What Can Pakeha Learn from Engaging in Kaupapa Maori Educational Research? Working Paper 1

This working paper focuses on how Pakeha have become involved in Maori-determined and controlled educational research, and what issues inhibit and facilitate their work. This paper focuses on the experiences of four Pakeha educational researchers who have been engaged in different forms of kaupapa Maori research since the early 1990s. Placing these four narratives at the centre of this paper aims to demonstrate what Pakeha are learning from engaging in kaupapa Maori research. This is a valuable site of research because more and more Pakeha and non-Maori are attempting to work with a variety of Maori groups throughout the education landscape. Broadly, this paper contributes to knowledge about how Pakeha educationalists can change when working with diverse Maori, and what potential challenges and benefits can transpire from these encounters. The research offers critical insights that aim to counter "Pakeha paralysis" by strengthening present and future research with Maori communities. For Maori, this inquiry offers an account of how Pakeha are working with "our own" in order to advance socially and culturally just research methodologies in education. The following are appended: (1) Websites; and (2) Semi-structured interview questions.