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Jul 25, 2011 - teacher change alone for school reform to make a difference for students. Keywords: culturally responsive pedagogy; indigenous students; secondary student classroom ... Email: [email protected].
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Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigenous student experiences across the curriculum a

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Catherine Savage , Rawiri Hindle , Luanna H. Meyer , Anne a

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Hynds , Wally Penetito & Christine E. Sleeter

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School of Educational Psychology & Pedagogy, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand b

Te Kura Māori, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

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Jessie Hetherington Centre for Educational Research, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand d

California State University, Monterey Bay, USA

Available online: 25 Jul 2011

To cite this article: Catherine Savage, Rawiri Hindle, Luanna H. Meyer, Anne Hynds, Wally Penetito & Christine E. Sleeter (2011): Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigenous student experiences across the curriculum, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 39:3, 183-198 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2011.588311

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Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 39, No. 3, August 2011, 183–198

Culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom: indigenous student experiences across the curriculum

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Catherine Savagea* , Rawiri Hindleb , Luanna H. Meyerc , Anne Hyndsa , Wally Penetitob and Christine E. Sleeterd a

School of Educational Psychology & Pedagogy, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand; Te Kura M¯aori, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand; c Jessie Hetherington Centre for Educational Research, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand; d California State University, Monterey Bay, USA b

(Received 15 August 2010; final version received 2 May 2011) There is agreement that teaching practices should be responsive to the cultural identities of their students, but less clarity regarding both the specifics of culturally responsive pedagogies and effective strategies for implementing them in classrooms across the curriculum. A mixed-methods research approach evaluated the impact of teacher professional development to instil culturally responsive pedagogies in secondary classrooms. Results are reported based on systematic observations of over 400 classrooms at 32 mainstream schools across different subjects and interviews with 214 indigenous M¯aori students. The majority of teachers showed evidence of culturally responsive practices, and students were able to describe examples of teachers caring for them as culturally located individuals. Implications are discussed for teacher professional development designed to impact student achievement including the limitations of relying on teacher change alone for school reform to make a difference for students. Keywords: culturally responsive pedagogy; indigenous students; secondary student classroom experiences; teacher professional development

Introduction Achieving equity in diverse schools is a global challenge, and educational disparity takes on different forms depending on context. In New Zealand, disparities exist between the indigenous M¯aori and New Zealand Europeans whose culture dominates the education system (Penetito, 2010; Shields, Bishop, & Mazawi, 2005). M¯aori immersion schools for M¯aori children exist, but the majority attend English-medium schools where mono-cultural ‘western’ practices prevail to the exclusion of M¯aori heritage, culture, and language (AltonLee, 2003; Bishop, Berryman, Tiakiwai, & Richardson, 2003; Bishop & Glynn, 1999). A lack of connection between the culture of the school and student has been associated with low engagement in the absence of culturally responsive practices (Castagno & Brayboy, 2008; Cothran & Ennis, 2000). For M¯aori, low expectations and student alienation play out through high suspension rates, over-representation in special education, low educational attainment, and leaving school early with fewer qualifications than students

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] ISSN 1359-866X print/ISSN 1469-2945 online © 2011 Australian Teacher Education Association DOI: 10.1080/1359866X.2011.588311 http://www.informaworld.com

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from dominant cultural groups (Ministry of Education, 2006). Nevertheless, traditional educational solutions to disparities continue to involve deficit theorising and remedial programmes that locate the problem in students and their families. Alternatively, schools and teachers are seen as contributing to educational inequity unless they are challenged to assume agency for addressing disparities through reforms leading to fundamental changes in schools and classrooms. Erickson (2010) provides a comprehensive overview of how culture in schools is reflected at multiple levels, whether visible or invisible, that have an impact on students. Schools that reflect a dominant culture represent invisible cultures that can effectively privilege students who share that dominant cultural identity while simultaneously disadvantaging students whose cultures are different. So-called mainstream schools are not multicultural but actually mono-cultural in asserting dominant cultural values and ignoring, if not actively de-valuing, minority cultural values. As a consequence, a mainstream school’s organisational structure, language, materials, and symbolism provide the systemic context for affirming some students and de-valuing others. Gonzalez, Moll, and Amanti (2005) elaborate the concept of funds of knowledge held by students and their families that teachers and schools might be expected to utilise in curricula and as part of learning activities. The classroom is, of course, the daily lived experience of students; thus validation of students’ cultural identities and valuing of the cultural knowledge students bring with them to school have the potential to make a difference (Gutierrez & Rogoff, 2003; Sleeter & Grant, 2009). In their major review, Timperley, Wilson, Barrar, and Fung (2007) emphasise the need for professional development that would enable teachers to better respond to the reality of diversity in the student population, rather than continuing to teach to a hypothetical mainstream or ‘normal’ group of students. To address these issues, M¯aori have located solutions within M¯aori cultural ways of knowing (Bishop, Berryman, Cavanagh, & Teddy, 2009; Penetito, 2010). Bishop et al. (2009) describe the development and implementation of a large-scale, long-term professional development programme for secondary teachers comprising pedagogies of cultural relations as a pathway for enhanced student outcomes. Their approach includes a focus on aspects of student–teacher relations that have been associated with improved student outcomes (Cornelius-White, 2007) and emphasised by scholars from multiple perspectives (Ladson-Billings, 1994; Pianta, 2006). Caring for students as culturally located individuals within a framework of positive student–teacher relationships is considered beneficial for all students, but particularly so for M¯aori (Bishop et al., 2003; Hall & Kidman, 2004). Valenzuela (1999) distinguished between aesthetic caring, which involved affective expression only, and authentic caring, which entails deep reciprocity and, in the case of teachers, taking responsibility for providing an education environment in which their students thrive. Authentic caring entails getting to know students, attending to student input regarding teaching and learning, respecting students’ intellectual abilities, and valuing identities students bring into school from home. Thus caring for students as culturally located individuals, as understood in this context, goes beyond simple feelings of affect to implications for teacher pedagogy and how teachers support student learning.

