Kohanga Reo Research Articles

Kanhgág Vĩ Mré Ẽg Jykre Pẽ Jagfe - the Kaingang language and culture nest

Nesse artigo apresentamos o projeto Kanhgág vĩ mré ẽg jykre pẽ jagfe - Ninho de língua e cultura Kaingang (cf. NASCIMENTO et al., 2017), desenvolvido na Terra Indígena Nonoai/RS. Inspirado no modelo de educação infantil do povo Māori da Nova Zelândia, conhecido como Kohanga Reo Māori “ninho de língua Māori”, o projeto visa a transmissão intergeracional da língua indígena através de métodos de imersão total. Apresentaremos um relato do processo de implementação do projeto e discutiremos questões fundamentais para o processo de revitalização das línguas indígenas brasileiras a partir dos modelos de revitalização que tem como foco a transmissão intergeracional.

Resistance in Māori education: A critique of kura kaupapa Māori

Within the past decade, Maori education has undergone an immense transformation. For the first time since the establishment of the Native Schools in 1867, Te Reo me ana tikanga now pervades the halls of state supported institutions using alternate methods of pedagogy. These places now prepare children for the same positions in the work-force that other children in mainstream will be competing for. With the emergence of Te Kohanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Maori, a paradigm was established that challenged, not only the ideological impediments that were embedded within both the curriculum and its delivery, but also the hegemonic influences which penetrated the habits, customs and beliefs that socialised Maori into an acceptance of the status quo

Maori education and principles of self-determination in the Twenty-first Century

This paper argues that self-determination to the greatest extent possible is a legitimate aspiration for Maori people. It is argued that in education this requires a philosophical and policy response more focused on Maori autonomy than can be provided within the bicultural framework that has lately informed Maori relationships with other actors in the education arena. The paper considers the place of kohanga reo, kura kaupapa Maori and wananga in relation to broader Maori aspirations for self-determination and discusses proposals that these aspirations be furthered through the establishment of a Maori Education Authority. It is also argued that opportunities for self-determination in New Zealand are compromised by the government's unwillingness to alter a tightly controlled centralised education market to provide genuine Maori autonomy over what type of education might be available and to what end.

PlaycentreおよびKohanga Reoにおける異文化理解教育 : 文部科学省科学研究費補助金による異文化間教育学的共同研究のためのメモ

PlaycentreおよびKohanga Reoにおける異文化理解教育 : 文部科学省科学研究費補助金による異文化間教育学的共同研究のためのメモ

The indigenous connection/Maori—aotearoa (NZ) context

BackgroundOn average, six Maori children are admitted to hospital every day for an unintentional injury. The main goal of Tamariki Haumaru ki Aotearoa (Safekids NZ) is to reduce the incidence...

