Enacting a whakawhanaungatanga approach in early childhood education

Abstract

The decline in Maori in children's enrolment in kohanga reo and the corresponding increase in the proportion of Maori children attending education and care centres (Ministry of Education, 2004) has major implications for both the majority of Maori children who are participating in early childhood education (ECE) and care settings other than kohanga reo, and the providers of these services. Surveys of Maori families have indicated that even those parents who send their children to conventional early childhood centres and schools, rather than to kohanga reo and kura kaupapa, still want their children to learn their language and expect that this aspiration will be supported within regular educational provision (AGB/McNair, 1992; Durie, 2003; Else, 1997; Te Puni Kokiri/Ministry of Maori Development, 1998a,b). However, previous research (Ritchie, 2002) has identified that mainstream educators and teacher educators lack confidence and competence in delivering education programmes that are bicultural in content and process in line with the expectations of Te Whariki and its commitments derived from Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ensuing outcomes for Maori are highlighted in Rau (2002), which shows that impacting tensions for tamariki and whanau are evident when culture is not being validated. This article reports findings from a recent Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) project, which explored strategies for encouraging the participation of whanau Maori within ECE settings and implementing commitments derived from Te Tiriti o Waitangi as expressed in the bicultural early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki (Ministry of Education, 1996b), through the delivery of Tiriti-based programmes in early childhood settings other than kohanga reo in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our TLRI project aimed to: * articulate how early childhood educators in settings other than kohanga reo encourage whanau Maori to participate in ECE; and * identify strategies by which early childhood educators are implementing their understandings of the Tiriti-based commitments in Te Whariki by delivering Tiriti-based programmes. Our project supported an approach termed whakawhanaungatanga (Ritchie, 2001, 2002, 2003), which focused on educators putting into practice their professional responsibility to build relationships with Maori families within early childhood centres and communities. Central to this relationship building is re-centring the position of Maori ways of knowing, being, and doing (Rau, 2002; Rau & Ritchie, 2005). Whakawhanaungatanga approaches are in harmony with Te Whariki's principle of Whanau Tangata-Family and Community that [t]he wider world of the family and community is part of the early childhood curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1996b, p. 14), and with the of Mana Whenua--Belonging (pp. 14-15). In the section Nga Taumata Whakahirahira, Te Whariki states that one of the key values within Te Ao Maori is that children are supported in knowing whanaungatanga: Kotetahi o ngq tino uara o to ao Maori kia mohio ngq mokopuna ki to whanaungatanga (p. 33). Furthermore, [t]he strand of Belonging builds opportunities for social interaction with adults and other children and respects the achievements and aspirations of the child's family and community. Through these links, families and the community are empowered (p. 54), [a]ppropriate connections with iwi and hapu [are] established (p. 55), and educators demonstrate support for tikanga Maori and to reo Maori. Research design and methodology Collaboration was central to our project's conception and implementation. The research design drew upon both kaupapa Maori methodologies (Bishop, 1996; Bishop & Glynn, 1999; G. H. Smith, 1997; L. T. Smith, 1999) and a collaborative, narrative Western paradigm (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Clandinin & Huber, 2002; Hauser, 1995; Richardson, 1997; Schulz, Schroeder, & Brody, 1997; Swadener & Marsh, 1995). …