Education relevant to cultures in action plan

‘‘You are what I call generation 6B, people who are proudly brown, beautiful, brainy, bilingual, bicultural and Bold.’’

Aupito William Sio Pacific Peoples Minister

The Government’s latest ‘‘action plan’’ for education covers all the usual subjects – it discusses making better mathematicians and confronting declining literacy rates.

But some in the Government are also focused on something that was withheld from generations of students – education that celebrates students’ whakapapa.

As Government ministers launched their latest ‘‘action plan’’ in South Auckland, Aupito William Sio, the Pacific Peoples Minister, asked students at Ma¯ ngere East Primary School about their own whakapapa. He spoke to students about the links between the Pacific, going back to the early navigators that travelled from Hawaiki. After other ministers had left, one young girl told Sio how her whakapapa stretches across many Pacific Islands, including Aotearoa.

How is that relevant to reading and maths? ‘‘You need to be able to tell the stories of your ancestors; how they were able to navigate the vast Pacific Ocean, measuring where the Sun is from day to day . . . All of those things begin with mathematics, with reading, with writing, because that is how you will tell our stories,’’ he told students. He told reporters the Government was focused on empowering teachers who recognised the culturally specific needs of a diverse generation of Kiwis. He said the plan communicated clear baselines for literacy and numeracy to all teachers but could also be tailored for Maori and Pasifika pedagogies. Education relevant to students’ cultures, in their own languages, should boost outcomes for Maori and Pasifika.

When he asked how many of the hundred-plus students were bilingual, about two-thirds of them raised their hands. Just under half said they were tri-lingual.

The cohort of young children, he noted, had mastered language skills which some people spend their lives trying to achieve.

The multilingualism of Mangere East is not unique in the fastest growing areas of New Zealand.

The youngest generation is far more diverse than any other, growing into a world far more connected – facing vastly different challenges.

‘‘I tell my colleagues constantly, that Mangere – and where all our Maori and Pacific people are – you are the future of New Zealand,’’ he said.

‘‘You are what I call generation 6B, people who are proudly brown, beautiful, brainy, bilingual, bicultural and bold.’’

He said the pressure needed to stay on the education sector to provide culturally competent teachers, to engage young Pacific and Ma¯ ori students.

He told students he wanted them to be able to read and speak and be taught in their own languages.

Later, Sio acknowledged there was still a lot of work to do to hire Pasifika and bilingual teachers.

He said specific funding for bilingual schools had been made available this year, for the first time.