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Many theories support the idea that children’s literacy learning develops as they learn to make meaning through interactions with others. These assertions are premised on the understanding that childhood literacy serves various social purposes and that these literacies are learned through participating in social contexts. In this position paper, we seek to reframe current, widely accepted understandings and definitions of literacy. We draw upon mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge/wisdom) concepts to illustrate Māori philosophical views about the nature of knowledge production. These concepts clearly delineate the link between knowledge, literacies, and power, a link often actively overlooked by western framing of literacy. We use a Māori whakataukī (proverbial saying) to re-conceptualise current understandings of literacy, positing varied literacies and literacy practices. Within this conceptual framework Māori children are re-positioned as maurea – treasures of the highest order, born of and with mana, an integral part of generations of whakapapa (genealogy), and an essential element in an intricate web linking all things (human and non-human). This paper proposes that children are inherently and inherited-ly literate; they are born literate—inheritors of multiple and cumulative genealogies of multimodal communication and knowledge sharing.

This paper describes the background, methods and key findings from a research project conducted in one Kāhui Ako (Community of Learning) in a city in New Zealand. All 12 schools had significant numbers of Indigenous Māori students whose iwi (tribal) ancestry connected to the region over centuries. Using a mixed methods approach, the study investigated the specific ‘across and within’ school interventions that positively impacted Māori student engagement in learning. Evidence was collected by seeking the views and opinions of students, teachers and whānau (family). Interventions and strategies included collaboration between Māori teachers and across-school leaders, positive school culture focused on the health and well-being of students, localised curricula, and substantial use of te reo Māori and tikanga in most schools. School principals reported limited collaboration with each other due to perceived competition between schools for student enrollments, which is counter to the policy drivers for the Kāhui Ako initiative. Results indicated that culturally inclusive leaders and teachers must deliberately focus on motivating students for their positive futures. This is key to improving the academic and social outcomes for Māori students.

When gifted Māori students feel they belong and find their realities reflected in the curriculum, conversations and interactions of schooling, they are more likely to engage in programmes of learning and experience greater school success. This article reports on a teacher-led project called the Ruamano Project, which investigated whether Maker and Zimmerman's (2008) Real Engagement in Active Problem Solving model (REAPS) could be adapted successfully to identify talents and benefit the student achievement and engagement of Māori boys in two rural Northland, New Zealand secondary school contexts. The project aimed to implement Treaty of Waitangi-responsive and place-based science practices by improving home–school–community relationships through the authentic engagement of whānau and iwi into the schools’ planning, implementation and evaluation of a REAPS unit. As a result of this innovation, teachers’ perceptions of Māori boys shifted, their teaching practices changed, more junior secondary Māori boys were identified as gifted by way of improved academic performance, and iwi and community members were engaged in co-designing the inquiry projects. Our research indicated that the local adaptation of the REAPS model was effective in engaging and promoting the success of gifted and talented Māori boys.

This article examines five interrelated methodological and ethical opportunities and challenges embedded within qualitative research projects that seek to partner with Indigenous young people, from...

Introduction: This study explored motivation among a cohort of New Zealand medical students from The University of Auckland. The research questions were: 1) What motivates students to attend medical school? 2) What are the values, beliefs or cultural practices that influence students’ decisions to go to medical school? 3) How do students’ families influence their decisions to go to medical school? Methods: Twenty medical students from The University of Auckland in Years Two and Five of a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degree participated in semi-structured focus group interviews. Two cohorts of medical students were involved, Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme students (MAPAS), and non-MAPAS students. An interpretive methodology was used, and data analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: This study found both MAPAS and non-MAPAS students have intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to attend and continue medical school. However, the non-MAPAS students had more individualised motivations to study medicine whereas the MAPAS students were more motivated by collectivism. Family and cultural customs influenced MAPAS students’ motivation to study medicine. Non-MAPAS students were influenced by positive school experiences. Common to both cohorts was the significant influence of family. Non-MAPAS students specified family members’ professions and educational support as influencing factors. In contrast, MAPAS students identified being motivated to study medicine to improve the financial and health situations of their families. Conclusion: All students have different motivations for attending medical school which is influenced by their culture and environment. Culture encompasses the individual and their family, inclusive of ethnicity, beliefs, values and behaviours. Family plays a crucial role in motivating and influencing students to pursue medicine.

