Culture Counts: Changing Power Relations in Education

Current educational policies and practices in most Western countries were developed and continue to be developed within a framework of colonialism - a context of epistemological racism that is fundamentally embedded in the dominant culture.

The model for addressing cultural diversity that is presented in this book is based on an indigenous Kaupapa Maori response to the dominant discourse within New Zealand. It promotes self-determination as guaranteed in the Treaty of Waitangi as a metaphor for power-sharing and has as its goal the advancement of educational outcomes and life opportunities for Maori children and those from other cultures.

In this model the classroom is a place where young people's sense-making processes (cultures) are incorporated and enhanced, where the existing knowledge of young people are seen as "acceptable" and "official", and where the teacher interacts with students in such a way that new knowledge is co-created and not seen as something that the teacher makes sense of and then passes on to students.

Russell Bishop holds the foundation chair for Maori Education and is also an Assistant Dean in the School of Education at the University of Waikato. He is of Tainui, Scottish and Irish descent, was born in the South Island of New Zealand and educated in both the South and North Islands. Russell taught Social Sciences and te reo Maori in high schools in Porirua and Rarotonga for some fourteen years before moving into tertiary education. His research interests are in the application of kaupapa Maori theorising to researching in Maori contexts that promote the self-determination of the research participants. He has also been active in devising strategies for evaluating institutional responses to the Treaty of Waitangi.

Ted Glynn holds the foundation chair in Teacher Education in the School of Education at the University of Waikata and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Ted is of Irish descent and was born and educated in South Auckland. He has recently chaired the Board of the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. Ted has a wide background in Applied Behaviour Analysis, Special Education and bicultural and bilingual education. Ted helped to pioneer the Pause Prompt Praise reading tutoring procedures in South Auckland. He also helped to develop classroom behaviour management and staff development programmes in the first Guidance and Learning Unit in Mangere and at the residential Glenburn Centre in West Auckland. He ia a member of the Specialist Education Service Poutama Pounamu Education research Whanau in Tauranga, and he is a member of the universities team responsible for developing the Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) programme.