Meeting the needs of diverse learners within inquiry
Alton-Lee (2005) emphasises the need for quality teaching that is responsive to and inclusive of diverse students’ needs.
The use of the term “diversity” rejects the notion of a “normal” group and “other” or minority groups of children and constitutes diversity and difference as central to educational practice. That means all learners, including students who are Pākehā or of European heritage, Māori, Pasifika, Asian and learners of many ethnicities and heritages, including high and low achievers, including boys and girls, and so on. This point is important because the word “diversity” can be inappropriately co-opted as a way of constructing an “us” and “other” distinction around an assumed “norm”.
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For ISTEs, the implication of this statement is that they must position diversity and difference as central to their pedagogical practice, both in relation to the teachers they work with and the students within their classes. This is no easy matter. For many of us, our background and life experience position us within a “dominant discourse” with established ways of thinking and behaving that privilege particular groups over others (Bishop and Glynn, 1999). It takes time and sometimes painful self-examination to transcend such thinking and behaving and to truly move beyond the “us and other”. It is even more challenging to reach the stage where our daily practice reflects an understanding that there are multiple diversities within apparently homogeneous groups and that each individual we work with is a diverse person with their own multiple characteristics.
The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand. The three articles of the Treaty are often discussed in relation to the three principles of partnership, protection, and participation. One of the most significant challenges ISTEs face is making these principles a reality and embedding them in their everyday practice.
Bishop and Glynn (1999, page 175) suggest that the Treaty can be used as a metaphor for establishing power-sharing relationships, and they explore this concept through the above three principles. In a similar way, the questions below are offered as a tool for ISTEs to use within their ongoing inquiry into their practice and into meeting the needs of the diverse learners they work with. The questions are best explored over time with others, including the colleagues, teachers, and students ISTEs work with; discussing and addressing them will contribute valuable perspectives to any inquiry.
Partnership
What does the idea of “partnership” mean to you? Are the “voices” of all those you are working with able to be heard? Whose voices dominate? How strongly does your voice stand out? How do you know?
What is the balance of power in the situations you work in? Who does it favour? Do Māori and Pasifika have a share? Do students?
How inclusive are your ways of working and of building relationships? How do you ensure multiple ways of working are adopted when appropriate?
Protection
What are the implications of the term “protection” in your daily practice? How do you know that your ways of working protect and value multiple “ways of knowing”?
Who decides what “best practice” and “foundation knowledge” are in the area you work in? Are Māori, Pasifika, and others’ cultural discourses represented? How was this authority to decide established?
Who are you accountable to? Does your answer include teachers and students? Should it?
Participation
What does “true participation” look like for colleagues and teachers you work with and for students within the teachers’ classes? How do you arrive at this view? Who’s involved in deciding on it?
How do Māori and Pasifika teachers and students benefit from taking part in activities with you? How do you know this represents a “benefit” to them? How do you “measure” this benefit?
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