) does not happen in isolation from key ontological (shifts in the critical beliefs that shape individuals sense of unique identity), epistemological and pedagogical processes within principal frameworks that govern teaching and learning practice.