Whakapapa: Culturally valid assessment in early childhood

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. …

The interview: Jane Ritchie

This is the first in a series of interviews with researchers whose work has made a difference in the area of early years education. Sarah Boyd interviews University of Waikato Emeritus Professor Jane Ritchie. Jane Ritchie recalls driving around in a van collecting children from their homes to go to the early childhood center she ran as part of a postdoctoral research project in the 1970s. The aim was to try to meet the particular needs of Maori children, as well as to research different teaching methods and curriculum approaches. They'd had a grant to buy the van and it proved essential. Sometimes the child would be hustled out the door by their parents almost in their pajamas, she says. Books were central to the project: each child was given a book bag and books to take home. Almost none went missing, and when the children went on to school, teachers reported they made a beeline for the book corner. At the time, Jane was on a fellowship with the newly established Centre for Maori Studies and Research at the University of Waikato, after a 14-year period as a full-time mother. She documented the work in the books Chance to be Equal (1978) and Tamariki Maori (1977). Though the project was not duplicated elsewhere it was influential, with former Secretary of Maori Affairs Kara Puketapu acknowledging its role in his thinking about the development of the kohanga reo movement. It is an early example of the many ways in which Jane Ritchie has been a powerful advocate for children and young people throughout her life. Her background and expertise are in psychology rather than education, but across the wide range of work she has been involved in, the concerns of women and children have always been central. The work of her and her late husband James Ritchie has had a lasting impact. Strong family influences are woven through Jane Ritchie's work. Her father, Ernest Beaglehole, was New Zealand's first professor of psychology. His early interest was anthropology and with his wife Pearl and later his family in tow, he carried out fieldwork with Hopi Indians in Arizona, fieldwork in Hawaii, Tonga and the Cook Islands and, in the 1940s, a study of a Maori community in Otaki. In a presentation in 1990, Jane said: My parents worked together, so they provided models of an anthropological couple, sharing academic goals, a pattern I was later to repeat with my own husband. From my early experience in Otaki, I learned about the existence of another culture, an experience I would not have obtained living in Karori, a white middle class suburb in Wellington. My mother was a very outspoken and forthright woman, someone who had opinions and whose opinions were respected by my father. Jane began a degree at Victoria University intending to major in history but after her first lecture in psychology, she knew she'd found her subject. Some of her earliest fieldwork was in Murupara alongside James Ritchie, whom she went on to marry in 1956. The focus of the Murupara research was the first 5 years of life, and she interviewed mothers of preschool children about their experiences, hopes and expectations: We used to sit on the riverbank and chat--we didn't tape anything. That work led to her PhD topic, which focused on Maori women and probed the differences in lifestyle between those who were still living in more traditional communities and those who were in more scattered, urban settings. …

Learning to learn an additional language: a personal perspective

The purpose of this article is to describe the New Zealand experience of second language acquisition as it applies to learning the Maori language and also to new immigrants learning English. The article describes the te kohanga reo movement and also outlines the government policy as it relates to the learning of English as an additional language in New Zealand schools.

Grab that kite! Teaching mathematics in te reo Māori

Abstract This article uses the story of Whakatauihuihu to help describe how the teaching of mathematics in to reo Maori (the Maori language) has developed. It begins by recounting the enthusiasm of the teachers who worked on the development of the mathematics vocabulary in the 1980s, and then moves on to show how the teaching of mathematics in to reo Maori is no longer seen as an innovation that will solve all problems for Maori students. Instead, like a teenager going through the initial phase of self-reflection, teachers are now considering what teaching practices can support students and how these practices can be developed. The article concludes by looking at recent research carried out in Te Kura o to Koutu (Te Koutu School). Long ago, well before our ancestors arrived herein Aotearoa, while they were still living in Hawaiki, there was a woman named Apakura. To her surprise she miscarried, without even knowing that she was pregnant. She gathered up the clot of blood and gristle, wrapping it in her flax kilt. She walked down to the water's edge, and after singing her lament Apakura threw the bundle into the ocean waves. The tide carried the bundle out to sea, where it slowly sank below the surface. As it dropped down to the sea floor, blood seeped through the sodden kilt. The kilt unravelled and bits of gristle were carried away by the current. The bundle and its red plume came to the notice of Rongotakawhiu, a denizen of the deep. He opened the kilt and realised that the disintegrating clot was an undeveloped baby. Chanting spells he collected what he could from the ocean current in order to reassemble the baby. Unfortunately, some blood and gristle had been lost and so he formed the baby, a boy, with no genitals, deciding that all the other parts were more necessary for survival. The baby was named Whakatauihuihu by his adoptive father, and Rongotakawhiu took it upon himself to teach the young child all that he knew, both practical and magical. He also gave Whakatauihuihu a kite, which was to prove his favourite pastime. Introduction: a brief history It has always been possible to describe and discuss traditional ethno-mathematical practices, such as navigating and weaving, using to reo Maori, and since the 19th century the Maori language has also been used to discuss Western mathematical ideas (Barton, Fairhall, & Trinick, 1995). However, during the 20th century active discouragement of its use in all aspects of New Zealand life resulted in to reo Mdori no longer being used in educational settings. The situation changed in the 1980s with the movement for the revival of to reo Maori, focusing on kohanga reo (Maori immersion preschools) and kura kaupapa Maori (Maori immersion primary schools). Teaching mathematics in to reo Maori, like the birth of Whakatauihuihu, was not a simple process. The inspiration for the use of to reo Maori to teach mathematics came from teachers' strong belief that the Maori language could be used in all circumstances. However, it was soon recognised that teachers needed to be proficient in to reo Maori as well as being competent, knowledgable teachers of mathematics. In the 1980s the most pressing need for teachers of mathematics in kura kaupapa Maori--which by this time also included wharekura (secondary programmes), including those in secondary school bilingual units--was for the development of a specialised mathematical vocabulary. Transliterations of expressions and terms from English into Maori were of limited value because they neither expressed the mathematical concept nor had appropriate connotations that came with using a term derived from cultural experiences. However, sometimes the needs of Western mathematics overcame the desire to develop a culturally appropriate mathematical lexicon. For example, in traditional to reo Maori, numerical prefixes are context specific and/or determined by a person's relationship with the objects that are being quantified. …

