EL TRATAMIENTO DE LAS DISTINTAS FUENTES DE RENTA

The research concept of ‘te hanga o te tangata’ (perceived typical physical characteristics of an ethnic group, phenotype) represents the ongoing stereotyping and assumptions held because of the physical characteristics that are thought of as ‘typical’ of ‘Māori’ identity (refer to Chapter Four, Section 4.7). However, Māori identity in 21st century Aotearoa/New Zealand is more than skin colour, and for many Māori, skin colour alone is no longer an accurate predictor of being experienced with traditional cultural markers of Māori cultural values and knowledges (Moeke-Maxwell, 2005; Webber, 2008, 2012). The following narratives expose how the participants encountered stereotyped assumptions in their respective teaching contexts.

“You must be the new caretaker’

Hugh’s awareness of the socio-historical contexts of Aotearoa/New Zealand and the impact on Māori identity increased when he started his first teaching position. Being mistaken for the school’s new caretaker by a Pākehā teacher colleague while he sat in the staffroom highlighted what was going to become an ongoing reality for him as a Māori male primary school teacher and then as an itinerant RLTB within a predominantly Pākehā, non-Māori and Māori female professional context.

Being mistaken for the caretaker? That's just hilarious [Laughter]… My first day on the job, I was sitting in the staff room and one of the Caucasian teachers walked in, he said ‘Oh gidday chap, so how are you? You must be the new caretaker’. It's not a one off [Laughter]…So, even when I enter a school property, any school that I visit in my [RTLB] mahi [work], I always make sure I have this [points to name badge]… Because I know that they’re on the lookout. When they see me, they get these red flags being raised and because of this thing about Māori males…the stigma…it's even amplified more being in a career which is female dominated let alone a Māori male [finding himself] being outnumbered again (Dec, 2012).

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“Oh don’t mean you”

Ara describes how insulted she feels when defending her cultural identity within her professional contexts. The underlying message conveyed by Ara’s non-Māori colleagues when they exempt her from their own definitions of Māori identity is viewed as arrogant and demeaning.

The number of conversations that have been around ‘Māori are this and Māori are that’ and then I’ll go ‘I’m Māori’. ‘Oh don’t mean you, you’re not like that’. You know, that whole who is defining who? I find that incredibly insulting when someone is saying [to me] ‘you’re not Māori’ (October, 2012).

“I don’t give it enough credit because no-one else does”

Deb highlights the impact of negative assumptions towards Māori she experiences because her own educational and teaching success is typically attributed to her ‘non-Māori’ heritage. Her reflection is underpinned by the hegemonic and homogeneous discourses that existed professionally.

Personally I think it’s a conditioning we get into and I think a lot of it is because when we do well and we’ve got something else in us other than Māori, people tend to say ‘that’s not your Māori side, that’s your Chinese side’ you know? So they look for all these other [cultures] other than Māori coming through as a reason for your successes and I think after a while if that’s all you’re hearing you get to believe it. You get to take that perception on board and because Māori being my predominant values in my life, I don’t give it enough credit because no-one else does (April, 2013).

“A Māori that can’t sing and play a guitar”

Rose shares an example of the expectations she has experienced by her Pākehā teaching colleagues. Questioned whether her identity is authentic because she

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breaches a stereotypical perception of Māori as musical is not only impositional but also insulting.

‘You’re Māori, you can play the guitar, you can sing’ and I used to battle with that all the time and I’d say ‘no I can’t actually’ and they didn’t believe me, they honestly didn’t believe that I can’t sing and I can’t play the guitar. Then when you’re saying ‘no I can’t play the guitar’ it’s like ‘eh, a Māori that can’t sing and play a guitar’…‘You’re not a real one’ [laughter] or whatever their interpretation of how they see a ‘real’ Māori is mind blowing actually (October, 2012).

“I’m the only Māori teacher in the school”

Mere shares her own experiences of being expected to perform karanga (welcome call) despite initially feeling inexperienced in that particular role.

I wouldn't call it supported in this journey…when you get brought up around not much Māori tikanga [cultural protocols of values and beliefs] as well and because you’re a brown face [it is assumed that] you automatically know what to do. That’s really hard too and that’s a challenge in the fact that ‘hey just because I’m Māori doesn’t mean I know everything to do with Māori or know all the tikanga.’ I used to think they [school leaders] must have this template like, this is how they can tell us Māori teachers this is what we should or shouldn’t be doing. I would say more being expected or having to do some of the things like I've had to do karanga [welcome call]. I'm relatively, well I'm not new anymore, but in the beginning I was new at it and I was asked to do things and I was scared and I tried it… [I’m] going ‘oh, ok yes I’ll do this’ even though my heart is beating a million miles an hour…but I’ll do it anyway because I’m the only Māori teacher in the school’...well what if I wasn't here? Who would do the karanga?...of course I'm going to jump in because that's how we are but, it's that expectation…(October, 2012).