Culturally responsive pedagogy Culturally responsive pedagogy is not a new concept. Gay (2010) defines culturally responsive pedagogy as teaching ‘to and through [students’] personal and cultural strengths, their intellectual capabilities, and their prior accomplishments’ (p. 26) and as premised on ‘close interactions among ethnic identity, cultural background, and student achievement’ (p. 27).

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Culturally responsive teachers contextualise instruction in cultural forms, behaviours, and processes of learning familiar to students. There is some evidence demonstrating the impact of culturally responsive pedagogy on students. Castagno and Brayboy (2008) reviewed the abundance of case studies, programme descriptions, and anecdotal evidence regarding culturally responsive pedagogy, and noted that causal links to academic performance are generally weak. Gay (2010) reviewed research on several promising projects demonstrating a positive impact on students, including the Algebra Project and the Kamehameha Early Elementary Project for Native Hawaiians. Perhaps the strongest example of embedding culturally responsive pedagogies into classrooms well and long enough to affect students is Cammarota and Romero’s (2009) case study of secondary Chicano students in high-poverty schools in Tucson, Arizona. The programme is based on a model of intellectually challenging content and culturally responsive pedagogy, with a strong foundation of relationships between teachers and students. They documented a direct connection between student participation in the programme and subsequent academic achievement. There is also limited research on the impact of professional development for culturally responsive pedagogy (Meyer et al., 2010). Of particular relevance are two studies of site-based professional development to help teachers use culturally relevant pedagogy in science. Both document a shift in teacher practice, although neither links the professional development with student outcome data. Johnson and Kean (1992) studied the impact of intensive summer workshops on teaching science in multicultural settings in Omaha, Nebraska, where there are both African American and white students. The workshops focused on classroom-based processes to identify student strengths, science problem-solving, and cooperative learning. Regular problem-solving group meetings and classroom-based coaching were associated with positive changes in teacher–student interactions and classroom pedagogy. Similarly, Zozakiewicz and Rodriguez (2007) evaluated a professional development programme for elementary and middle school teachers in schools in the US Southwest, serving a largely Latino population. The programme included a summer institute, on-site visits to classrooms, a workshop to address needs identified by teachers, and regular meetings where teachers discussed issues and presented their work. The analysis of multiple qualitative data sets gathered during year 1 of the project indicated that most of the teachers responded positively to the proposed guiding concepts and significantly changed their teaching practice. Te Kotahitanga teacher professional development A national teacher professional development initiative in New Zealand provided an opportunity to extend existing literature on the effects of culturally responsive pedagogies in the classroom. Entitled Te Kotahitanga (unity), this Kaupapa M¯aori1 research-based professional development programme was implemented in 33 secondary schools with relatively high proportions of M¯aori students, beginning in 2004 (Bishop et al., 2003, 2009). Their programme aims to improve educational outcomes for M¯aori students through operationalising M¯aori cultural aspirations for self-determination by working with teachers to develop culturally responsive classrooms and schools (Bishop et al., 2009). The foundation of this programme lies in the process of collaborative storying which was undertaken in 2001 with M¯aori students (70), their wh¯anau (families) (50), principals (5), and teachers (80, 23% of the staff in five secondary schools). The analysis of these narratives demonstrated the most common positions taken by M¯aori students, their families and their school principals were those which identified classroom caring and learning relationships at the centre