LEARNING DISPOSITIONS and KEY COMPETENCIES: a new curriculum continuity across the sectors?

This year, 2006, marks an exciting new curriculum development in Aotearoa New Zealand that will affect the early childhood sector as well as primary and secondary schools. Curriculum reform has resulted in proposed changes the school curriculum that will go out schools for discussion during this year. One of these changes is replace the essential skills with five key competencies that parallel the five strands of the early childhood curriculum in Te Whariki (Ministry of Education, 1996). In this article I begin with a discussion of dispositions, briefly introduce the key competencies, and then consider three ways in which a new continuity might be forged between early childhood and primary school curricula when the proposed key competencies are put into place. Learning dispositions and Te Whariki During early consultations for the development of Te Whariki, key contributors were the Maori advisory group contracted by the Te Kohanga Reo Trust and led by Tilly and Tamati Reedy. They laid down a challenge for the curriculum: hat it should be about mana, which they set out in five realms--mana whenua, mana atua, mana aoturoa, mana reo, and mana tangata. Tilly Reedy (1995/2003) commented that those aims would ensure that the learner is empowered in every possible (p. 68). This concept provided an initial frame for Te Whariki, and a key value for the early childhood curriculum. One of the curriculum principles in English was a version of the Maori whakamana: empowerment. text reads: The early childhood curriculum empowers the child learn and grow. It includes the annotation that early childhood services will assist children and their families to access the resources necessary enable them direct their own (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 40). In English, the parallel curriculum (not a translation) became: Belonging, Well-being, Exploration, Communication, and Contribution. Te Whariki then included the following commentary about learning associated with those five strands, emphasising outcomes as and learning dispositions: In early childhood, holistic, active and the total process of are emphasised. Knowledge, skills, and attitudes are closely linked. These three aspects combine together form a child's 'working theory' and help the child develop dispositions that encourage learning. In early childhood, children are developing more elaborate and useful working theories about themselves and about the people, places and things in their lives ... second way in which knowledge, skills, and attitudes combine is as dispositions-'habits of mind' or 'patterns of learning'. (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 44) There is a wide range of ideas about dispositions, and in my view it is worthwhile keep returning the notion that a curriculum will assist children and their families access the resources they need direct their own lives. Ron Ritchhart (2002), writing about research in schools, describes dispositions as patterns of behaviour, thinking, and interaction (p. 9). He maintains that dispositions turn abilities into action, and says that: [I]ntelligent performance is not just an exercise of ability. It is more dispositional in nature in that we must activate our abilities and set them into motion. (p. 18) In a research project that followed on from the development of Te Whariki, five dispositions-in-action were set out as the peaks of five icebergs, aligned the strands of Te Whariki and included in assessment formats called Learning Stories (Carr, 1998a, b, 2001). These were: taking an interest; being involved; persisting with difficulty; expressing an idea or feeling; and taking responsibility. Dispositions--an example following story may illustrate these dispositions. …

Enacting a whakawhanaungatanga approach in early childhood education

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). …

Redefining professionalism in early childhood practice: a ground-up approach. Views from teachers in care and education settings

