Empowering Pasifika Identity at Tamaki College

“A child educated to be strong in their own identity stands confident in the world” 

(Dr Rae Si’ilata)

As part of our Pasifika Initiative, we wanted Pasifika students to have a platform where they would be acknowledged and valued in their cultural ethnicities.  According to Turu #1 of the Tapasā, effective teaching pedagogies must first ‘demonstrate awareness of the diverse and ethnic-specific identities, languages and cultures of Pacific Learners’.  The plan was to hold a Pasifika student platform which doubled as a launch for the programme.  

Planning for the event: 

To get to this point, I met our SLT to share the idea who supported our plan.  I then met with our Pasifika staff to gage how we would go about organising the meeting.  It was important to get their feedback and to have them as a strong part of the journey.  Then I needed to inform our students through whanau meetings and whole school assemblies to prepare them for the day.  Last but not least, we informed our parents and families through letters and social media posts.  

The layout of the day was to enact a Talanoa style environment.  We wanted students and staff to feel like we were back in our villages, in an open fale, where no one was above and no-one was below the other, all were equal and all shared the power.  We covered the floors with mats (fala).  We then put a cover bowl on one side of the auditorium for our Pasifika student leaders to be around and opposite them were going to be our senior leadership team Ms Pamaka and Mr Dunn.

The Event:

On Friday 9th April we held our first ever Pasifika student cultural meeting.  The purpose of this cultural platform was launch the initiative and to hear from some of our ex-students who were not back at the college what they’re schooling experience was like.

We began with a prayer and song, then I shared a brief outline of our journey to this point.  We then had a performance and each of our three speakers shared their educational stories . Our principal then launched the programme and we concluded with a pray.  

To me this powerful image sums it all up.  The feedback from the students was interesting.  They wanted to know more about the purpose of the launch and some had never been in a Talanoa environment before.  A discussion with some colleagues after the day found that students were taking photos of the event and sharing it out to other schools on social media and asking what was happening.  To me, I was in my element and the day would be one of the most significant for me in my teaching career.  I know it was the start of an amazing journey for all students and staff involved.

 

Turu 1.14 Demonstrates understanding that many Pacific learners share multiple heritages, such as inter-Pacific, Māori and non-Pacific, and know the importance of supporting those shared identities, languages and cultures in their educational success and achievement

Teaching through a Cultural Lens: a collaborative workshop

At our Manaiakalani Cluster wide Teachers’ only day held on the 16th April, Christine Tupou, Poto Faalili and I took the opportunity to share with staff the challenges faced by our young Pasifika students every day.  We invited a number of students to speak about the importance of teachers’ knowing how to pronounce their names properly and they wanted shared some of the sad stories of when teachers got it wrong.  They talked about how it made them feel and the space was provided for them to share their stories.  

A few of our presenters practice the day before

Staff who attended our workshop

Our students were amazing.  They spoke with confidence and poise and determination.  We were very proud of them.  It was quite an emotional time for me because I felt they spoke for me and for every child who would have to sit and be embarrassed when someone spoke their name incorrectly or for the child who just accepted the incorrect name because they didn't want to make a big deal.

We designed our own analogy of the kava ceremony and what the ceremony represented.  Each element of the process was described as related to the world of a Pasifika student and how each aspect linked them to their families and that a child's success is the families success. The staff who attended the workshop had the chance to take part in the ceremony.  

Afterwards, we asked staff for feedback and collected their thoughts to be collated and discussed after the holidays.  It was a very special workshop that I felt proud to have been a part of. 

The links to the Tapasa are:

Turu 2.14 Critically reflects and examines whose knowledge is being taught and valued in the early learning setting or classroom in order to balance and enhance power sharing collaborative relationships.  (Please refer to a previous blogpost about the planning for this workshop)

Planning a Culturally Responsive Workshop #1

During our 2nd COL meeting, I made a strong connection with Poto and Christine from Glen Taylor Primary as we shared the same inquiry topic - how to bring to the forefront culturally responsive pedagogy to support our Pasifika students.  I had not talked properly to Poto or Christine before that COL meeting and to find out that they shared the same concerns and the same frustrations as me was validating.  We found that our reasons for why we were concerned were very similar and knew that we needed to support each other in how we could share this message with the world.  We decided that we wanted to work together to present a workshop at the upcoming Manaiakalani cluster wide teachers’ only day being held at Glen Taylor, so we set about organising our first meeting.  

The purpose of the workshop would be to encourage teachers to reflect on their practice in response to a culturally responsive practice.  We decided to call the working 'Teaching through a cultural lens".

We looked at the first Turu of the Tapasā around Identity, Language & Culture and shared stories of how important it was for teachers to know a students name.  We also thought about students who would be judged by their appearance ie. not a ‘full’ Samoan or Tongan or students whose names were very Pacific, but they didn’t look like your typical P.I child.  We brainstormed names of students that we knew and found a common connection in that some students were ex students of Glen Taylor who I currently teach so it made sense for these ex-students to go back to their old school to share their experiences.

We selected about 5 students between us.  Because our kids were different ages, we thought that we’d guide them through the initial introductions by creating a basic speaking frame:

Speaking Frame 

I’ve been called by ….. But my name is … given to me by ….  I am …. (ethnicit/es) 

We decided that we needed another meeting to expand on our introduction and so planned to add more information to our planning doc and to meet again in a weeks time.  I left the meeting feeling excited about the prospect of allowing our kids voices to be heard and thankful that we had each other.