2023/09/14 by Jodie Hunter, Roberta Hunter · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Early Childhood Education and Development #Indigenous and Place-Based Education #Parental Involvement in Education
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s10649-023-10256-7
crossref issued 2023/09/14 · crossref published 2023/09/14 · crossref published-online 2023/09/14 · openalex publication_date 2023/09/14 · crossref created 2023/09/14 · crossref published-print 2024/07/01 · crossref deposited 2024/07/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract As in many countries, for decades in Aotearoa (New Zealand), we have heard the story of the Pacific and Māori achievement gap in mathematics. This has become a widely accepted part of beliefs constructed across multiple communities about students and schools and who can do and learn mathematics successfully. A common response by policy makers and educators alike is to fix the problem of those deemed academically bleak by putting in place a range of interventions. In this article, we challenge the positioning of Pacific students as a problem to be fixed and instead focus on how we can address the practices inherent in historical forms of institutionalised racism related to colonisation. We use an Indigenous research model—Tivaevae—to develop an exemplary case study of the teachers and students from one low socio-economic urban school as they were involved in conscientisation and the reconstitution of educational practices to privilege indigenous knowledge systems. The findings highlight one model of how teachers and students can change institutionalised Western world practices in the mathematics classroom. We argue that the shift to honouring indigenous knowledge systems and a strength-based approach provided opportunities for Pacific students to learn mathematics in ways that supported them to build strong mathematical dispositions, and rather than being assimilated, retain their cultural identity.