title: Te Kotahitanga: culturally responsive professional development for teachers

authors: Bishop, Russell

subjects: indigenous

abstract: Te Kotahitanga is a research and professional development project that aims to support teachers to raise the achievement of New Zealand's indigenous Māori students in public/mainstream classrooms. An Effective Teaching Profile, developed from the voices of Māori students, their families, principals and some of their teachers, provides direction and focus for both the classroom pedagogy and the professional development. While the authors understand that there are many institutional changes necessary at the school level, this paper focuses on the professional learning opportunities developed for classroom teachers within this project to support the development of more effective classroom relationships and interactions with Māori students. This has resulted in Māori students attending school more regularly, engaging as learners and achieving to levels where they begin to realise their true potential.

text: Te Kotahitanga: culturally responsive professional development for teachers Te Kotahitanga is a research and professional development project that aims to support teachers to raise the achievement of New Zealand's indigenous Māori students in public/mainstream classrooms. An Effective Teaching Profile, developed from the voices of Māori students, their families, principals and some of their teachers, provides direction and focus for both the classroom pedagogy and the professional development. While the authors understand that there are many institutional changes necessary at the school level, this paper focuses on the professional learning opportunities developed for classroom teachers within this project to support the development of more effective classroom relationships and interactions with Māori students. This has resulted in Māori students attending school more regularly, engaging as learners and achieving to levels where they begin to realise their true potential.

year: 2010-05

title: Representations of te reo Māori and te ao Māori in a translingual picturebook: How my Koro became a Star

authors: Barbour, Julie Renee

subjects: Indigenous language and culture

abstract: While English is the most commonly used language in Aotearoa New Zealand, it is a multilingual nation with two languages recognised as official: te reo Māori (the Māori language) and New Zealand Sign Language. The English language is dominant in children’s literature published in Aotearoa New Zealand, but since the 1980s there has been an increase in the number of picturebooks featuring two languages, te reo Māori and English. Previous work has explored how representations of te reo Māori and English in pukapuka pikitia reorua (dual language picturebooks) in Aotearoa reflect changing attitudes towards the two languages. In this article, we focus particularly on Brianne Te Paa and Story Hemi-Morehouse’s picturebook How my Koro became a Star. Originally written in te reo Māori, this multi-award winning picturebook is located at the beginning of Matariki, the Māori New Year celebration. In a move away from the linguistic analysis of te reo Māori being ‘borrowed’ by English, we consider how storytellers like Te Paa weave Māori language together with English in a translingual publication, supporting reader comprehension of Māori vocabulary and cultural meanings through embedded illustrations and explanations, inviting the curious reader to learn beyond the story.

text: Representations of te reo Māori and te ao Māori in a translingual picturebook: How my Koro became a Star While English is the most commonly used language in Aotearoa New Zealand, it is a multilingual nation with two languages recognised as official: te reo Māori (the Māori language) and New Zealand Sign Language. The English language is dominant in children’s literature published in Aotearoa New Zealand, but since the 1980s there has been an increase in the number of picturebooks featuring two languages, te reo Māori and English. Previous work has explored how representations of te reo Māori and English in pukapuka pikitia reorua (dual language picturebooks) in Aotearoa reflect changing attitudes towards the two languages. In this article, we focus particularly on Brianne Te Paa and Story Hemi-Morehouse’s picturebook How my Koro became a Star. Originally written in te reo Māori, this multi-award winning picturebook is located at the beginning of Matariki, the Māori New Year celebration. In a move away from the linguistic analysis of te reo Māori being ‘borrowed’ by English, we consider how storytellers like Te Paa weave Māori language together with English in a translingual publication, supporting reader comprehension of Māori vocabulary and cultural meanings through embedded illustrations and explanations, inviting the curious reader to learn beyond the story.

year: 2025

title: 'Mama, am I always going to speak my beautiful languages?': Heritage language maintenance in New Zealand

authors: Connelly, Margaret

subjects: Heritage languages

abstract: This study aimed to explore heritage language maintenance in New Zealand. Specifically, language beliefs, practices and education opportunities are investigated within the domains of family, community and education.
A convenience sample was recruited by snowball recruitment. Invitations to participate were distributed through Facebook and emails to local community leaders. By use of an online, open-item questionnaire, participants from migrant communities were invited to share attitudes, practices and experiences about their family language use at home and in the community, and language education opportunities for their children. Data were gathered from 35 migrant parents of school-aged children, representing 40 languages, and analysed following a systematic thematic analysis approach.
Findings in relation to language beliefs indicate participants share positive attitudes towards their heritage language, identifying themes of identity, family cohesion, and cognitive, academic, economic and cultural benefits to multilingualism. However, although children seem to share their parents’ positive language beliefs, themes of ambivalence emerge in relation to sense of identity, and the perceived social and academic capital of their heritage language. The findings also indicate clear evidence of children’s language shift upon starting mainstream education. 
It was found that the marginalised position of heritage languages in New Zealand introduces a burden on families seeking to maintain their languages. Formal heritage language education is reported as largely unavailable. In this context, the responsibility of language maintenance falls to families and communities, who are faced with challenges such as limited funding, facilities and resources to support language acquisition and maintenance. Despite these challenges, most parents report engaging in communicative strategies to support their children’s heritage language acquisition such as conversation, literature and media.
Findings from this study suggest that language maintenance is achieved when heritage language environments exist in a variety of domains beyond the family. Enabling more successful heritage language maintenance requires a collaboration across families, communities, schools and government. Doing so yields benefits to wellbeing, identity development, academic and economic performance, and improves social cohesion.

text: 'Mama, am I always going to speak my beautiful languages?': Heritage language maintenance in New Zealand This study aimed to explore heritage language maintenance in New Zealand. Specifically, language beliefs, practices and education opportunities are investigated within the domains of family, community and education.
A convenience sample was recruited by snowball recruitment. Invitations to participate were distributed through Facebook and emails to local community leaders. By use of an online, open-item questionnaire, participants from migrant communities were invited to share attitudes, practices and experiences about their family language use at home and in the community, and language education opportunities for their children. Data were gathered from 35 migrant parents of school-aged children, representing 40 languages, and analysed following a systematic thematic analysis approach.
Findings in relation to language beliefs indicate participants share positive attitudes towards their heritage language, identifying themes of identity, family cohesion, and cognitive, academic, economic and cultural benefits to multilingualism. However, although children seem to share their parents’ positive language beliefs, themes of ambivalence emerge in relation to sense of identity, and the perceived social and academic capital of their heritage language. The findings also indicate clear evidence of children’s language shift upon starting mainstream education. 
It was found that the marginalised position of heritage languages in New Zealand introduces a burden on families seeking to maintain their languages. Formal heritage language education is reported as largely unavailable. In this context, the responsibility of language maintenance falls to families and communities, who are faced with challenges such as limited funding, facilities and resources to support language acquisition and maintenance. Despite these challenges, most parents report engaging in communicative strategies to support their children’s heritage language acquisition such as conversation, literature and media.
Findings from this study suggest that language maintenance is achieved when heritage language environments exist in a variety of domains beyond the family. Enabling more successful heritage language maintenance requires a collaboration across families, communities, schools and government. Doing so yields benefits to wellbeing, identity development, academic and economic performance, and improves social cohesion.

year: 2022