Whānau Hui

As part of boosting Maori literacy in the school one of my student has been selected to join a focus group. He attends a Tuakana Teina session four afternoons a week focusing on literacy and seems to really enjoy this time. The school decided to organise a Whanau Hui to give parents an opportunity to comment on how the school is going with the Maori journey. I found this an interesting meeting with a diverse group of parents and has caused me to reflect on several things in my classroom. Firstly I was impressed with the turnout of parents that attended. The afternoon was relaxed and enjoyable and the parents really seemed to enjoy networking with each other and the school.

Something that made me think were two conversations I had with two different mothers. One mother talked to me in great detail about how she appreciates the school ‘giving it a go’ and encouraging our Maori students to get in touch with their heritage. She also spoke about extra-curricular Maori classes her child is enrolled in and how she appreciates the support of the school in celebrating this. This made me feel confident to continuing using Maori in my classroom even if it might not be perfect! Another mother I spoke to was quite disgruntled that the school keep asking her child to find out about his Maori heritage when it is not something they know about in their household. She expressed frustration at not knowing where to go to get the answers and disclosed that she feels it is not a huge part of who they are so why should she have to hunt for the information. Likewise she also expressed concern that people without the knowledge are trying to impart the language to student in the school and often getting the pronunciation wrong etc.

These two parents gave me quite a lot to think about as personally I had been of the opinion that giving it a go was better that not using the language at all. However after these conversations I am left feeling confused about my role as a NZ teacher with limited knowledge of Te Reo and wether I should leave this aspect of teaching up to a ‘professional’. I feel very mixed about this as I have undertaken several Maori PD courses in my own time although I am still aware my accent and speaking of Te Reo is not fantastic! Similarly it made me question wether encouraging children to identify with their Maori culture is the right way to go. If the culture is not encouraged and discussed at home I feel a bit confused about who’s role it is to help the child explore their cultural heritage. The first mother I spoke to (and the majority at the Whanau Hui) seemed to be quite happy with their child exploring the Maori culture through the various options we have at school however the small majority have made me worry that it is not my place to encourage this!

I am looking forward to joining Amanda’s Te Reo group as I hope this will help with some of my pronunciation problems! I hope to hear the overall feedback that was collated during the Whanau Hui and see what the general feeling is about how we are doing at Paparoa Street School.