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of educational achievement. In contrast, amongst teachers, the most pervasive explanation for the underachievement of M¯aori students was that they are the victims of pathological lifestyles that hinder their chances of benefiting from schooling. From these stories a series of narratives of experience were developed (Bishop & Berryman, 2006) and used to construct a professional development project for teachers that identified a variety of discursive positions pertaining to M¯aori student achievement and the potential impact of these positions on M¯aori student learning. These narratives were used in the professional development programme in three different ways: firstly, to provide teachers with a vicarious means of understanding how students experienced schooling in ways that they might not otherwise have access to; secondly, as means of critically reflecting upon their own discursive positioning and the impact this might have upon their own students’ learning; and finally, to create an effective teacher profile (ETP) (Bishop et al., 2009). The ETP requires teachers to reject explicitly deficit theorising as an explanation for M¯aori student educational underachievement and to instead assume agency. Bishop et al. (2009) define taking an agentic position as teachers theorising about their practice and expressing their professional commitment to bringing about change in M¯aori students’ educational achievement by accepting professional responsibility for the learning of their students. The ETP identifies effective teaching as demonstrating on a daily basis that teachers: care for the students as M¯aori; have high expectations of their students’ learning; are able to manage classrooms to promote learning; engage in a range of discursive learning interactions with students or facilitate students to engage with others in these ways; know a range of strategies that can facilitate learning interactions; promote, monitor and reflect upon student learning outcomes that in turn lead to changes in teachers’ practice to bring about improvements in M¯aori student achievement, and share this knowledge with their students. The focus of the model evaluated in this report was primarily teacher professional development to effect change in classrooms with four major components:

• • • •

the initial induction workshop (hui) introducing Te Kotahitanga as a model of culturally responsive pedagogies of relations; structured classroom observations focused on implementation of the ETP followed by feedback to teachers in individual meetings with facilitators who have culturally responsive pedagogical expertise; co-construction meetings where teacher teams problem-solve collaboratively based on observational and student outcomes data; specific shadow-coaching sessions for individualised teacher professional development.

The model incorporates sustained support for teachers over time, emphasis on specific instructional strategies and content areas, involvement of teachers collectively rather than individually, peer coaching, and active learning professional development activities (Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001; Joyce & Showers, 2002; Neufield & Roper, 2003; Snow-Runner & Lauer, 2005; Timperley et al., 2007). Aim of this research: M¯aori student experiences The research reported here was part of an independent evaluation carried out by an international, bicultural research team not involved in the Te Kotahitanga professional development programme developed by Bishop et al. (2009). The overall evaluation project

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employed: a quasi-experimental design and mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) including document review, student achievement comparisons, analyses of classroom observations, and analyses of interviews with students, teachers, and other school stakeholders (Meyer et al., 2010). This article focuses specifically on student experiences to evaluate the extent to which teacher professional development had an impact on student classroom experiences. We evaluated evidence of the integrity of teacher implementation of the ETP across subjects, whether M¯aori students perceived they were able to learn as M¯aori, and ways in which teachers demonstrated affirming students as culturally located individuals. Method Participants A total of 33 secondary schools participated in the professional development programme, 12 that had participated for four years and 21 for two years. Twenty-two of these schools participated in our evaluation of the programme. The percentage of M¯aori students at each school ranged from 20% to 80%, with the remaining student population comprising New Zealand European, Asian, Pacific, and other smaller groups. The students who are the focus of the report were attending Years 9–10 (with three years of secondary school to follow), typically ranging from 12.5 to 15.5 years of age. Data were collected at all 12 schools that had participated for four years. Ten schools were selected to be representative of the 21 that had participated for two years to include schools from geographic regions that had not previously been involved in the programme. This sample size was judged to be sufficiently large for comparison with the 12 schools involved for four years and small enough to accommodate parallel modes of data collection. Classroom observations were also conducted one year later at a representative sample of 10 additional schools when these were identified for future involvement in Te Kotahitanga to provide a baseline as well as a comparison sample of observations prior to teacher professional development. Ethical procedures As the research involved direct contact with and gathering data from and about school personnel, families, and school-aged students, appropriate and rigorous procedures for participant involvement, data collection, and protection of privacy and confidentiality were followed. The proposed data collection approach, data collection measures and questions, and processes for obtaining consent and protecting the privacy of natural persons (and the identities of the individual schools) were comprehensively reviewed and fully approved by the Human Ethics Committee at the evaluators’ university. Ethics protocols guaranteed confidentiality to individual participants and schools. Data was not directly associated with individuals or schools in ensuing evaluation reports in order to maintain confidentiality. Participation in the research was voluntary; all participants gave informed consent and were made aware of the right to withdraw consent at any time. Observation, data collection and analysis procedures In all, 438 Years 9–10 classrooms were observed in project and comparison schools. Observations were conducted in the 22 schools after four years (12 schools) versus two years (10 schools) in the project and in the baseline comparison (10 additional schools) before project implementation. Schools invited teachers for observation based on specified

