Whakawhanaungatanga: Partnerships in bicultural development in early childhood care and education

Abstract

Māori participation in early childhood education (ECE) still lags behind that of non-Māori (45 percent compared to 68 percent—Ministry of Education, 2004). The strategic plan for early childhood (Ministry of Education, 2002) contains “a focus on collaborative relationships for Māori”, which seeks to “create an environment where the wider needs of Māori children, their parents, and whānau (families) are recognised and acknowledged” (p. 16), and where whānau, hapū and iwi can work with ECE services. ECE services are also encouraged to become more responsive to the needs of Māori children. This project was premised on findings of Ritchie (2002), that strengthening provision of the bicultural aspirations of the early childhood curriculum within ECE settings other than kōhanga reo is a central professional responsibility for educators, and that a key strategy for achieving this is to build relationships with the whānau Māori of children in their settings (whakawhanaungatanga). A further context for the study was the research of Rau (2002), that identified and employed key concepts in kaupapa Māori education and research theories, and focused on intergenerational transmission of Māori values through whanau relationships and practices. Whakawhanaungatanga approaches have the potential to increase Māori participation in early childhood education, since Māori seek educational experiences that validate their identity and offer te reo and tikanga, including key values such as a sense of whanaungatanga. Even those Māori families who send their children to conventional early childhood centres and schools want their children to learn te reo, and expect these services to support this aspiration. This research project aimed to address the problem identified by Ritchie (2002), that mainstream and teacher educators lack confidence and competence in delivering bicultural education programmes that meet the expectations of Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996b), and to consider enacted strategies validating Maori ways of knowing, doing, and being (Rau, 2002). The research kaupapa was also consistent with Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations to protect and sustain taonga Māori and enable Māori to exercise tino rangatiratanga or ownership of their taonga.

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