As a sector, childhood in Aotearoa New Zealand continues to experience significant changes. Many of the current changes are a result of the Government's 10-year strategic plan for childhood launched in September 2002: Pathways to the Future. Nga Huarahi Arataki. The strategic plan is premised on the notion that professionally-trained childhood teachers are essential to ensuring a quality childhood sector. A major policy initiative of the strategic plan is that all childhood staff in regulated childhood teacher-led services must be registered teachers holding a 3-year diploma qualification by 2012, or at least 70 percent of regulated staff must be registered teachers and the remainder studying for a qualification approved by the New Zealand Teachers Council. There are also changes in funding systems, in the relationship between various childhood services and government agencies, and in the way that the Ministry of Education operates alongside the community to provide childhood services. These changes within the policy context mirror ongoing changes within the professional-industrial and scholarly contexts of childhood education. Within the professional-industrial context, significant developments over the last two decades have acted to promote a discourse of professionalism. These developments include: the introduction of 3-year integrated training for kindergarten and childcare staff parallel to 3-year training for primary teachers; the development of an Early Childhood Code of Ethics; the development of degree-level teaching qualifications; burgeoning research activities; and, more recently, the phasing in of pay parity for kindergarten teachers from 1 July 2002. Within the scholarly context, childhood is increasingly described as a multidisciplinary one that draws on knowledge from diverse areas (e.g., Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2001). Within this context, discussions of what it means to be an childhood professional include traditional definitions of professionalism, which focus on training and qualifications as necessary components of professional practice (e.g., Katz, 1985), as well as notions about implementing co-operative forms of centre management and co-operating with other professional agencies on a regular basis (e.g., Oberhuemer, 2000). The latter are more in line with a community-of-learning approach to professional practice. There is also consensus that the meaning of in this diverse sector cannot be taken for granted (Adams, 2005; Bruce, 2000; Cherrington & Dalli, 2001; Cooper, 1993; Dalli, 1993; Dalli, 2003a, 2003b). For example, problems of definition arise from the range of terms used within and across countries to refer to the work of practitioners, and from the fact that, in many contexts, there is still a split in the way early years services are organised around education and care as distinct paradigms. Issues of local politics and policies and the social and historical position of the childhood sector within different contexts also contribute to the complexities involved in defining this notion (e.g., Calder, 2005). In New Zealand, scholarly debates about defining professionalism have been about ways of continuing to value the contribution of adults like mothers or other home adults, who may undertake training and work alongside children from their family, or whanau in services like playcentres or in the indigenous kohanga reo. Nga kohanga reo do not see themselves as simply a service for children, but as a service for the whole whanau (extended family) and iwi (broader tribal community) that allows participation in a total immersion to reo and tikanga Ma- on environment. There are debates about defining optimal distance from a child who is related to a centre adult, and identifying appropriate forms of autonomy in a collaborative service with parents and community (Dalli, 1993). …

Learning Dispositions and Key Competencies: a new curriculum continuity across the sectors?

