In a webinar, Dr Tania Cliffe-Tautari from Waipapa Taumata Rau – The University of Auckland discussed how the attitudes and beliefs that kaiako hold consciously and unconsciously can be a significant factor leading to student engagement or disengagement at and from school, particularly among rangatahi Māori.

Māori students are more likely to be stood down than their peers, which begs the question, why? What are the causes of the disengaged behaviour? Tania suggests:

• Negative experience at school caused by poor relationships
• Low teacher expectations
• Bulllying, including bullying by teachers
• A lack of access to support and resources

As teachers it is important to challenge the narratives you hold about students, avoid binaries, and start thinking from the child’s perspective.

What is stereotype threat?

A termed coined in the 1990s by Claude Steele, stereotype threat is when the fear of living up to a negative stereotype about a group to which you belong impacts your behaviour. Stereotype threat can result in underperformance, disengagement, or in putting a considerable amount of pressure on yourself to disprove the theory. Stereotypes can also become self-fulling prophecies if a stereotype is internalised as innately true on a personal level.

A secure cultural identity can help by serving as a buffer against stereotype threat

When someone feels pride in their whakapapa, it helps to protect them from harsh judgements and reminds them of their place in the world.It is often supposed that children on the fringes of the education system are disconnected from their culture, but Tania’s research did not find this to be the case. When working in the youth justice sector, she interviewed many children and young people with great cultural pride. However, their cultural identity was not celebrated in education spaces. This is something that teachers can remedy.

From framed identities to shapeshifters

Sometimes teachers hold static views of a child: ‘This kid is a druggie’. ‘This one talks in class’. However, it is important to note that children and young people are more than the sum of their behaviour. Opinions like this are a snapshot, a picture, a moment in the child’s development but, once that picture is put in a frame, it becomes hard for the student to shake that identity. Tania gives an example of a student returning to school in a new year with great intentions and the desire for a fresh start, only to be a met by a teacher holding on to last year’s version of the child. Teachers could think instead of Maui, the demigod. His identity is not framed, but rather he is a shapeshifter; one moment a man, another an eagle. He is not judged on one individual antic but is allowed to be multiple versions of himself. Children are also shapeshifters, developing, changing, learning. Teachers frequently claim to believe in the possibility of change but may not be allowing it in reality. To address this in your own practice, consider:

• checking in with your relationships with each child
• making sure you know learners in the present tense
• having high expectations and seeing potential
• examining your own biases
• having a critical friend in school with whom to challenge your ideas and your thinking
• examining the environment you have created in your classroom and making sure that it allows every student’s story to be accepted there.

Using pūrākau to reframe perceptions

Indigenous cultures share histories through storytelling and in te ao Māori these are called pūrākau. All stories have pedagogical intent and to find it you need to get to the pū (root) of the rākau (tree). Tania’s story of Maui above is an example of a pūrākau, and it and other stories, both ancient and modern, can be used to learn about human behaviour and learn about change. This principle can be applied in several ways. For example, stories of ancestors who did both wonderful and terrible feats can help students by exemplifying the complexity of human behaviour; we are all more than one moment, one action, one deed. Teachers can also understand their students more by learning stories from the local area. Tania shares a colleague’s example of a student who was not allow on a fieldtrip because the area that was to be visited was taboo for their hapu. Knowing this history would have given the teacher a much fuller picture of what was going on for the student. Identities are complex, but stories can help to reveal their many strands.

Using connections to support rangatahi Māori

To support Māori students, as teachers you might like to:

• Widen your sphere of influence and grow relationships, making sure to give them time to develop naturally
• Use te reo Māori in your classroom to celebrate and acknowledge language and culture, and normalise tikanga
• Work on your own te reo Māori, starting with correct pronunciation and moving forward from there.

The critically conscious, culturally responsive kaiako

Tania suggests that teachers try to be critically conscious and culturally responsive. She uses the anagram KEYS to explain what this is.

A critically conscious, culturally responsive kaiako is one who:

Keeps mindful about the inequities that exist and how they play out in the classroom

Educates themselves and seeks to understand the conditions lead to unwanted behaviour

Yearns to understand themselves and others. We all have a connection to this land. What is yours?

Seeks opportunities to include cultural aspects in everyday practice.

A fixed, forced, and fluid identity

It is important to remember that there is no one way of being Māori.  Tania refers to McIntosh (2005), who breaks identity into three factors:

• Fixed – these are traditional indicators that someone might be Māori, such as speaking te reo.
• Forced – these are identities imposed by external forces such as marginalisation or poverty, for example not having a car or being without fancy food in the pantry.
• Fluid – this is the way that aspects of Māori culture might blend with something else, for example te reo hiphop.

Do not try to teach your students who they are, let them tell you. Ask, ‘what does being Māori mean to you?’ However, make sure you paint being Māori as a positive identity. Sharing narratives of tupuna success can lead to pride and a secure cultural identity.