Whakapapa: Culturally valid assessment in early childhood

Abstract

E kore au e ngaro; he kakano i ruiruia mai i Rangiatea. I will never be lost; the seed was sown in Rangiatea. --traditional proverb Introduction This article illustrates how traditional forms of knowing, such as whakapapa, can provide culturally valid frames for assessment within contemporary early childhood contexts. I discuss work completed for my doctoral thesis (Rameka, 2012), which studied the progress of early childhood centres and kohanga reo towards the development of kaupapa early childhood assessment understandings, approaches and framings. The doctoral research was firmly positioned within a kaupapa research paradigm. This paradigm has been described as an attempt to retrieve space for voices and perspectives (Tolich, 2001, p. 40). Basic to the research, therefore, was the articulation of values, understandings and epistemologies in relation to early childhood teaching, learning and assessment theory and practice. The research questions included the following. * What is assessment in a kaupapa early childhood setting? * What does kaupapa assessment look like? * Why is kaupapa assessment important? Why should we do it? The frameworks developed as a result of my doctoral thesis were also grounded in kaupapa theory. This theory can be regarded as a local version of critical theory, which holds that the social context is shaped by the conflict between the powerless and the powerful, the excluded and the included. Transformation is required to expose, confront and challenge these disparities, injustices and inequalities. Kaupapa refers to a Maori philosophical approach to a field of practice or theory that focuses on challenging well-established Western ideas about (Eketone, 2008, p. 1). The experience is central to the kaupapa theoretical base, which accepts and processes as reality and uses them within a philosophical framework. It is important to understand that kaupapa does not compel the rejection of Western theory and practice: is not a matter of using either one or the other. Rather, kaupapa requires the repositioning or recentering of theory, knowledge and world views. Smith (1999, p. 39) states it is about reconciling and reprioritising what is really important about the past with what is important about the present. The initial phase of my doctoral research--from 2003 to 2005--involved monthly meetings of 1-2 hours' duration with a kohanga reo and two bilingual early childhood services. Between 10 and 30 meetings were held, depending on the service. These meetings focused on three areas. The first was to capture each service's journey, including: * successes and achievements * what had happened over the month * any issues that may have arisen * what was supporting or inhibiting work * problems * emerging assessment and kaupapa understandings. Secondly, the meetings were a forum for collaboratively critiquing, challenging, interpreting, reinterpreting, exploring, making sense of and further representing thinking on teaching, learning and assessment. Thirdly, the meetings were a platform to plan what might be worked on in the upcoming month. Notes were taken of discussions and emergent thinking (Research Notes). From 2003 to 2005 the doctoral research ran concurrently with the development of Te Whatu Pokeka: Kaupapa Assessment for Learning Early Childhood Exemplars (Ministry of Education, 2009), a professional support resource. The second phase of the research--from 2006 to 2008--entailed one or two follow-up meetings a year being held with services, from three to six meetings in total. These meetings focused on two areas. First, we discussed and highlighted issues related to each service's journey; their thoughts about the journey; what had been achieved; how and why; outcomes of the work; and how this had impacted on thinking. …