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criteria, including representation across gender, age, ethnicity, subjects, and teaching experience. A low-inference observation protocol was developed and trialled to record the six dimensions of the ETP including: Manaakitanga (caring for students as culturally located individuals); Mana motuhake (high expectations for learning); Whakapiringatanga (managing the classroom for learning); W¯ananga (discursive teaching practices and student–student learning interactions); Ako (range of strategies to facilitate learning); and Kotahitanga (promote, monitor and reflect on learning outcomes with students). (The English meanings prescribed for these M¯aori words comes from the Te Kotahitanga project; these words can be interpreted in other ways.) Other recorded data included: classroom environment, a narrative of the first and final five minutes of class, M¯aori and other cultural visuals, and use of Kaupapa M¯aori constructs and content. Teaching interaction types were also recorded at 10-minute intervals, including directive teaching, teacher questioning involving discursive interactions, group work, individual seatwork, project activities, student-led presentations, and non-academic and transition times. Classroom observations were analysed as high implementation, implementation, or low implementation based on the presence of the six different ETP dimensions as well as the quality of each dimension. Observations were rated as high implementation if five or all six dimensions included culturally responsive pedagogy, explicit learning outcomes, high expectations, positive classroom management, and caring teacher–student pedagogical relationships; in addition, at least two of these dimensions had to be considered exemplary. Observations were scored as low implementation if there was no evidence of the ETP dimensions or only weak examples of one or two dimensions. Observations that met neither criteria for scoring as high or low were rated as implementation. Two researchers independently coded observations, then results were compared with discrepancies reconciled by a third independent coding and discussion to reach agreement. Student interview data collection and analysis procedures Across project school site visits, 214 M¯aori students in Years 10 to 13 were interviewed in 39 focus groups about: their feelings towards school, learning, and learning as M¯aori, issues of cultural identity, and their perceptions of Te Kotahitanga and teachers caring about them and their learning. Follow-up questions asked for clarification, elaboration, or examples. First, students at the 12 schools in the programme for four years were interviewed. Informed by analysis of those interviews, the next round of interviews at the 10 schools that had been in the programme for two years highlighted whether ‘being M¯aori’ looked different in school compared with outside of school. Focus group interviews were conducted by two researchers, led by a M¯aori facilitator fluent in the M¯aori language with a second researcher as note-taker. After students finished responding to each question, the note-taker read recorded responses aloud to provide additional opportunity to edit the responses. Notes were transcribed verbatim and analysed using NVivo to identify themes. Data were continuously cross-checked during coding and analysis for modifications and additions.

Results Classroom observations of the ETP (What did we see?) ETP implementation was varied by school, teacher, and subject. Further, levels of implementation were also associated with differences in teaching and learning instructional

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activities in the classroom. Comparisons with non-project schools supported the effectiveness of Te Kotahitanga in establishing desired aspects of culturally responsive pedagogies.

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Implementation across phases Compared with non-project schools, project schools evidenced higher levels of implementation and higher quality examples of ETP dimensions, suggesting that Te Kotahitanga is associated with establishing culturally responsive strategies for teaching M¯aori students. Exemplars demonstrated positive relationships, high expectations, and progress towards culturally responsive teaching. Across project schools, three out of four teachers (76% of 202 teachers in the four-year schools and 74% of the 116 teachers in the two-year schools) evidenced either moderate or high implementation, revealing similar levels of the ETP after two or four years of project involvement. Interestingly, the schools that had participated in the professional development for two years had a higher percentage of high implementers than schools in the programme for four years. For comparison purposes, teachers at schools selected for but not yet participating in the project were also observed; at the time of the observations, these teachers had not yet received Te Kotahitanga training. Lessons observed in four core subjects – English, mathematics, science and social studies – were compared with lessons in only those same subjects (selected from the total lesson samples) at project schools (see Table 1). There were significant differences in the percentages of teachers demonstrating high versus low implementation of the ETP as a function of Te Kotahitanga participation. Twenty per cent of teachers in the first set of schools and over 40% of teachers in the schools participating for two years only were coded as ‘high implementers’, with 25% of teachers across all schools coded as ‘low implementers’. This contrasts sharply with comparison baseline schools, where only 5% of teachers demonstrated high implementation and nearly half demonstrated low implementation of the ETP prior to Te Kotahitanga activities. Teachers rated as low implementers were observed to be not implementing the six ETP dimensions. These classrooms exhibited various challenges suggesting that Te Kotahitanga alone is not sufficient to effect change for as many as 25% of teachers. Low implementation lessons were characterised by poor behaviour management (‘non-learning sounds’ predominated at levels likely to interfere with learning), no apparent learning purpose to the lesson, unstated or low expectations for student achievement, and no obvious links to

