Action Plan for Pacific Education 2020-2030 Filivaifale Jason Swann Principal – Otahuhu Primary School; President – New Zealand Pasifika Principals Association photographer
Kim Gee
O le ala i le pule o le tautua – the road to leadership is through service. Samoan proverb.
Principalship and leadership in general, can be reflected in the Samoan proverb above. But this is truly reflective of a Pasifika mindset to leadership. As Pasifika leaders we are attuned to the fact that we need to serve others in order to be a good leader. This does not mean that this leadership is subservient to others, it displays a willingness and motivation to support, guide and lead so that others may prosper. If others succeed, the collective succeeds and shares in that success. There are many initiatives currently and over previous years that employ this mindset. Some of these have been initiatives such as the iterations of the Pasifika Education Plan (PEP) as well as the accompanying resources like PEP in our Step through to the current Action Plan for Pacific Education 2020-2030. A noticeable change to the current plan is that its duration is for 10 years. There can be a number of ways to view this longevity. If you have a positive viewpoint of this you could consider that it will allow the Action Plan for Pacific Education to be locked in over potential successive governments. This can give the Ministry of Education (MOE) s ome cer tainty in direction and they can plan and deliver accordingly with the ability to lock in resource and funding to initiatives or educational developments over time. A possible opposing viewpoint could be that it also gives years to implement the detail and that by buying this time it can also instil a lack of urgency. As with many educational policies the devil will be in the detail, how this will be implemented and at what pace. The Action Plan for Pacific Education 2020-2030 was informed by a series of fono (hui/meetings/gatherings) throughout Aotearoa New Zealand with Pasifika learners, families and communities. This was an important exercise as it gave Pasifika recipients of our educational system a platform to share their thoughts, feelings, ideas and future hopes of what this could look like and what is currently happening in this space. The
scope of this work included early childhood education, through the compulsory schooling sector, tertiary education and onto employment with the aim of all opportunities remaining open to Pasifika people as life-long learners. This is represented in the Pacific Education 2030 Vision – ‘Diverse Pacific learners and their families are safe, valued, and equipped to achieve their education aspirations’. From the fono and subsequent work by the MOE, 5 key system shifts were identified. Key Shift 1. Work reciprocally with diverse Pacific communities to respond to unmet needs, with an initial focus on needs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. What are the needs of your Pasif ika community and how do you know this? How are you engaging with your Pasifika community and building trusted, reciprocity in relationship? These are sometimes difficult questions for schools to answer. Building a re l at i ons h ip of mutual respect and trust is the first step to achieving success. Hosting school fono that acknowledges a Pasifika world view is a good start. Rather than going straight into items on an agenda, take time to get to know each other and build relationships. Kai/food is a key ingredient in this recipe as it reflects your world view. If you host a fono and offer cups of tea and biscuits, then you have not done your homework. A Pasifika community will recognise that they have entered a non-Pasifika space and the meeting will advance accordingly. If you provide kai/food of substance, converse over this meal and build relationships and more importantly life connections with each other, you will find the depth of future relationships very rewarding. The kai/food is the vehicle to relationship. As you eat with others you are all at the same individual and collective level, you are one, an aiga/whānau, a team. You enjoy a shared experience and make memories
together. This is crucial if you want a genuine, and long-lasting relationship with your Pasifika community.
