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Māori voice

Is Māori representation Māori privilege?

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Wharehoka Wano

Māori voice

The Māori privilege debate continues to do the rounds.

Over recent years, as I have become more involved in my own tribal activities, it irks me that many communities still cannot get a grasp of the place of mana whenua within the wider community.

This was best played out in my community last year during the New Plymouth District Council Māori Wards referendum that went to the vote, and was resoundingly voted against by 83% of the wider community.

The online and letters-to-the-editor rhetoric in the local Taranaki Daily News reminded me of the 1950s and 60s’, “We need to watch out for these uppity Māori”. And, amidst the usual diatribe came the, “Why should Māori get special treatment?”, and other Māori-privilege comments.

It made me think, are Treaty of Waitangi workshops and cultural responsiveness programmes really hitting the mark at a school level, let alone amongst our wider society? Are they getting us to a place of really seeing Māori as tangata whenua, as mana whenua? It has been 40 years since the beginning of the Māori renaissance of the early 70s — why are we still grappling with these treaty issues? I often think and publically announce that we have come a long way in those 40 years of Kōhanga Reo, Kura Kaupapa, Māori Radio, and TV, treaty settlements, but still 83% of my community said No to Māori representation.

And that is the crux of what the Treaty means for us as Māori. Māori are tangata whenua, one of the treaty partner’s, though some people still want to dispute that. That partnership gives Māori mana whenua rights and responsibilities. We are not just another member of our multi-cultural society. For Māori, this is our homeland, the only place we can speak our language — an official language — since 1986. The only place we can live our cultural beliefs, to just be Māori. Other cultures can return to their homeland to speak their language, to live within their culture.

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FASD student

FASD – An invisible disability

Posted on April 27, 2016 by Jane Armstrong

“FASD may often be an invisible disability…yet has very visible consequences.”
Jacqueline Pei & Tracy Mastrangelo, Professionals without parachutes presentation 2015

What is FASD?

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a preventable, lifelong disability, resulting from prenatal exposure to alcohol, that has no cure. It is a brain injury, done to a developing brain. It is not a behavioural issue, therefore must be treated differently.

Students with FASD often find school a difficult place where they do not experience success. As more students are being diagnosed with FASD the prevalence of this disability is beginning to emerge.

FASD student
Image source: Flickr – Lily Monster under CC

This blog post aims to provide you with an awareness of FASD and a starting point for your own investigation.

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students working at standing desks

‘My brain is in my bum’

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Mark Maddren

students working at standing desks

It is funny, but the most powerful statement I have ever heard about Innovative learning spaces was from a year 8 boy at an intermediate school, who, when I asked why he was standing to do his maths, told me, “For reading, I like to sit, but when I do maths, it is like my brain is in my bum, and when I sit on my brain I cannot do my maths”.

I have been lucky enough to experience a number of new innovative learning environment’s over the last few months. it was great to see the Cultural Aspect of CORE Education’s five areas of changereflected continually in the development of these spaces. This cultural aspect was evident in how these teachers and learners set the purpose and expectations for the learning areas and culture within the learning space. This was done through a number of activities and exercises to develop a collaborative culture that would ensure student engagement, wellbeing, and achievement was high.

The activities involved working with the learners to name the spaces, define and describe the space, and set the expectations and behaviours for the area. A great example of this and one of the Seven Principles of Learning from the OECD 1 is in the Year 7/8 Toroa hub at Marshland School.

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research files

What counts as research?

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Louise Taylor

research files
Photo by bourgeoisbee under CC

I often get asked what I mean by research. Finding a precise definition can be tricky, especially in education where the term inquiry is commonly used to describe a range of investigative and reflective work. In New Zealand, for example, concepts such as teaching as inquiry, spirals of inquiry, and action research, are often used interchangeably, creating confusion. It’s because of this that I think it timely to ask: ‘what counts as research?’. In this blog I share how I have negotiated this slippery question in my practice as a researcher and research mentor.

When thinking about research, I differentiate between ‘research-related activities’ and the more detailed and systematic concept of research, which for ease of understanding, I call ‘research projects’. Many people engage in research-related activities, and do these well, but not everyone carries out a formally recognised research project. So what is the difference?

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Highway

“Readiness is all” — Building change readiness in organisations

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Mark Osborne

When Shakespeare wrote for Hamlet his famous line ‘readiness is all’, he certainly wasn’t thinking about teachers implementing Chromebooks in the 21st century, but the phrase (and its translation ‘what’s important is to be prepared’) is a great piece of advice for those of us living in changing times.

All people have different levels of openness to change based on things like the context, our previous experiences, our personality type and whether we prefer the familiar or the novel. (Robbins, 2005). However, in a fast-moving world (where change is constant) we must all be ready to embrace change to varying degrees. For educators, this change might be the implementation of new, high potential technologies, new research findings related to pedagogy, or new practices as a result of the changing needs of our learners.

