Reflective practice through Kia Eke Panuku
I was involved in a Kia Eke Panuku team in 2016 which was the last year of the programme. During the year the visiting facilitators met with small groups of teachers and leaders from our school to facilitate the discussions around the goals for our target students, teaching experiences and evidence. Our joint enterprise as defined by Wenger 2000 was to improve the academic achievement and engagement of Maori students. To this end each teacher had identified 4 or 5 students that they were going to specifically work with, although lesson planning would be for the whole class.
The Discussion
The discussion was structured around Ako: Critical Contexts for Learning supported by Kaupapa Maori and Critical Theories. Each teacher talked about their goals for their target group and the actions they had taken and the evidence they have gathered. The sessions were reflective and facilitation resulted in the teachers deciding what they would do next to work towards the goal. Teachers continued to discuss activities informally at other times but these facilitated sessions provided the formal and more rigorous reflection and committing to next steps.
The shared repertoire was the teaching ideas that were shared during these sessions which could be used by other teachers in the group. The evidence we had gathered was also used within our wider school community to show what we had achieved.
The members of this community of practice were also part of the larger teaching community of year 7 and 8 teachers within my school. We already had a high degree of trust and were willing to share our feelings as well as observations. The facilitators of this group, although visitors were so positive about what we were trying to do that I didn’t feel threatened by their presence or the questions that they asked. Perhaps because I do want to think honestly about my teaching practice.
My role in this community was as an active member although I hadn’t been in the group as long as some of the other teachers. Although this community no longer exists, it served a valuable purpose for me in that it invited me to test some assumptions I had made about students in my class and find out that I was wrong!References
http://kep.org.nz/mahi-tahi/making-the-difference
Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.
Karen, it is great that you were apart of community that wanted to improve academic and engagement levels for Maori. To have colleagues who made you feel comfortable and at ease while observing you is a community many teachers would welcome. When things are not going well/ to plan it is often those who have a strong community support system who are best off. Having the opportunity to reflect on a regular basis and meet both formally and informally to improve your teaching practice for Maori learners will undoubtedly help you to improve your practice.
ReplyDeleteThanks Haidee I was expecting the sessions to be a bit more critical but on reading how Te Kotahitanga is set up, it is a supportive and caring group, facilitating rather than directing, so they were following the process. Thanks for your comments :)
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