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“It’s very hard to swim against the tide”

Deb reflects on the way her school’s leadership team adopted an acultural attitude in their school and viewed cultural responsive teaching approaches as redundant. In that context, the perception that ‘all children are the same’ and that ‘culture does not count’ attempted to encourage Deb to undervalue her own Māori identity as well as the Māori students’ cultural identities within her classroom. This attitude towards Māori identity highlights school leaders’ decisions to ignore government legislation to adopt Te Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty-honouring responsibilities in policy and practice. However, Deb explains how she maintained her own and her students’ cultural integrity within the confines of her own classroom.

The argument I keep hearing in our own school is ‘well how come our Indian kids are doing so well? How come our Asian kids are doing so well?...there’s no difference to the way that they’re being taught so why is there a need to be culturally responsive to all these ethnic groups when these certain ethnic groups are actually achieving really well’. So you know that’s an argument that’s constantly put up and another argument is ‘well, we’re there for all the children, not one child is taught differently or given extra consideration, you know, this ethnic group is given the same consideration as this group so why is it that Māori and Pasifika can’t do as well? We’ve got this argument at senior leadership level [that] we don’t give any extra special treatment to them [Māori and Pasifika] so I know that in my class, my kids are treated how I would treat any child but in my way of being Māori. It’s very hard to define it… my way is how I was brought up…my tikanga [cultural protocols of values and beliefs] and everything that I know about my Māori side…that’s how I treat my children…with my Māori kids…I do treat them differently…especially when I know that their backgrounds are hard and that they’re going home and might not get a kai that night…what happens in my class happens in my class, close the door and I give each child what I think they need and if my Māori kids need more,

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I give them more and that’s how it is. But, it’s very hard to swim against the tide if that’s how leadership [and] their dogma goes through the rest of the school (October, 2012).

“I did things in my way”

Rose reflects the expectations of her to take responsibility for Māori students’ behaviour “problems”. The challenge and expectation to provide behavioural support for students without support from teacher colleagues is a way that Pākehā teachers can legitimately abdicate any responsibility from developing Māori cultural knowledge.

You weren't, how should I put it, I didn't feel like I was supported as a Māori person being a teacher and there were Māori kids in that school and I had them in my class. There were high behaviour problems and it was ‘you can fix it’ because no other teacher in the school could. Although I did things in my way being a Māori teacher, there was still that Pākehā ignorance...in a way I think they meant well because they thought it was good for a Māori [student] to be with a Māori teacher and that’s what you want but there wasn’t the support [for me] because there was ignorance on Pākehā side of knowing Māori culture (October, 2012).

“There’s just an expectation, you know”

Deb reflects on the lack of support she received as the school’s kapa haka (traditional Māori performing arts) coordinator and teacher. The expectation of her to be responsible for a culturally significant activity for Māori during non- teaching school hours such as ‘lunchtime’ or ‘after school’, reflects how school leaders fail to prioritise Māori identity in practice.

They’re [kapa haka practices] lunchtime, after school, at home doing those things…but there’s no time preparing [during school hours]…you don’t get any extra out of it either, there’s no [management] units [additional remuneration] involved even if you’re taking staff meetings.

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There’s just an expectation you know…so that’s actually on top of what you do [as a classroom teacher and lead teacher]…there’s only me really (June, 2012).

“I don’t know what the right words are”

Additional queries asked to Rose by Pākehā teaching colleagues included questions about her teacher education providers and teaching qualifications. In this respect, unspoken assumptions about Māori tertiary providers as ‘second rate’ universities and non-Māori tertiary providers as superior are implied leaving Rose constantly having to justify herself.

I’ve got that going to hui [in this context, meetings underpinned by non- Māori protocols] you know…there’s one or two brown faces. For Pākehā it’s important for them to find out what you do, that’s how they open a lot of conversations…and with me being in a management position and I say ‘well, I’m a full-time teacher and I’m the assistant principal’ [they respond with] ‘but you’re not a real one, where did you train?’ When you go further and say ‘actually I trained at University’, ‘oh, which one?’ you know, it’s ‘which one’ because there might be one that’s not very good that you might have come from. I struggle with coming up with the right kōrero to answer or I don’t want to be answering these questions. What are the words that I would use to pull myself out of that and not get stuck? I don’t know what the right words are (Dec, 2012).

“The ‘foot’ has been on our shoe”

Hugh shared his thoughts about the negative attitudes three Pākehā postgraduate RTLB colleagues outwardly demonstrated when they stayed overnight at a marae (traditional tribal and/or family meeting place or complex) as part of the postgraduate programme.

When we had our Noho Marae [overnight stay at a marae] during our [RTLB] training, we had three Pākehā that just refused to learn their mihi [greeting], they read it out in Pākehā, and they were willing to be

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failed for it. Then they argued 'why should we be failed? Is this a real part of our paper?' you know, so all of that, because [of] severe ‘uncomfortableness’, but they forget that with them, the foot has been on our shoe for a long time feeling uncomfortable amongst tikanga Pākehā (cultural protocols of values and beliefs) (June, 2012).