2. Some key facts
• Auckland has the largest Pasifika population in
the world
• Pasifika peoples are a complex multi-ethnic,
heterogeneous group comprising different
languages and cultures
• Many Pasifika students in our NZ schools and
particularly in low socio-economic
communities experience educational disparities
• NZ Pasifika communities have highest
proportion of people with no qualifications
3. The fluidity of Pasifika identities
• Being educated in NZ should not require
Pasifika young people to:
• assimilate or;
• submit to any form of cultural identity
allocation.
1.Why do teachers allocate students’identity
2.What is the effect on the student of teacher
allocation of identity?
3.What should we promote instead?
4. The cultural identity allocation of well
intentioned teachers
• Directly related to, and a consequence of the
choices teachers make about classroom
content.
• Two forms of identity commonly recognised-
national identity or ethnic identity
• Teachers often choose to focus on one or the
other but not both
Why is this a problem for the Pasifika student?
5. Four types of teacher allocation
The teacher as
•cultural provider
•cultural mediator
•cultural transmitter
•cultural popularist
What do you think teachers do in each group?
With each one make predictions about each
type and how it plays out in the classroom.
6. Problems with teacher allocation of cultural
identity
• A gap exists between an ideological and lived
view of Pasifika identity
• Teachers understanding of Pasifika identity
can be shaped by deficit views
• Allocation does not allow for choice or
variability
Teachers need to develop a deep contextualised
understanding of Pasifika identities
7. Critical levers for academic success
• Perceptions and expectations by students and
of students by teachers is one of the most
crucial levers of academic success
• Pasifika students’ views of themselves and
their self-aspirations need to be incorporated
into the organisational structures of the school
and the education system
• Core Pasifika values need addressing for
relational equity
8. Relational equity
• Term used to describe how opportunities are
distributed equitable in classrooms
• Counters social and academic status
differences on the premise that these do not
emerge because of the particular students;
they emerge because of group interactions.
9. Core Pasifika values
Reciprocity Respect Service
Inclusion Relationships Spirituality
Leadership Love Belonging
Family
What do these concepts mean?
How can/do they play out in classrooms?
How can we use them in ways that will
increase relational equity for Pasifika students?
10. Pedagogical factors which impact on learning
• High expectations
• Application of skills to match background
and experiences of students in front of them
• Clear links to core Pasifika values
Develop a concept map of what this would
look like in a classroom which uses
culturally responsive teaching and which
promotes relational equity for all learners?
11. Uni-dimensional classrooms
In a unidimensional classroom only some
practices are valued.
How does this description fit with what most
children experience in school ? What does it
mean for the Pasifika child?
12. Multi-dimensional classrooms
Multidimensional classrooms expand the
dimensions and recognise that students are
all different and will use different methods,
ask different questions, use different ways
to think about and represent ideas, actively
discuss and question ideas.
What does this mean for the Pasifika child
in a classroom?
13. Multidimensional classrooms
More students have access to ideas and may
be regarded as contributing in important
ways.
Teachers apply a multiple abilities
approach…no student is good at all the
abilities but each student will be good at, at
least one.
What does this suggest teachers need to
consider for the Pasifika child?
14. Culturally inclusive classrooms
• culturally inclusive classrooms do not
sacrifice high achievement, but rather
encourage it in minority group learners
• require establishing environments that are
likely to encourage Pasifika students’
interest, acknowledging individual efforts
and setting standards that other students can
model on, addressing communication and
participation patterns
15. Assigning competence
Assigning competence involves teachers
raising the status of students that may be of
lower status in a group by:
• Praising something they do or say that has
intellectual value and bringing it to group
attention
• Asking them to present it in their own way
• Publicly praising the work in a whole class
setting.
16. Public and intellectual dimensions
Providing feedback that raises status must
be:
• Public
• Intellectual
• Specific
• Relevant to the task.
Think of the core Pasifika values. How
could teachers provide feedback which
affirm the students use of these?
17. Public and intellectual dimensions
The public dimension allows other students
to learn about the broad dimensions that are
valued.
The intellectual dimension ensures that the
feedback is an aspect of the task.
18. Positioning students as competent
Positioning students as someone with good
ideas in this broader sense, disrupts those
traditionally narrow ways of being
competent in school work like finishing
first, or being born with academic ability.
19. Setting classroom norms
Establishing norms for learning is a key
aspect of determining which students learn,
what they learn, and how they learn.
What norms do you think might be important
to enact to ensure Pasifika students have
many opportunities to learn?
20. Commitment to the learning of others
• Look closely at group work. Teach students to
be responsible for the learning of others through
developing reciprocity. See learning as an
collective rather than individual act to construct
multiple perspectives.
• Look closely at the communication and
participation norms enacted in the classroom.
Who talks, when and how and the use of body
language. Monitor and promote risk taking
21. What does a classroom look like which caters
to the needs of Pasifika learners
Revise your concept map where needed to
better meet the needs of Pasifika learners
Editor's Notes
1. Allocate identity according to their personal beliefs, experiences and understandings about identity. Grounded in their tacit knowledge that this is what good teachers do, and in their attempts to be culturally responsive educators 2. Influences the ways students will understand identity and ultimately ‘see’ themselves.
Cultural provider: concerned with ethnic identity. Believes student is confused over who they are and where they belong in society (kiwis or their ethnic homeland). These students may be marginalised by society (curriculum from dominant culture makes their culture invisible). Rather than validating students’ self-identification the teacher chooses to identify the ethnic identity aspect. This is done through learning songs and dances, promoting role models. Teachers as cultural providers ‘save’ supposedly marginalised children to reconstitute fragmented identities and validate diverse and personal ethnic identities Cultural mediator: less explicit than first more concerned with smoothing over differences that exist over diverse students ethnic identity. They do this through linking to ancestral places of origin. This helps students acknowledge they were different , different places, languages so can value their own and others’ cultures. Teachers as cultural mediator believe that it helps them understand diverse nature of NZ multicultural society, that one did not have to be the same to belong, accept differences to minimise ethnic conflict in school and society. Cultural transmitter: Concerned with national identity with NZ national identity. Accepts plurality of NZ but all subsumed under national identity, common shared heritage, teacher wants to pass on established knowledge, beliefs, values that support a national identity so all students will fit in and belong. Cultural popularist: Characterised by what it means to be a Kiwi, most often through music and sport, loyalty and patriotism and national pride key features so wants to strengthen students’ national identity as a NZer
Danger of getting a tourist view which may serve to perpetrate stereotypes, undermine sense of identity, and students may be unwilling to align themselves with the type of Pasifika person being promoted Link with academic achievement and disparities which exist show high statistics to suspensions, young age of leaving school, poor school results and low socio-economic so that Being Pasifika is not always associated with feelings of pride and success in NZ school contexts Lack of choice which is held by the dominant culture but a teacher’s view may be a forced identity rather than a self-affirmation. The term also of Pasifika is too wide and so students want to know who they really are.
This is a beginning point for you to start thinking about a classroom where these students can achieve their potential. This will be reviewed towards the end of the session.
Private versus public, purpose of public talk. Shyness, respect for other’s including elders, reluctance to ask questions, use of body language Core Pasifika values. Individual accountability versus collective and notions of service Look at how the teacher role is interpreted and how the student role is interpreted. Teacher is elder so their role is to listen to the teacher.
