Challenging the Notions of Partnership and Collaboration in Early Education: A Critical Perspective from a Whānau Class in New Zealand

Abstract

In the 1970s, New Zealand's Māori leaders and academics successfully sought the revitalisation of culture and language through education. A Māori immersion education system emerged exemplifying school–community partnership and collaboration, and in the milieu of expansion, the whānau class emerged as an education option for children. In this context, families of children aged between 5 and 12 years are placed together in one class and the language of instruction is usually bilingual – Māori and English. A case study of such a class is presented in this article and illustrates how education measurement, underpinned by Western ideologies, can construct Māori children as deficient learners, and undermine the partnership and collaboration foundation of the whānau class. However, this study also demonstrates how alternative measurement systems that take account of Māori children's bilingual and bicultural learning can construct them as capable learners, with the implication that this must inform educators and Māori for successful partnership in the education of Māori children.