This year, 2006, marks an exciting new curriculum development in Aotearoa New Zealand that will affect the early childhood sector as well as primary and secondary schools. Curriculum reform has resulted in proposed changes the school curriculum that will go out schools for discussion during this year. One of these changes is replace the essential skills with five key competencies that parallel the five strands of the early childhood curriculum in Te Whariki (Ministry of Education, 1996). In this article I begin with a discussion of dispositions, briefly introduce the key competencies, and then consider three ways in which a new continuity might be forged between early childhood and primary school curricula when the proposed key competencies are put into place. Learning dispositions and Te Whariki During early consultations for the development of Te Whariki, key contributors were the Maori advisory group contracted by the Te Kohanga Reo Trust and led by Tilly and Tamati Reedy. They laid down a challenge for the curriculum: hat it should be about mana, which they set out in five realms--mana whenua, mana atua, mana aoturoa, mana reo, and mana tangata. Tilly Reedy (1995/2003) commented that those aims would ensure that the learner is empowered in every possible (p. 68). This concept provided an initial frame for Te Whariki, and a key value for the early childhood curriculum. One of the curriculum principles in English was a version of the Maori whakamana: empowerment. text reads: The early childhood curriculum empowers the child learn and grow. It includes the annotation that early childhood services will assist children and their families to access the resources necessary enable them direct their own (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 40). In English, the parallel curriculum (not a translation) became: Belonging, Well-being, Exploration, Communication, and Contribution. Te Whariki then included the following commentary about learning associated with those five strands, emphasising outcomes as and learning dispositions: In early childhood, holistic, active and the total process of are emphasised. Knowledge, skills, and attitudes are closely linked. These three aspects combine together form a child's 'working theory' and help the child develop dispositions that encourage learning. In early childhood, children are developing more elaborate and useful working theories about themselves and about the people, places and things in their lives ... second way in which knowledge, skills, and attitudes combine is as dispositions-'habits of mind' or 'patterns of learning'. (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 44) There is a wide range of ideas about dispositions, and in my view it is worthwhile keep returning the notion that a curriculum will assist children and their families access the resources they need direct their own lives. Ron Ritchhart (2002), writing about research in schools, describes dispositions as patterns of behaviour, thinking, and interaction (p. 9). He maintains that dispositions turn abilities into action, and says that: [I]ntelligent performance is not just an exercise of ability. It is more dispositional in nature in that we must activate our abilities and set them into motion. (p. 18) In a research project that followed on from the development of Te Whariki, five dispositions-in-action were set out as the peaks of five icebergs, aligned the strands of Te Whariki and included in assessment formats called Learning Stories (Carr, 1998a, b, 2001). These were: taking an interest; being involved; persisting with difficulty; expressing an idea or feeling; and taking responsibility. Dispositions--an example following story may illustrate these dispositions. …

Looking back, looking forward: three decades of early childhood curriculum development in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract In this reflection on early childhood curriculum development in Aotearoa New Zealand since the mid-1980s, the author identifies some of the factors that were influential in the genesis, and subsequent implementation, of Te Whariki. The article concludes with a discussion of possible future directions in early childhood curriculum, including issues in policy and practice that remain unresolved. ********** There is a Maori proverb that states that in order for the canoe to know where it is going it has to understand where it has come from. This is an apt metaphor for understanding the last 20 years, and thinking about the next 10 years, in early childhood curriculum development in Aotearoa New Zealand. The release of Te Whariki: He whariki mataranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 1996) marked a turning point for early childhood education in New Zealand, but the development of Te Whariki had been preceded by at least 10 years of rapid development in early childhood provision. These developments had, in their own right, flowed from decades of debate about the nature and purpose of early childhood services in New Zealand and elsewhere (May, 1997, 2001). Almost 10 years after the publication of Te Whuriki, 2005 has been marked by another milestone in early childhood education in New Zealand: the release of Kei tua o to pae: Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood Exemplars (Ministry of Education, 2004). In the first part of this article I describe where the canoe has come from, tracing the genesis of Te Whariki, particularly from 1986 onwards. Next, I reflect on the period from 1986 until today, and the present status of early childhood curriculum development in New Zealand, including the place of Kei tua o to pae. In the final part of the article I speculate on future directions, highlighting those questions that, in my view, remain unresolved. The origins of Te Wharki The story of how Te Whariki was conceptualised, drafted, written, and consulted upon remains one of the great unwritten PhD theses in education in New Zealand. Te One (2003) gives an article-length account of the process of Te Whariki's development, and the thinking of the leader writers of the document has been well documented (Carr & May, 1991, 1993a, 1993b, 1994, 2000; May & Carr, 2000; Reedy, 2003). Less is recorded about the context for the development of Te Whariki provided by the years prior to the writing of the early childhood curriculum framework (begun under contract to the Ministry of Education by the University of Waikato in 1990). In this section, I reflect on a number of key influences in the early childhood field which, with the benefit of hindsight, help explain the nature of Te Whariki, as well as subsequent developments in the field. The 1980s were characterised by renewed interest in the educational potential of good-quality early childhood education, following on from the calls of second wave feminists of the 1970s who had largely subsumed early childhood services into a wider vision for the emancipation of women. Anne Meade was particularly influential in examining and creating policy surrounding early childhood education in New Zealand, both as a bureaucrat and as an academic (see Meade, 1981, 1990, 2000). At the same time, Helen May (then Cook) was consistently re-emphasising the political dimension of early childhood services, particularly their impact on women's lives (Cook, 1983, 1985a, 1985b, 19850. (1) argue that the work of May, Meade, and others during the 1980s, by persistently focusing on the scope and quality of early childhood provision, provided an important platform for the subsequent development of Te Whariki. At the same time, the galloping development off e Kohanga Reo movement ... [and] ... the development of Pacific Islands language nests ... had a massive impact on government policy and on education generally (Cooper & Tangaere, 1994, p. …

