Creating a supportive learning environment

• Ako – the operative principle
• Creating a culturally responsive learning environment

A supportive learning environment very rarely happens by itself. The teacher will almost always have to create it. This will involve, for example:

• establishing appropriate sociocultural norms (ways of working effectively and respectfully with each other)
• setting high expectations
• finding out and honouring students’ prior knowledge and experiences
• giving students agency (choice and ownership) in their own learning
• providing interesting and challenging learning activities/experiences
• modelling and coaching effective and productive practices
• implementing a culturally responsive pedagogy of relations.

Culturally competent teachers are able to use the learner’s culture/s as a building block to learn and teach. They understand how to utilise the learner’s culture/s to aid the teaching and learning process, as well as to facilitate relationships and professional growth.

Tātaiako – Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners, page 2

(New Zealand Teachers Council. (2010). Tātaiako – Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners Wellington: New Zealand Teachers Council.)

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Ako – the operative principle

Ako is the operative principle of any classroom or community in which every person is supported and every person is learning. Ako embodies the understanding that learning is reciprocal: we all have something to teach, and we all have something to learn. It also embodies the understanding that learner and whānau are inextricably linked.

Two key messages:

• Language, identity and culture count – it is important therefore to know where students come from and to build on what they bring with them.
• Productive partnerships strengthen learning – by sharing knowledge and expertise, students, whānau, and educators achieve better outcomes.

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Creating a culturally responsive learning environment

Whether in health, physical education, or home economics, it is important to:

• consider cultural aspects and perspectives in relation to interactions within the classroom
  This may involve:
  • acknowledging students’ whakapapa, whānau, and iwi
  • valuing and observing tikanga (for example, by showing generosity towards visitors, not sitting on desks, being aware of and observing cultural protocols for eye contact with students, respecting personal space, and acknowledging specific practices for the preparation and eating of food)
  • providing experiences that bring together customary practices (for example, hosting a cultural event)
  • respecting the languages of the students (for example, by pronouncing names correctly and seeking translations of some of the key concepts into students’ languages). 

• listen to all student responses and valuing student contributions

  For example:

  • providing opportunities for students to share their knowledge and experience (teachers could use strategies such as KWL – What we Know, what we Want to know and what we have Learned – and think–pair–share)
  • give students the opportunity to share their knowledge about food preparation in their culture, or something they have expertise in. 

• make links to the wider school community by discussing with colleagues in other departments how home economics, physical education, or health education interweave with their learning areas, and identifying common approaches and content that can be developed to improve student learning

  For example, teachers might:

  • consider the concept of sustainability from economic, geographical, historical, health, and home economics perspectives
  • integrate learning in physical education, health education, home economics, technology, chemistry, biology, economics, and media studies when looking at topics such as:
    • how advertising exploits body image
    • the factors that influence the choices and decisions people make in relation to their health and well-being
    • inefficiencies in the food chain (for example, examining the idea that eating meat or fish/omega 3 is unsustainable)
    • genetic modification
    • health promotion in the school to address an identified health issue.

• involve parents, caregivers, and whānau in what is happening in the classroom.

  For example:

  • students might interview parents
  • teachers might invite parents/whānau/kaumatua to share their knowledge and experience on subjects such as food culture, sports and recreation, or alcohol and drug use.

Learn more:

• Population estimates and projections

• Tātaiako: Cultural competencies for teachers of Māori
  This Ministry of Education resource describes a number of competencies that are crucial for creating culturally responsive learning environments and contexts.

• Strengthening relationships
  By integrating culture, caring, challenge, and support into their pedagogies, teachers strengthen relationships and build communities of learners who succeed socially and academically. See: Effective teaching for Pacific students

• A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations
  Russell Bishop of the University of Waikato and director of Te Kotahitanga talks about culturally responsive teaching: Why it matters, and what it looks like. 

• The Te Mangōroa website on TKI is a resource for English-medium schools. It is a portal to stories, reports, statistics, and reviews from across TKI and other sites that reflect effective practices to support Māori learners to achieve education success as Māori. Te Mangōroa contains practical illustrations of what Ka Hikitia – Accelerating Success means for teaching and learning. These examples come from a wide range of schools and offer a wide range of examples of where they were at, what approaches they used to get started, what worked and what didn’t, and how they measured their success. The resources on the site include the professional development programmes He Kākano and Te Kotahitanga.

• Action Plan for Pacific Education 2020–2030
  The Action Plan for Pacific Education (the Action Plan) maps the Government’s commitment to transforming outcomes for Pacific learners and families and signals how early learning services, schools and tertiary providers can achieve change for Pacific learners and their families.

Last updated September 10, 2024

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