Table 1. Comparison of implementation of the ETP for teachers of English, mathematics, science and social studies at four-year schools, two-year schools and baseline comparison schools that had not yet begun participation. Schools∗ Level of implementation Low Moderate High ∗ Numbers

Four-year (Programme) (N = 129)

Two-year (Programme) (N = 66)

Baseline (Comparison) (N = 98∗∗ )

24% (31) 57% (74) 19% (24)

23% (15) 36% (24) 41% (27)

47% (46) 48% (47) 5% (5)

reflect observations conducted in only the four named subjects at these schools. the total of 102 observations at baseline, four were invalid and could not be scored (e.g., students were sitting tests). ∗∗ Of

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the experiences of the students in the classroom. In these classrooms, professional development issues appeared to exceed those for which Te Kotahitanga was designed; at least some of these secondary teachers may be under-performing generally and require fundamental support.

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Variability of implementation across curriculum areas There was also variability in implementation of the ETP across curriculum areas. In the initial schools that had participated for four years, the highest percentages of high implementation exemplars were observed in M¯aori language (50%), physical education/sport science (30%), social studies (32%), technology/IT/graphics (29%), and arts/drama/music/dance (25%). The highest percentages of low implementation occurred in business/commerce (50%), English (33%), and technology/IT/graphics (24%). In schools participating for two years, the highest percentages of high implementation exemplars were observed in M¯aori language (60%), English (50%), maths (42%), social studies (36%), science (35%), and physical education/sport science (29%). The highest percentages of low implementation occurred in maths (16%), science (15%), English (14%), and the arts (visual, drama, music and dance) (13%). Across schools, M¯aori language teachers most consistently evidenced the ETP but there was variability in other curriculum areas which could be a function of the subject area expertise of facilitators and the quality of feedback and coaching provided to teachers.

Types of classroom activity across implementation groups Learning activity type was also analysed (see Figure 1) for time spent in different activity types by high implementers compared with moderate implementers and low implementers. High implementation classrooms were managed positively with evidence of strong learning relationships amongst teachers and students, high student participation, and visible learning. Students in high implementation classrooms spent more than a quarter of

Figure 1. Analysis of activity time across five kinds of activity in high implementation, moderate implementation and low implementation (two-year project schools).

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their learning time in group work. These groups were organised using cooperative strategies with role assignments and clearly identified task outcomes. Teachers supported the groups with elaborating questions and answers for discussion along with facts. In high implementation compared with low implementation classrooms, less time was spent in seatwork, in non-academic transitions, and in socialising unrelated to learning. High implementation lessons featured use of M¯aori language, cultural knowledge, and opportunities for students to contribute to knowledge construction, as evidenced by these observations in English: Teacher greets students ‘Morena’ [Morning] as they come into the room, Encourages students to write their magazine article about their own culture, their wh¯anau [family] – asks them to ‘Bring your own knowledge to the task’. Students use Te Reo in the class to each other and the teacher. Teacher states, ‘We are wh¯anau [family] and we need to care about one another’s success. We are here to help each other.’ Teacher sets class goal that all students will get at least Achieved in English exam. Finish lesson by asking students to describe the biggest change you have to make in terms of your work/progress towards these English exams, asks students to reflect on how far they’ve come.

In moderate implementation classrooms, students spent more time doing individual seatwork (24%) but small group work was also occurring (19%). Compared with high implementation classrooms, these teachers spent more teacher talk time presenting facts rather than elaborating with higher order questions and students spent more time in nonacademic activities, socialising and transitions, and less time in student-led activities, evidenced by these examples in mathematics: Teacher uses questions and answers from the whiteboard; gives students time in groups at desk to do equations then demonstrates answer on whiteboard. Teacher expects all students to complete the measurement task, checks on their work, gives help as needed, however learning outcomes are not posted, nor is the purpose of the lesson explained, teacher primarily responds to hands up asking for help, or intervenes when it is obvious the student is not working on the assigned task.