From preschool to home: processes of generalisation in language acquisition from an indigenous language recovery programme

Processes of generalising bilingual expertise from Te Kohanga Reo (an indigenous preschool for the revitalisation of Maori language) to home are analysed. Observations at the preschool and home settings revealed several features. The active and strategic role of the child in transferring expertise was evident. So too were the presence of complementary activities at home, sensitive responding to generalised language and shared cultural commitments. These processes were present in a range of activities. The results are discussed in terms of theoretical approaches to generalisation and the effectiveness of indigenous language intervention programmes.

Communicating Culture: An Exploratory Study of the Key Concepts in Maori Culture on Maori Web Sites

Introduction The explosive growth of the Internet creates an opportunity for different ethnic to communicate their cultural values to a worldwide audience. Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, use the Internet in different ways: to promote their cultural values, to teach young Maori language, spiritual and ethical values and social rules of conduct and to present relevant facts and databases to support their claim for land and natural resources. Internet tools are also used to promote Maori enterprises in the global economy (Maori e-commerce sites) and for communication between members of tribes and others interested in Maori issues. However, the Internet poses some threats to the cultural values of Maori people, as discussed by Smith (1997). Modern technology allows to anyone to easily reproduce and disseminate digital images and documents on the Internet and that raises concern with Maori that their heritage for example, the digital images of their ancestors or face tattoos (Moko), will be exploited and sold. could be viewed as culturally offensive since Maori place great importance on the concept of cultural property (the rights of cultural and ethnic to control of the knowledge and information created over generations by the group). The question we are interested in is how well Maori web sites actually reflect Maori culture in this new environment, i.e. in the virtual world of the Internet? Is there a correspondence between the oral (very important in Maori tradition), written and virtual worlds? If a correspondence exists then we can say that the Maori community has been re-constructed in the virtual world. Another set of questions is related to Maori web sites design. Although some authors, such as Benton (1996) takes marae--one of the key Maori cultural concepts--as a metaphor and relates it to a certain Internet tool--discussion forum, so far there have been few attempts to recognise Maori cultural concepts and relate them to the elements or tools in the virtual world (see Kovacic, 2001). (Benton (1996, p. 136) says that the message section is the marae of Te Wahapu (communications system launched in 1990 in New Zealand).) However, it is not just a matter of using Maori themes or how the site displays Maori art forms, but more importantly how the whole concept of the site design (that is particularly important for an educational site) is embodied in 'te ira tangata' (the life principle of people), which is the essence of Maori knowledge. (Tangaere (1997) made an attempt toward establishing Maori human development learning theory. According to him, to be able to socialise in a particular manner within a Maori context a person has to use the appropriate language and the entire interaction should be based on the customs, value and tradition. This is known in Te Kohanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Maori as 'Te Aho Matua', the philosopical body of knowledge which bonds us to our ancestors, the land, the universe, and Io Matua Kore (God).) Also, how have the Internet technologies been used to build a Maori web site which follows the tradition of tribe rituals and communications, or which incorporates the specific approach Maori have taken in transferring knowledge to the younger generation? (Cormack (1996, p. 163) uses the axiom of Maori social dynamics groups compete, individuals co-operate to build appropriate and effective learning environment for Maori students.) In this paper we made an attempt to provide some answers to these questions. Analysis at this stage is exploratory in nature and we consider it as the first step toward deep linguistic and semantic analysis of Maori web sites when a contextual analysis of each site would be applied. The Multidimensional Scaling method has been used to analyse a data set and create a perceptual map. The relevance of our results are threefold. Firstly, using this map we provide a picture of how the web sites are associated with key cultural concepts. …

