CONTEXT
The teacher’s experience is frequently overlooked as a source of useful data on teaching practice. Nelson (2003, p. 85) points out that “every class is potentially an experiment from which the data are either discarded or never gathered.” This paper presents two academics’ reflections on the impact of their training in te reo Maori and tikanga Maori on their teaching activities.
PURPOSE
To reflect on academics’ learning of Maori language and culture in order to design teaching and learning activities that incorporate Maori language and the Maori worldview.
APPROACH
The paper uses three of Brookfield’s (1998) four lenses of reflection on teaching practice.
RESULTS
The first academic considered it was important to enable students to adequately explore the worldviews of the diverse stakeholders they will design products for in future and to test students on their understanding of these in order to satisfy cultural aspects of the graduate profile outcomes. The second academic found benefits of the use of Maori language in class in creating an atmosphere reflective of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Each academic found something to learn from the other’s work.
CONCLUSIONS
Adding the Maori language and worldview enables the classroom to better reflect New Zealand’s bi-cultural environment and student projects to better meet the needs of diverse stakeholder groups, and also explicitly addresses the cultural aspects of the graduate profile.