In low implementation classrooms, students spent nearly half of their time in individual seatwork or listening to teachers presenting facts. A significant proportion of time involved non-academic transitions and socialising, and management challenges were at a level likely to interfere with learning. Only 12% of the time was spent working in small groups, and there were only six student-led activities across 31 observations. In low implementation classrooms teachers did not explicitly state learning objectives or success criteria, nor were high expectations set for students. Some teachers seemed unable to demonstrate positive relationships with M¯aori students while maintaining classroom discipline. There were fewer discursive practices, student experiences were not referenced, and there was less variety in teaching and learning activities: Students have all finished their individual worksheets, but teacher is still checking work individually. Most of the class time is spent working on the worksheet while waiting for the teacher to check the work. Teacher leaves magazines out and allows students to read despite distracting students from the learning task; students continuously leave seats to check appearance in mirror on OHP [overhead projector] at back of the room.

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Student perspectives Themes emerging from the interviews with M¯aori students focused on whether they could achieve as M¯aori and whether their teachers cared about them and their learning. Students described how M¯aori culture was reflected in the classroom; however there was a tendency for students to describe the project through deficit theorising, seeing its purpose as changing M¯aori achievement rather than professional development for teachers to become culturally responsive.

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Achieving as M¯aori At most project schools, students reported valuing of their identity as M¯aori learners and described culturally responsive practices in the classroom. They were proud of their M¯aori culture and identity and felt most schools enabled them to be M¯aori rather than being forced to leave that identity outside the school entrance in order to succeed academically. Students discussed what it meant to be M¯aori at school: To me, it means expressing the culture of being a M¯aori and not being afraid or shy to show it. I’m tangata whenua [indigenous]. I can carry my M¯aori culture to the next generation.

Students also discussed their multifaceted identities and gave a variety of descriptions of what being M¯aori meant to them. They discussed how their school demonstrated valuing M¯aori culture and language, primarily through examples of using M¯aori protocols and customs. They also defined places and people – such as the room for Te Kotahitanga facilitation, the marae (meeting house), and M¯aori teachers – helping them to feel M¯aori at school in positive ways.

Impact on teaching and learning Students described the impact of Te Kotahitanga in their classroom, evidenced by the use of M¯aori language, curriculum content and M¯aori knowledge, and improved teaching and learning relationships. They appreciated teachers learning M¯aori vocabulary and phrases in the classroom as positive evidence of embracing things M¯aori: Yeah he’s learning, he’s on the same road as us. Yes we always learn, we teach him new things and he like tries to talk to us in M¯aori and he says what’s this or what’s the M¯aori name for this and then says it all the time. But he’s learnt heaps, like when he first came into our class he didn’t know any M¯aori, didn’t know how to say things and we just teach him now. Our math teacher, she always tried to speak M¯aori which is very cool because she like writes the date up in M¯aori for our class. She tried to say some instructions in M¯aori like what she does, so yes we found it pretty cool how some of our teachers try to [speak M¯aori].

Observational data supported student reports, with high implementers most likely to use M¯aori language greetings and incorporate the language in classroom instructions; they also were likely to use whakatauki (proverbs) and karakia (giving thanks) in lessons. Students also described examples of how teachers related lessons to M¯aori knowledge, taught traditional M¯aori myths and legends, and the role of M¯aori in New Zealand history:

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Science, we’re learning about living things – she did like all these flax things and had to find all the M¯aori names and things. She brings us into the conversation she asks questions like why they came and how they came, when I first came and why I am doing this – I don’t know about the migration story, I’ve learnt stuff about M¯aori migration that I didn’t know.

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Students valued inclusion of M¯aori content knowledge and described teachers whom they considered particularly encouraging, giving examples of how teachers demonstrated their commitment by attending community events, weekend sporting activities, and listening to speeches at the marae: If you tell them what you want to learn, they’ll incorporate it; let you choose what you want to learn. They respect us as M¯aori. She comes to the Marae and the wananga [seminar] a lot and when we have visitors she comes and listens to the whaikorero [formal speech].

Students were also able to articulate changes in their relationships with some teachers since Te Kotahitanga had begun: My teacher Mr B he was like, just writing hard out, writing hard out and we’d write it down and it’s like all of a sudden he starts being real cool. Laid back and started interacting with us . . . over a period of time he’s become more cool . . . more interactive with the students.

In one school, students reported changes in relationships that had improved the school climate: The whole atmosphere around here is so better because the teachers they not only just teach but they also get to know the students and they develop a relationship with them and the stuff they do is just unique to this school and other schools have never heard or done anything like it.