In May 2018, a group of scholars gathered in the icy and sunlit grandeur of Queenstown (Aotearoa New Zealand) to talk, debate and share ideas about health education. The conference aimed to trouble and disrupt traditional kinds of health education and, instead, suggest possibilities for the critical study of health education – both in terms of theory and practice. This introduction to the special themed symposium is a reflection by the six authors on that new conference – Critical Studies in Health Education (CHESS) – and what it aimed to achieve. The authors discuss and define the intent of critical approaches to health education, and reflect on their experiences of the conference, as well as the future of the field. Papers in this special themed symposium of Health Education Journal are also introduced.

This is an account of one White woman’s encounters with her privilege throughout a year. Through the work of critical autoethnography, the author confronts and engages with difficult conversations with her colleagues and friends. Employing writing as a method of inquiry, journaling, crafting, reading, deleting, theorising, and so on, these encounters are interrogated through theories of allyship and critical race theories. This is only a fragment of an ongoing work, the work of becoming, as Te Kawehau Hoskins argues, a friend.

E ngāi pīkoko o te mātauranga, e ngā pou o te rangahau, e ngā pūtake o te mārama, e ngā mana o te iwi, tēnei ngā mihi nui atu kia koutou. Anei ētahi o tātou mātanga e whāriki atu nei i o rātou whak...

The REAPS model is a teaching and learning model that places students in real-world problem solving, engaging students in active learning. The Ruamano Project was funded by the Teacher Led Innovati...

The numerous iwi (tribes) and hapū (subtribes) of Te Tai Tokerau (Northland) have a long whakapapa (genealogy) of influential leaders that have made a significant impact on the Māori world and beyond. However, ruinous media narratives that focus without relent on poverty, low employment, inadequate housing, and lagging educational outcomes&mdash, particularly among Māori&mdash, continue to negatively impact the ways students from this region define their identity. This paper presents a number of strengths-based narratives&mdash, focusing on tūpuna (ancestors) from Te Tai Tokerau whakapapa&mdash, that act as counter-narratives to this rhetoric. The paper discusses how these narratives can be used as powerful pedagogical tools that enhance Te Tai Tokerau Māori students&rsquo, self-efficacy, aspiration, optimism, and cultural pride, presenting them as powerful agents of their own destiny. This paper draws on data produced from a Marsden-funded study&mdash, led by Te Tai Tokerau descendents&mdash, that has collected and re-presented multifaceted hapū/iwi-based narratives that celebrate Te Tai Tokerau distinctiveness, success, history, and identity. This wider study has examined, contextualised, and celebrated diverse characteristics recurring in Te Tai Tokerau pūrākau (genealogical stories), pepeha (tribal sayings), waiata (songs), karakia (incantations), televisual materials, and written histories.

The engagement of indigenous students and their families has often been a challenge for mainstream schools. Many indigenous students and their parents have reported a sense of disconnection from educational contexts due to a lack of personalized or ongoing relationships with the teachers or the school. There are indications in the literature that well-conducted academic counseling can increase engagement with students and their families. However, despite the evidence, New Zealand research has shown that many students do not receive any form of academic counseling. This study examined the effectiveness of an academic counseling intervention from the perspective of 78 Māori students in 12 focus groups and school reported attendance data. The results of the study indicated that Māori students appreciated enduring achievement-focused relationships with teachers that were premised on three factors: 1) collective vision—the degree to which all parties were committed to equipping students with the skills to achieve academic excellence; 2) collective efficacy—the judgment that all three parties could organize and execute the actions required to have a positive effect on Māori students; and 3) coordinated and timely collective action—the belief that all parties had a role to play in actively supporting Māori student achievement.

Child abuse and domestic violence are complex and endemic problems for many families, and there is no simple solution to researching and reporting it compassionately. The Glenn Inquiry spoke to over 500 victims, perpetrators and frontline workers about their experiences of child abuse and/or domestic violence. For many of the participants, it was the first time they had talked to anyone about their experiences of violence. It gave them the opportunity to express their concerns, anger, to tell their stories, and then, more importantly, to articulate their hopes for the future. Often people shared their experiences knowing that their own situations and the after-effects of the abuse and violence they had lived with could never be ‘fixed’ or resolved for them. Yet, they came forward in the hope that family life would be better for their tamariki (children), mokopuna (grandchildren) and others. Their involvement was an act of aroha (love), rangatiratanga (leadership) and, for many, motuhaketanga (self-reclamation and determination).

