Culturally Responsive Pedagogy - Whanaungatanga

Tamaki College has been working with Ngahuia Lott over a period of years and she has been running workshops for us this year. This diagram shows the extent and meaning of what we have been learning.

At the beginning of each year we need to build relationships with those we are working with including students. This comes under the heading of whanaungatanga. What is whanaunagatanga? For myself it is developing relationships with each of the teachers I work with. These are mainly beginning teachers who I will be supporting over several years but also in my role as the SCT I work with other teachers who would like support. I am lucky that I have been given time to do this important role and although I am not teaching in the classroom, I have had years of experience teaching in low decile and high decile schools and also with Team Solutions, University ofAuckland. Being able to work in-depth in one school is a privilege as one can work at a deeper level. Each of the beginning teachers have a group meeting and an individual meeting with me each week. In this situation one of the main things to remember is well said in the proverb

E rua ōku taringa, kōtahi tōku waha.’ 

You have two ears for listening and one mouth for talking! Listen attentively to what others are saying and expressing. When people are sharing their thoughts, ideas, and aspirations, be respectful of what they are saying and how they are saying it before you respond. When responding, acknowledge others, summarise what they have said, restate how you have interpreted the message and don’t say things you will regret!