Cross Cohort Learnings for School Reform: The Importance of Power Sharing and Time for Disrupting and Repositioning Critical Social Consciousness

• In Event: Respectful Relationships for Collaborative and Sustainable Educational Communities

Abstract

Objectives or purposes:

This presentation uses the voices of participants gathered from multiple cohorts to understand the critical elements of this deliberate pedagogy that leads to confident and coherent acts of agency among educators and community.

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework

Our focus is on supporting educators across the learning pathway to work more effectively with Māori learners and their families. Kaupapa Māori and Critical theories are foundational to the type of indigenizing and decolonizing transformative reform required for addressing inequity and racism across society. The foundational duality of respectful relationships and responsive praxis brings these theories and practice together.

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry:

A retrospective analysis of e-portfolios from both Kaiwhakaako (those participants who undertook to facilitate and learn alongside colleagues and community members) and Ākonga (learner colleagues who learned from kaiwhakaako) was undertaken. A purposive group of these educators were then interviewed using open ended questions. Interviews were either recorded and transcribed or notes were taken capturing key points. Grounded theory was used to establish common themes from e-portfolios, transcriptions, or notes.

Data sources, evidence, objects, materials or the equivalent for theoretical or methodological papers/presentations:

The online platform provided entry points for participants to post their developing thinking at all stages of the program including at face-to-face gatherings. Focus questions guided activities with reflection spaces used to capture evidence of both greater understanding of the new learning and identification of personal and collective agency leading to localized steps to effect change. Kaiwhakaako and Ākonga responses were anonymized and made available for analysis.

Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view:

There was strong alignment with the characteristics of effective blended learning that emerged from the literature review, the findings from the master's thesis and the analysis of participant voice. Discursive repositioning occurred through a process of conscientisation followed by unlearning and learning at two different levels: with Kaiwhakaako (individual), and subsequently within the Ākonga (groups).

Establishing cultural relationships and enabling pedagogy that was responsive to the cultural experiences of participants created safe spaces for learning. Supporting the spread of the learning and pedagogy through structured but self-paced content with timely facilitator feed forward was essential to maintain connection and commitment. Interspersing online content with face-to-face activity supported the sense of being part of a community of interest and minimised any sense of isolation.

Access to curated examples of our silenced histories and what we could, should and would do differently, reinforced new personal positioning and supported the learning to be transferable. While many initially had superficial and imperfect understandings the program content did effectively stimulate discussion and, overtime, more nuanced sense making became evident within participant voice. Increasingly the desire for cultural and structural shifts were expressed both locally and nationally.

Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work:

Structural and cultural change such as this requires ongoing and enduring conversations with people who believe in social equity and their agency to bring about change. This can be achieved by drawing others into conversations - conversations that too often will never occur unless we are deliberate in establishing the conditions in which they can occur. Active participation of leadership and shared ownership of responses accelerates such a change agenda.

Authors

• Mere Berryman, University of Waikato

• David Copeland, University of Waikato