Joining the Pieces of the Tivaevae to Enact Strength-Based Mathematics Learning for Pasifika Students in Aotearoa New Zealand

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

For too long the cultures of Pāsifika students has been perceived as deficits within the New Zealand schooling system, rather than as strengths which support, nurture, and empower them as learners. At the same time mathematics research and education has masked ways in which racial disparities continue to be perpetrated in classrooms and the wider political domain. To this end, in this symposium we respond to Martin’s (2009) call for the de-silencing of race in mathematics which occurs through ideologies of colour-blindness and whiteness for Pāsifika students in Aotearoa New Zealand. In our extensive field-based research we have observed how the New Zealand schooling system supports racial ascription (Lewis, 2004) in which dominant European and Asian cultural groups are distinguished from Pāsifika students using common markers of otherness (e.g., culture, language, skin colour and socio-economic status) all of which are used to denote perceived lowered status. In this symposium we illustrate how a transformative approach (Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities), embedded within culturally responsive teaching and learning of mathematics, supports all participants to reconceptualise persistent and long-held notions about who can learn mathematics successfully. To enhance our analytical lens we draw on Hodges’s (2000) metaphoric Cook Island tivaevae (quilt) model. Within this model five values—aokotai (collaboration), tu akangateitei (respect), uriuri kite (reciprocity), tu inangaro (relationships), and akari kite (shared vision)—are emphasised as key to underpinning culturally responsive pedagogy for Pāsifika learners.

Sub Unit

• New Zealand Association for Research in Education - NZARE

Chair

• Beth A. Herbel-Eisenmann, Michigan State University

Papers

• Teacher Educators and Teachers Working Together in Professional Learning - Roberta Hunter, Massey University

• Student Voice - Jodie Hunter, Massey University

• Challenging Teacher Perceptions of Student Capabilities - Glenda Anthony, Massey University

Discussant

• Marta Civil, The University of Arizona