Despite the professional development programme, there was a small amount of evidence from students that teachers found changing classroom patterns challenging. Students in these schools described individual teachers who continued to teach using a traditional pattern of teacher–student interactions, for example: She teaches old school, aye. There are some teachers that just write it up on the board and say to you to copy this and they expect you to learn it, and they just give you a book and tell you what to read and what to do but they don’t actually help you out, like some of them don’t explain properly, they just walk around the room. The Social Studies teacher has no expression in his face, when he is talking straight, yeah it is like – ok, you are doing this, get your books out, get your pens out, if you haven’t got your books out in 10 minutes then you get your name on the board.

For other teachers, students could articulate changes in pedagogy they experienced and how teachers moved from traditional teaching to more interactive approaches: He teaches heaps, shows us what to do, explains this. Makes it interesting by letting us find out how to do it, by making us use our brain. Or they’ll change the way they learn, or they teach us. Like they’ll do ‘Do Nows’ on the board and stuff when we come in just like a warm-up before we get into the proper work.

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Racism and deficit theorising Despite positive reports about M¯aori identity at school, there were also several comments about racism. These appeared to relate to a few teachers and were more likely to occur in low implementing schools. Some M¯aori students continue to face racism at school: My science teacher is real picky about who she [calls on]. There is a whole group of us we have our hands up and everything and we know we know the answer but she’ll go to the [Europeans] – and I’m not being like racist – she’ll go straight to the [Europeans] because this guy who is playing around, and we are all right, we know the answer but she won’t like give us time. Like the [European] before the M¯aori, like we’re second class. It is really annoying though because she’s just always like them – hello! That’s why M¯aori get so frustrated with teachers because they are like – this is our race, [Europeans] are upper class and M¯aori are just down here, you know? Mr, he’s got a whole drawer full of taonga [treasures/usually greenstone] that he confiscated and so we find that pretty disrespectful and the teachers, the M¯aori teachers can’t actually do something about it because it’s a school rule . . . that’s a really big issue.

Rejecting deficit theorising as an explanation for student achievement is fundamental to teacher understandings of the ETP. Thus, even a professional development initiative for teachers with the ultimate goal of raising student achievement can be misinterpreted as something remedial that is directed at student deficits. If students are led to believe that the focus is on remediating underachievement among M¯aori (rather than remediating teaching practices), deficit theorising can undermine students’ identities. When asked what they knew about Te Kotahitanga, some students commented: It means that the government’s trying to help M¯aori students. It’s aimed at M¯aori students. Because to help, because they’re more behind than (Europeans) because we’re more behind everyone else.

Comments such as these suggest that care must be taken in communications with students and family about enhancing achievement. Discussion Te Kotahitanga, with its emphasis on the ETP, was associated with evidence of affirming students as culturally located individuals demonstrated through changes in classroom practice and in student reports about their school and classroom experiences. Overall, these findings demonstrate the extent to which systematic professional development is related to change in classroom instruction and the nature of culturally responsive pedagogies of relations as experienced by the students (Gay, 2010). Classroom observations revealed meaningful differences in practice by teachers who were participating in professional development as part of Te Kotahitanga, evidenced in higher levels of implementation of the ETP compared with teachers from non-participating schools. Furthermore, changes were perceived by M¯aori students who could provide specific examples of how teachers were engaging in culturally responsive pedagogies of relations and supporting them to ‘learn as M¯aori’. Interestingly, implementation of the ETP was higher at those schools participating for two years compared with schools that had participated for four years. The programme’s developers had incorporated changes in the model based on results from the first group of schools, and perhaps these changes produced the improvements. Alternatively, a programme such as this may reach saturation after two years such that continuing with the