of ethnicities. There are similarities to the collective term of ‘Australasia’ implying that Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia are the same. Although our countries may have similarities, Key Shift 2. we are also fiercely independent of each other. We definitely Confront systemic racism and discrimination in education. play our rugby differently. This is the same for our Pasifika This theme came through the fono and was reflected in the same nations. We share many similarities but are very different from simple message that we have heard for one another. This is where a person’s years now. It is as simple as pronouncing This is where a knowledge of ethnic-specific context can a person’s name correctly. If you are unable prove invaluable for a school setting. Your to take the time to learn a person’s name, person’s knowledge school community will be blessed with why should they engage with you? Why external experts in your community. They should they trust you? Why should they of ethnic-specific will come in the form of elders, master support you? This has been a recurring context can prove carvers, weavers, dancers, vaka or vaatele debate for many years and it still continues. makers, waka ama paddlers and so on. The New Zealand Pasifika Principals invaluable for a school Building genuine reciprocal relationships Association have developed an initiative with these experts will enable a school to named Tautai o le Moana, which mentors setting. Your school build cultural competency in a community school principals from the primary and community will be context. This cultural knowledge will be secondary sector to have confidence and sitting on the school doorstep. capability in a Pasifika space. It supports blessed with external A consideration for a school would principals to be mindful of a Pasifika be, how would you approach the sharing worldview in strategic direction and experts in your of this knowledge? Listen to your decision-making and enables principals community. community and the way they do things. to develop meaningful relationships with You will probably find that this work their Pasifika communities. or relationship will not be developed in a palagi/European worldview. This can be difficult for some schools as they feel Key Shift 3. restricted by the ‘rules’. Listen and learn from your community Enable every teacher, leader and educational professional to take and you will reap the rewards. coordinated action to become culturally competent with diverse Key Shift 4. Pacific learners. The word ‘Pasifika’ is a collective term to group a range Partner with families to design educational opportunities together N Z Principal | S e p t e m b e r 2 0 2 1
with teachers, leaders and educational professionals so that aspirations for learning and employment can be met. Our Pasifika young people are master navigators in their daily lives. They travel through multiple worlds every day. There will be certain structures, protocols and ways of being/tikanga that Pasifika young people are experts at juggling. They will navigate through home, school, church, sporting opportunities, work, study and many more in the course of a day or week. With this in mind, what can a school do in partnership with families to make this journey a successful one? Listen to what is happening in the daily lives of our Pasifika young people and aiga/whānau. Just as you differentiate learning in a class programme apply this thinking to solutions. Engaging with aiga/whānau is the key. Pasifika aiga/whānau are the driving force and motivation for us all as Pasifika. We are wanting to make our aiga/whānau proud but also be successful so that our collective can be successful. If I am successful, then this is my aiga/whānau’s success and everyone gets to celebrate that as such. The opposite also applies. If I am in pain, my aiga/whānau will share that pain with me. This is a great motivator to be successful. As Pasifika we expect that our aiga/whānau will be a major part of our thinking and decision-making in our lives. Key Shift 5. Grow, retain and value highly competent teachers, leaders and educational professionals of diverse Pacific heritages. Just as in any profession there can be a range of knowledge, worldviews and capabilities. Growing Pasifika educationalists/ teachers/leaders is an area that requires attention. Pasifika are an important part of the fabric that makes up Aotearoa New Zealand society and continue to contribute to the success of our nation.
You will encounter Pasifika people throughout our country. This has been illustrated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic response. Many of our Pasifika people are the front-line workers directly contributing to the success of our team of 5 million. It can be important for our schools to represent our communities. Do our community and our Pasifika young people see themselves in our schools? When a Pasifika person walks into a meeting, we will naturally scan the room and look for people similar to us and then gravitate towards them. Young Pasifika master navigators will do the same in their educational context whether that be with staff or peers. They see themselves in that space and identify with their surroundings. By entering that space, they will know the protocols/tikanga that come with being there. This will enable our Pasifika young people the opportunity to succeed in a space they know. Pasifika staff are an important part of that make up. Many Pasifika young people are taught by non-Pasifika staff who will learn a Pasifika worldview if they want to instil success in our Pasifika young people. They can start by learning to pronounce a Pasifika young person’s name correctly. The Action Plan for Pacific Education 2020-2030 is a document that outlines a possible pathway to Pasifika success. If Pasifika are successful, then Aotearoa New Zealand is successful, because we share in success as an aiga/whānau. The key to enabling this success is through aiga/whānau. We were blessed with two ears and one mouth when we were born. This means that you should listen twice as much as you speak when you engage with our Pasifika community. Our Pasifika community are motivated to be successful. Many of our young people are succeeding in positions of influence in Aotearoa New Zealand society, and they need to. Because if you are not at the table, you may be on the menu!
