Abstract:
Recent research focusing on improving educational outcomes for Māori students in
mainstream secondary schools in Aotearoa/New Zealand have asserted that building
positive student-teacher relationships in the classroom are fundamental (c. f. Bishop,
Berryman, & Richardson, 2003; Bishop & Tiakiwai, 2003; Ministry of Education,
2002, 2006). In contrast, attempts to investigate the educational benefits associated
with Māori students participating in cultural learning activities, such as kapa haka,
and the implications for improving levels of Māori student achievement, remains
relatively unexplored. To embark on such an investigation, Māori kapa haka students
and teachers from four mainstream secondary schools were invited to take part in an
interview process informed by using a Kaupapa Māori theoretical approach. As a
result, the study revealed quite emphatically that not only does kapa haka provide
Māori students with an appropriate ‘culturally responsive’ learning experience, but
that they also feel more confident and optimistic about school and their education.
Moreover, kapa haka provides the opportunity for students to celebrate who they are
as Māori and as ‘culturally connected’ learners in mainstream schooling contexts. In
addition, Māori students through the kapa haka experience learn to ‘protect’,
‘problem-solve’, ‘provide’, and ‘heal’ their inner self-worth, essence and wellbeing as
Māori. Similarly, most teachers agreed that kapa haka provides Māori students with a
creative, dynamic and powerful way to access their learning potential as cultural
human beings. An overwhelming response by both students and teachers is that kapa
haka should be timetabled as an academic subject to provide greater access to
indigenous and cultural performing art that affirms their identity as Māori, and our
uniqueness as New Zealanders. Finally, the research proposes a ‘culturally
responsive’ learning strategy to assist what mainstream secondary schools and
teachers provide as valid and purposeful learning opportunities for ‘culturally
connected’ learners who are Māori.