Highway

Readiness for change

Our level of readiness for change directly influences our individual decisions to either resist or support a change effort (Choi, 2011). So what increases a person’s readiness for change? Researchers point to three things:

  1. a belief that change is needed, and
  2. a belief that the proposed change is appropriate for the challenge at hand, and
  3. a belief that the organisation has the capacity to implement the change (Choi, 2011).

Let's look at each in a bit more detail.

Is change needed?

The first condition centres around establishing a 'why' for the change (sometimes called 'a sense of urgency') and this often involves looking at things such as:

  • Your organisation's vision and values and how well these are being enacted
  • Data and evidence that what we say we value is actually what is happening on the ground,
  • Changes taking place in the wider environment that may impact on your work: new technologies, changing community or demographic contexts, new policy directions etc.
  • Self-review process which may identify areas that need further attention or different approaches.

However you do it, you should explore the drivers that sit behind the change so that everybody involved in the change should be able to answer the question “Why are we doing this?”

Is the proposed change appropriate for the challenge at hand?

The second element that increases a person’s level of change readiness is for them (or us) to believe that the proposed change is appropriate for the challenge at hand. There are two key elements here: the first is about the level of fit with the organisation, the second is about the likelihood that this change is right for this challenge.

The level of ‘cultural fit’ is essentially the degree to which this change is appropriate to your organisation. The link to your organisation's vision and culture is important, because organisations that try to adopt change initiatives that run counter to who they are, seldom find success- even in cases where that same change has been successful elsewhere. Changes that are ‘low-cultural fit’ rarely succeed in the long term, often being ceremonially adopted, significantly adapted or simply abandoned (Canato, A., Ravasi, D., & Phillips, N.,2013).

A second way that leaders can increase people's sense that a given change is appropriate is to make be participatory and transparent in the process by which the decision is made to proceed. This is about making visible the factors that guided the choice of a given change effort in comparison with other possible courses of action. It's a public examination of the pros and cons so others can see the reasoning at work. It might also include helping people to understand the research that has informed thinking.

Can we successfully implement this change?

The third component of change readiness is a belief that the organisation has the capability and capacity to successfully implement the proposed change. This component can sabotage sensible, well-planned change initiatives: imagine an organisation that knows change is needed, believes that the proposed change is the right one, but is so disillusioned about prior attempts at change that they still think it is going to fail. It's a recipe for disillusionment and cynicism about change.

There are a number of different things that leaders can do to increase an organisation’s sense of self-efficacy when it comes to implementing change:

  • Ensure that every change is well considered, thoroughly researched and carefully implemented. False starts, or misguided initiatives can be potentially damaging.
  • Provide timely and adequate information about the change (McKay, K., Kuntz, J., & Näswall, K., 2013). This consists of keeping everyone informed about transactional 'small picture' details (timeframes, consultation periods, scope and sequence etc.) as well as overarching 'big picture' considerations (big trends driving the change, alignment with current practices, research informing decision-making etc.)
  • Establish participatory decision-making processes (where participants are part of the problem-finding as well as the problem-solving).
  • Prototype wherever possible. This helps to build participants' sense of self-efficacy around small changes, ultimately increasing their appetite for larger ones.

Implications

One of the key challenges surrounding the building of change readiness is that it is difficult to do any of this quickly: if an organisation doesn't have a sense of urgency about change today, it's unlikely to suddenly develop one tomorrow. Similarly if individuals are disillusioned about the failure of previous change initiatives, it takes time for this self-confidence to return. One of the clear implications for change leaders is that readiness for change should be constantly and carefully developed well before change is needed. Paradoxically, by the time change is upon you, it may well be too late.

Reflective questions:

As a way of exploring your level of change readiness (either as an individual or as an organisation) consider a change initiative you’re undertaking ask these questions:

  • Why is change needed?
  • Is this change right for our organisation?
  • What confidence do we have that the change will meet the challenge at hand?
  • Do we believe we can successfully implement this change? If not, what support will be needed?

Conclusions

Woven through all of these finds are the notions of transparency and participation. These build trust in an organisation, and in the leaders taking that organisation through the change process. Trusting and believing in the people who are leading your organisation is perhaps the most important precursor to taking the first step.

Bibliography:

Canato, A., Ravasi, D., & Phillips, N. (2013). Coerced Practice Implementation in Cases of Low Cultural Fit: Cultural Change and Practice Adaptation During the Implementation of Six Sigma at 3M. Academy of Management Journal, 56(6), 1724–1753.
Choi, M. (2011). Employees’ attitudes toward organizational change: A literature review. Human Resource Management, 50(4), 479–500. http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.20434
McKay, K., Kuntz, J., & Näswall, K. (2013). The effect of affective commitment, communication and participation on resistance to change: The role of change readiness. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 42(2).
Robbins, S. P. (2005). Essentials of organizational behavior (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Mark Osborne is presenting a session on Leading Transformative Change at the coming Emerging Leaders' Summit (ELS) in June. These are to be run in both Auckland and Wellington.
Check out the details:

  • The Emerging Leaders' Summit 2016
  • Presenters programme

Mark is the founder of the Emerging Leader's Summit event in New Zealand.

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