Over the decades, New Zealand has become increasingly diverse. Pasifika is the term given to those of Pacific Island heritage who are living in New Zealand. Pasifika is the term used by education institutions due to the translation of Pacific being Pasifika in many languages. Pasifika is a multi ethnic group who is made up of more than six different cultural groups of the South Pacific. The largest cultural Pasifika group is Samoan with the next largest being Cook Island Maori. In terms of total numbers, just over 230,00 people identified as Pasifika in 2001 (Statistics New Zealand, 2001). These numbers are only increasing.
Due to the increase of diversity within New Zealand, education is further pushing for a more increased culturally responsive environment. A culturally responsive teacher is someone who respects and acknowledges all cultures within their classroom. They make the effort to make their learning relative to their everyday lives.
In New Zealand education, there is a seen to be both positive and negative results for their students. Unfortunately, there is a high number of Maori and Pasifika students who feature in the poor results group. According to Samu (2006), due to the high disparity in results, quality teaching in New Zealand appears to be ineffective. Further research suggests that it is not due to the decile of the school, however it is due to the differences within our schools in the effectiveness of their teaching. This not judge whether the teaching is good or bad by the educator. The type of teaching or style of teaching may not be suited for the type of learner and their learning style. Therefore, it is important as an upcoming teacher that I am aware that not all students respond to learning in the same way. Each child learns differently and has their own learning style. It Is important to be able to identify how your learners learn from the beginning of the school year. By being able to identify this from early on, you will be able to adapt your lessons to ensure you are meeting the needs of your learners. Unfortunately, this tends to effect negatively particular students of a specific cultural and ethnic background. However, if we are able to identify how they learn and absorb knowledge, we would be able to reach the needs of these learners and help bridge the learning gap between students of different ethnicities.
Therefore, the future goal moving forward would be to continue to be culturally responsive teachers, but to also work on ensuring that our teaching is of good quality. By good quality teaching I refer to a teacher being able to identify the learning needs of their learners. This is an important aspect of delivering good quality teaching, and would improve our education system immensely.
Samu, T. W. (2006). The’Pasifika Umbrella’and quality teaching: Understanding and responding to the diverse realities within. Waikato Journal of Education, 12. Retrieved from https://wje.org.nz/index.php/WJE/article/view/229/220
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