There are a number of insights that I have made as a result of this Literature Review. Firstly, I explored what the literature says about the experiences of Māori change agents working to make improvements for Māori in the mainstream education system. What I found is that little has been written about the experience of indigenous facilitators working as external or internal change agents, or the skills that they require to be effective. There have been some publications about facilitators working to promote issues of social justice, but not specifically from an indigenous perspective. The literature also indicated that many teachers are from the dominant culture and do not always serve minority cultures well. Moreover, there is a tendency for majority teachers to blame minority students for their poor achievement. It is clear from my research that racism exists in the education system. In addition, many of the educators from the dominant culture think of themselves as acultural and tend to minimise the importance of diversity.
Racist practice does occur in our mainstream schools. Addressing this is a huge challenge for Māori change agents – simply because it is extremely difficult to counter a lifetime of
negative beliefs about race, ethnicity and culture. As already stated, common reactions are silence, anger, resistance, guilt and the use of colour-blind discourses. It is clear that
indigenous facilitators need to learn how to work through conflict and the difficulties posed by challenging teachers’ attitudes and beliefs – and helping them cope with their resultant feelings. Working through issues of conflict can be a complex process and takes time.
I have found very little written about the relationship between school leaders and facilitators working in schools where there are power issues associated with representing a minority view to a member of the majority culture who is also the leader of an institution. This was the reason that I chose the first question of my research; namely, ‘What are the challenges that Māori change agents face when working in non-Māori educational institutions?’
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The second insight that I made when reviewing literature about resistance is that it is not always negative or problematic. The kaupapa Māori view of resistance is a positive one because it has countered the undermining effects of colonisation. In addition, I made the distinction that resistance does not always come from non-indigenous peoples. Sometimes indigenous teachers will resist change that is instigated by indigenous facilitators. One further key realisation that I made is that it can be helpful to understand that resistance can be seen as a normal sign of engagement with the learning process. Having said that,
resistance to culturally responsive school reform is a complex matter and is typically a stressful experience for facilitators, leaders and participants alike.
This exploration of literature also highlighted to me that there has been little written about indigenous models of conflict resolution. It is interesting to consider how appropriate it might be for indigenous facilitators to use indigenous models with non-indigenous educators. While conflict resolution is not a new topic, there has not been a great deal written about the skills and models that would benefit an indigenous facilitator working to address racial inequity. This raised the second question for my research ‘How do Māori change agents overcome or work with resistance?’
This literature review supported my own experience that working as an indigenous facilitator with resistant educators can be a very difficult and stressful experience. It is clear that
change agents need support. I suspect that Māori facilitators who deal with the challenge of changing non-Māori teacher attitudes towards Māori achievement are under-supported. I found that there was very little written that dealt directly with the support required by indigenous or Māori change agents in educational reform. Resilience is a relatively new area of research within the Positive Psychology movement – providing useful insights based on extensive research. However, nothing has been written about Māori educator or facilitator resilience. I considered this to be an opportunity to explore Māori facilitators’ experience of resistance – which gave rise to my final research question, ‘What do Māori change agents do to maintain their resilience?’
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Having completed this review of the literature, I next turned my attention to the
methodology that I use in the process of this research project. I decided on using kaupapa Māori approaches as my theoretical framework. The following chapter explains my position on this theoretical framework.
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Chapter Three – Methodology.
This chapter explains the methodological approach that I used to inform the process as well as the outcome for this research project. I describe my understanding of kaupapa Māori research, how it informed the process of this research, and the specific challenges that were encountered. These challenges included dealing with the undefined and flexible nature of the methodology, reconciling the use of non-face to face approaches (when the
methodology recommends the opposite), and clarifying who was eligible to take part in kaupapa Māori research. As part of the methodological processes, this chapter documents who the participants are, the process of collecting data, and the analysis processes used in the project. I have chosen to use kaupapa Māori research methodologies because I identify as a Māori researcher and, as such, this approach legitimates the cultural preferences I have.
In the following sections I address these questions: What is my understanding of kaupapa Māori research? What were the key features of the approach I adopted to guide my research? What concerns have been raised about the methodology? What challenges did I encounter in using this approach and what were the implications of this for both the process (method) and outcome (results)?