Maori Education in 1992: A Review and Discussion

From the voyages of Te Aurere, the waka that retraced the voyage of our tipuna by sailing from Aotearoa to Rarotonga and back (Te Puni Kokiri, 1992), to the daily symposium of research based papers on Maori education at the joint NZARE/AARE Researchers in Education conference in Geelong, Melbourne (AARE/NZARE, 1992), Maori education in traditional and contemporary forms has followed this counsel in interesting ways in 1992, both in Aotearoa as well as in the wider international context. A sampling of these programmes throughout this paper will highlight the diversity this expression has taken in the past twelve months. The year also marked the anniversary of some significant events in our educational history: a decade since the opening of the first Te Kohanga Reo, effectively launching the movement and, nine decades since the birth of Clarence Beeby, former Director General of Education, one of this country’s educational giants, whose words in 1939 gave Peter Fraser, then Minister of Education, the first education policy on equal educational opportunity. In August 1992 it was announced that the Contestable Equity Fund would not be continued in the 1993 academic year. Somewhat incredible was the statement which announced the fund’s abolition: The fund was set up to encourage institutions in ways of equity, and this has been done. (AUS, 1992) ...an interesting claim, on the eve of the 1993 Suffrage Year activities and the 1993 United Nations Indigenous People’s Year. Indeed, the fate of equity in education since the National government came to power in late 1990 has been a matter of real concern. Equity remains one of this country’s critical contemporary issues. Analyses of the equity women have attained in this country, particularly Maori women, will be discussed in the light of this claim and the recently released Status of Women in New Zealand. The Second Periodic Report on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, it is described by the Hon. Jenny Shipley in its foreword as “the most definitive piece of work to date on the status of women in New Zealand” (CEDAW, 1992, p. vi). Prepared by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs for submission to the United Nations and released in December 1992, this report will provide the most up to date data against which to test claims about the attainment of equity on any economic, social or educational indicators. These events will be briefly visited in order to provide something of a historical perspective on this 1992 review, ensuring that it is not read in an ahistorical timeless void. In summary, then, this paper will analyse Maori education in 1992, by providing an overview of Maori education initiatives in national and international contexts, and by comparing some issues and trends in Maori education in 1992 with their historical antecedents.

Te Kohanga Reo Hei Tikanga Ako i te Reo Maori: Te Kohanga Reo as a context for language learning

Abstract Te Kohanga Reo is an indigenous educational intervention aiming to recover Maori language usage; a need anticipated in early research by Clay (1968). This paper argues that understanding the effectiveness of Te Kohanga Reo for language development and for classroom discourse requires two things. Firstly, a theoretical framework which enables language acquisition to be seen as culturally contextualised and secondly research strategies that enable cultural contexts to be understood. A study of language use in Te Kohanga Reo provides evidence for how language use and processes of acquisition express and construct cultural meanings.

Education, language decline and language revitalisation: The case of Maori in New Zealand

Abstract There is still some controversy in New Zealand as to the role schools have had in discouraging people from speaking Maori, and what influence schools might have on the revitalisation of Maori. This article overviews the present language situation and the development of the kohanga reo (language nests) and bilingual schooling. The empirical data were obtained from families included in the NZCER sociolinguistic surveys of communities throughout the North Island (1973–9) and some later follow‐up studies (1984–5; 1988). Particular attention is paid to information gathered on language preferences, the linguistic experiences of parents at home and at school, and the extent to which Maori was used in their households. The participation of these families in the kohanga reo and the attitudes of parents to bilingual education in English and Maori is also discussed. The reactions to and interpretations of the linguistic aspects of their own schooling as well as of their children's schooling are discussed an...

Recent developments in early childhood “educare” in New Zealand

Most New Zealand under five-year-olds attend some form of early childhood centre, though most provision is of sessional care. The two main services which provide sessional care for three- and four-year-olds are kindergartens and playcentres. Childcare centres include a flexible range of services, not just full day care. Kohanga Reo are Maori language nests which were developed in 1982 in order to preserve Maori language and culture in New Zealand. In 1986 the four early childhood services became integrated under the administration of the Department of Education, although Kohanga Reo are still funded by Maori Affairs.