Stanhope Road School puts Pacific Education Plan into Action Liz Hawes Editor Kim Gee photographer One in four babies born in Auckland today are Pacific Island or Asian and one in five is Māori. ‘New Zealand’s future looks very different from what it has been. But the future has already arrived,’ says Associate Professor Toeolesulusulu Damon Ieremia Salesa, Vice-Chancellor Pacific at the University of Auckland. Damon Salesa was Guest Speaker at a recent Talanoa & Kai at Stanhope Road School and talked about New Zealand’s Pacific Futures. Stanhope Road School in Mount Wellington, Auckland, is multicultural and very proud of its 64 nationalities, coming from every continent of the world – except Antarctica! A cultural parade is held every year and students are encouraged to come in the traditional dress of their country and march round the
school field. During language week both a major and minor language is celebrated. About a third of the school roll of 538 are Pacific Island children, including Samoan, Tuvaluan, Niuean, Cook Island, Fijian, Tahitian and Tongan families, with Tonga representing the biggest Pasifika group. ‘We are a massively changing demographic,’ says principal Zane Wilson, ‘and have high aspirations for all of our children,’ he says. Some 85 per cent of Stanhope Road children achieve at
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or above the expected academic levels, but for Pacific Island children, this drops to 65 per cent. ‘We must change our practices,’ says Zane, ‘so that our Pacific Island children can engage in their learning and achieve well like everyone else because they are the future.’ The Pacific Education plan, outlined here by Jason Swann,
give them a proper feast of Island delights – a pan Pacific buffet.] It is about confronting racism in education, enabling teachers to be culturally competent through accessing experts from the local community, partnering with families to design educational opportunities together and growing, valuing and retaining competent Pasifika teachers, leaders and educational
principal of Otahuhu Primary School, provides some guidance. Jason highlights five key features of the ten-year plan which give a steer to better understanding of how to relate to and build connections with Pasifika groups. These include building relationships with Pacific communities and acknowledging a Pasifika world view, including kai, which is the vehicle to relationships. [If you want to properly connect with your Pasifika people, don’t give them tea and biscuits at a fono,
professionals. ‘At the core, it’s all about the relationships with families and understanding what they want,’ says Zane. Teacher and team leader, Leilani Salesa, would agree. Leilani came to teaching after studying Pacific Studies and Art History at Auckland University, so fitted naturally into a leadership role at Stanhope Road School. ‘We have the potential to be transformative,’ says Leilani, ‘by
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using the expertise of our teachers and the knowledge held by our wider community.’ Stanhope Road School set out to write a new strategic plan for the school by consulting with parents, staff and the community. Out of that consultation came a robust plan supported by three pillars: cultural responsiveness, hauora and the curriculum.
us together?’ ‘Parents would always turn out for the school choir or sports events but they wouldn’t turn up to the home-school conferences to talk about their children’s academic learning,’ said Zane. It was agreed to hold a Talanoa & Kai, to invite families to be part of an inclusive, participatory dialogue. Damon Salesa was
‘This was a great start,’ says Zane, ‘but to give life to it required much more.’ They set to and sent 19 cultural ambassadors to the ASB Polyfest in March this year and both Zane and Leilani attended the NZEI Pasifika Fono in Christchurch. These were great experiences which also prompted more questions. The question for their Pacific Island children came down to, ‘What do parents want?’ How could we get them to work with
invited to speak about Pasifika Futures. Invitations went out, not just by email, but by post too, because this sent a message that the invited families were respected, valued and important. They turned up in big numbers. The Talanoa helped break down the barriers and they started to ask questions. Understanding the personal circumstances of the families was helpful to developing plans, said Zane, and emphasizing to the
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families that we at school fully support their use of their own language and cultural practices at home. We also had the chance to discuss the ne e ds of t he children as we see them and ask the families how they see them. Many families are time poor because of their working lives and if after school homework groups help, our staff will do that. If the children are happy to come to school they will come more often. Beyond the Talanoa there will be working groups to continue the work. We have now come to the conclusion, for example, that reading recovery is not working for our Pasifika children so we have employed a specialist literacy expert and children are getting much better results.
Stanhope Road School adopts a culture of learning not just for the children but for the teaching st af f to o. ‘We are lucky,’ says Zane, ‘that our Board of Trustees is involved too and thoroughly supportive of what we are doing, and the direction we have taken.’ Stanhope Road School will continue the journey with their Pa c i f i c Is l an d families, to make them feel that they are participants in the school environment, to bring the cultural experts into their space to help educate the children and in partnership with the Pasifika community, lift the academic success of Pasifika children.
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