Culturally Responsive Pedagogy teacher only day

A small group of kaiako from different subject areas has worked together this year to further promote ākonga Māori success as Māori within Hagley College. The aims of this group, named Te Awhiorangi, are closely aligned with our culturally responsive practice AC in Te Taura Here o Ōtautahi. A joint initiative between this group, our DP Marie Stribling, and me as a kāhui AST, saw a half day of professional learning delivered on culturally responsive pedagogy. 

 The morning started with a presentation in the Hagley cafe on the key concepts of CRP, as informed by Dr Russell Bishop's "Teaching to the North-East", the 'Hikairo Schema for Secondary', and Dr. Mere Berryman's recent work. Following this, we were split into three groups to move into our first workshops.

Each of the three workshops was led by a member of Te Awhiorangi, and was focused on one aspect of CRP. Fiona Brownlie ran a session on 'creating an extended family-like context for learning'. Jasmine Lambert facilitated a workshop on 'learning interactions', and Tina Munro ran a workshop on 'monitoring learners' progress'. 

The aims of the day were to develop shared understandings as a staff as to what it means to be a culturally responsive practitioner - what are the necessary elements - and to establish practical ways of taking the theory and research into our learning environments in order to improve outcomes for our ākonga.

The workshop sessions in particular were an opportunity to learn and share with each other the successful strategies we've used in a range of subject areas- from Dance, and English language learning, to Maths, and Hospitality. 

We also spent time using the 'Hikairo Schema' to reflect individually on our own practice in the three areas (create/interact/monitor), and setting goals for our next steps. The plan is to revisit these in the new year as we work to further embed CRP in our everyday teaching. 

We have developed a range of resources around the presentation and workshops and would be more than happy to share and/or present in different places. Do feel free to get in touch if you're interested at jasmine.lambert@staff.hagley.school.nz