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same activities for additional time loses value for teachers, some of whom may also require additional support to make progress towards culturally responsive pedagogies. Developing positive teacher–student relationships was the dimension most clearly understood and implemented by teachers, whereas implementing discursive practices and cultural curriculum content proved more challenging. Not surprisingly, we found that the major challenges for low implementers were using varying types of teaching and learning activities, incorporating student-led activities, and managing social interactions and behaviour in the classroom. These aspects clearly differentiated high from low implementers. This suggests that many teachers, particularly the low implementers, saw relationships mainly in terms of how well teachers and students get along and like each other – aesthetic caring, as Valenzuela (1999) described. Valenzuela explained that reformulating one’s understanding of what it means to care would ‘reposition the ill-informed teacher as “student” of the . . . community and its history of subordination’ (p. 263). As teachers invest in learning through relationships with their students, they might then take responsibility for learning to shift their pedagogy in ways that benefit students academically as well as socially and emotionally. High implementers who are exemplary in their subjects may be well suited to mentor others in specific cultural skills and understandings, particularly in their own subject areas. There was variation in the results whereby teachers in some subjects were more likely to exhibit the ETP than others, but there were also high (and low) implementers in every discipline. It may be productive to develop such models into spiral processes whereby high implementers might play curriculum leadership roles mentoring teachers in their curriculum areas. This would maximise resources within the school and nurture teacher leadership for developing capacity in culturally responsive teaching. M¯aori students attending mainstream schools are the focus of Te Kotahitanga, and what happens in the classroom is the authentic measure of whether teaching practices shift from deficit theorising to strengths-based perspectives. M¯aori students could articulate how teachers had changed, and, in a few schools, they also articulated concerns about a ‘double standard’ that continued to exist whereby M¯aori students were singled out and disciplined for behaviour ignored in students from other cultural groups. Racism exists in schools and is endured by indigenous youth; Castagno and Brayboy (2008) argue that ‘scholarship on culturally responsive schooling rarely includes discussions of racism and how racism might relate to the need for and the effectiveness of culturally responsive practices’ (p. 950). It would appear that in at least some schools, more work is needed to address racism, the impact of colonisation, and continued marginalisation of M¯aori. Cammarota and Romero (2009) argue that programmes will be most effective when they also prepare students to confront and challenge racism. A key remaining issue is whether M¯aori students are empowered to provide feedback to their school on these issues. Te Kotahitanga is grounded in students’ narratives, and for students to have a voice and power in the classroom, their feedback to the school could extend their participation in overall school reform. Castagno and Brayboy (2008) maintain that ‘when students feel empowered and have greater agency within their schools and communities, education is both more meaningful and socially responsible’ (p. 963). Conclusion Wherever indigenous and minoritised students attend ‘mainstream’ educational institutions, extant policies and practices risk being maintained in a context of epistemological racism embedded in fundamental cornerstone features reflecting the dominant culture

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(Bishop et al., 2009). A project such as Te Kotahitanga is charged with addressing systematic racism and/or cultural exclusion through changing one group of educators in schools – teachers – but may not necessarily recognise that multiple stakeholders share responsibility for changing schools. These evaluation data demonstrated influence on teaching in the classroom, but it is unclear the extent to which assessment practices, school organisation and management structures were impacted from teacher professional development. It is unlikely that teacher professional development alone is sufficient for school reform needed to address other factors that could be having a negative impact on students. Secondary schools have remained relatively unchanged since their inception, despite massive social change in their populations and high expectations for their graduates. The students we interviewed appreciated efforts made by most teachers, but not all teachers were making the necessary changes. Nor had all schools succeeded in becoming culturally responsive learning environments, despite their teachers’ best efforts. Schools are not merely a sum of students’ classroom experiences; educationalists generally – not just teachers – must play a role in ensuring that reform enables young people to learn without sacrificing who they are.

Acknowledgements An earlier version of this article was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Denver, USA, May 2010. This work was supported in part by Contract Number 387-2904 awarded to Victoria University’s Jessie Hetherington Centre for Educational Research from the Ministry of Education, New Zealand. The opinions expressed herein, however, are those of the researchers and do not necessarily reflect those of the Ministry of Education, and no official endorsement should be inferred.

Note 1. Kaupapa M¯aori refers to M¯aori ideology, a philosophical doctrine, incorporating the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values of M¯aori society (www.maoridictionary.co.nz). M¯aori researchers such as Bishop (1992), G. Smith (1990) and L. Smith (1999) state that there are a number of contributing factors that set Kaupapa M¯aori research apart from traditional research. These are summarised as: Tino Rangatiratanga: self-determination by M¯aori for M¯aori; collectivistic: orientated towards benefiting all the research participants and their collectively determined agendas; defining and prioritising M¯aori research aspirations, and developing and implementing theoretical and methodological preferences and practices for research.

Notes on contributors Catherine Savage Ng¯ai Tahu (M¯aori tribal affiliation) is Senior Lecturer at Victoria University. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in diversity, inclusion and educational psychology. Rawiri Hindle Ng¯ati Kur¯ı, Pohutiare is Senior Lecturer in Te Kura M¯aori at Victoria University. His specialist areas are the M¯aori arts in education as well as M¯aori epistemologies and pedagogies. Luanna H. Meyer is Director of the Jessie Hetherington Centre for Educational Research at Victoria University and Professor of Education (Research). Anne Hynds is Senior Lecturer at Victoria University. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in diversity and inclusion, research methods and social justice leadership. Wally Penetito Tainui – Ng¯ati Hau¯a, Ng¯ati Tamater¯a, Ng¯ati Raukawa is Professor of M¯aori Education and Co-Director of He P¯arekereke, Institute for Research and Development in M¯aori and Pacific Education, at Victoria University.

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Christine E. Sleeter is Professor Emerita at California State University, Monterey Bay, and President of the National Association for Multicultural Education.

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