The aim of this mixed methods study was to explore the relationship between teacher expectations and student ethnicity. Factors that contributed to the achievement gap were also investigated. The study involved 15 mathematics teachers and 361 students from five urban secondary schools in Auckland. Fifteen teachers completed questionnaires and 10 teachers also participated in semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that teachers’ expectations differed depending on the ethnicity of the student, even when controlling for achievement. Expectations were highest for Asian and Pākehā students, and lowest for Pasifika and Māori. Interviews with teachers confirmed lower expectations for Māori. Eight out of 10 teachers interviewed believed there were deficits in Māori and Pasifika students’ home backgrounds and that they lacked goals, motivation and aspirations. When asked about the achievement gap, all 10 teachers again referred to perceived deficits in Māori and Pasifika home backgrounds, and students’ attitudes as contributing factors.

This chapter features leadership practices sourced from more than 25 Māori (Indigenous) and non-Māori women in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) who are leaders of schools where Māori-based best practices benefit Māori and other systemically underserved students (e.g., children in poverty, Pasifika [i.e., Samoan, Fijian, Cook Island, Tongan] descent). This study, by Auckland-based scholars of North American, Indigenous, and international descent (Māori, Latino, African American/American Indian [Choctaw], and East Indian immigrant) examines the expression of Applied Critical Leadership (ACL) in women leaders participating in Te Ara Hou or The Māori Achievement Collaboratives (MACS), an initiative aimed at challenging status quo leadership practices, which result in persistent inequitable educational outcomes for Māori learners. Based on an analysis of data, women leaders demonstrated leadership that mirrored and exemplified leadership practices suggested in ACL research. Qualitative stories evidenced from women leaders in MACS provided exemplars of authentic and appropriate pathways for implementing effective leadership practices aimed at promoting whānau (family), iwi (tribe), and hapū (subtribe) engagement, context-specific pedagogy, tikanga (cultural protocols), and whanaungatanga (relationships) within mainstream school contexts. These findings affirm and validate research on the benefits of critical and culturally appropriate leadership around the world in a number of diverse contexts.

This chapter leads a critical discourse amongst research and educational leadership communities around the nature of cross-cultural interactions and the role diversity plays in changing the status quo with regard to access, equity and academic achievement. Through this strengths-based qualitative inquiry, the authors bridge Kaupapa Maori (Maori ideology) and critical race theory methodologies with Maori and non-Maori culturally responsive leadership frameworks. Prerequisite conditions for effective cross-collaboration are presented based on the experiences of an international, interdisciplinary research team in collaboration with practicing Maori and non-Maori leaders of primary and secondary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ). The aim of the partnership is to promote the voices and practices of effective school leaders, through cross-cultural collaboration and research, to continue building critical mass for the important role of informing effective, culturally responsive leadership practices across Aotearoa NZ.

Racial-ethnic identity is a fundamental aspect of an early adolescent's identity. This article, based on data from Maori adolescents in Auckland, shows that racial-ethnic identity is important for Maori adolescents because it frames who they are, how they belong and their achievement aspirations. It concludes that, although negative stereotypes are prevalent and powerful in the lives of Maori adolescents, a strong racial-ethnic identity may enhance their resilience, providing them with the capacity to prevent negative pressures from interfering with their educational engagement.

This qualitative inquiry compares the practice of one Māori primary school leader of urban education for indigenous multicultural multilingual learners in New Zealand (NZ), to research on the practices of nine educational leaders of colour in the United States (US). This study identifies and compares leadership practices for leaders struggling with ways to positively impact learner outcomes in similar settings (e.g., UK, Canada). From a critical comparative perspective, this school principal shares her leadership practice and lessons learned to inform leadership practice in similarly multifaceted urban settings. This research is undertaken by a collaborative cross-cultural team of educational leaders and scholars from the US and NZ, from the local university and urban primary school. The research team comprises multiple perspectives, the basis for global comparative discourse on school leadership. This contribution offers a cross-cultural model, framework, and way of doing educational research to increase understanding of leadership in different societies.

Multiple associations between time-related variables and several educational outcomes have been established previously. Of these time-related variables, the majority have focused on attitudes and perceptions related to the future, but not to the present or the past. This paper examined the psychometric properties of a multidimensional measure of time attitudes, and whether time attitudes were related to several academic variables and to attitudes to teachers and towards school. A total of 579 students at an all-female New Zealand high school completed the adolescent time attitude scale (ATAS). Results from the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the six-factor ATAS model had acceptable fit indices with robust internal consistency estimates for each of the factors in that model. Time attitudes had no meaningful relationships with GPA, academic self-ranking or wagging/cutting school, but were related to attitudes toward school and teacher. However, time attitude profiles had meaningful relationships to all variables except wagging school.